The Athlon Cronus BTR gets a lot of nice reviews. I was thinking of getting a March 3-24X52 for a Vudoo Ravage I just ordered but a Cronus seems like another good choice at a decent price. I like the extra magnification of the Cronus over the March and I keep reading about the tight March eye box. How is the eye box on the Cronus?
Rifle Scopes Athlon Cronus or March
- Thread starter Fret
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I had the March 3-24x42. Of course the size and weight are it's more desirable attributes. The eyebox was a little small on 24x but I never thought it was tough to get behind.
Haven't been behind the x52 version.
I like the Cronus BTR better than my FX5-40x56 and the x42 March, except that the March's focus down to 10Y. Lacking a more exact way to put it, the Cronus BTR has a normal eyebox to me.
Haven't been behind the x52 version.
I like the Cronus BTR better than my FX5-40x56 and the x42 March, except that the March's focus down to 10Y. Lacking a more exact way to put it, the Cronus BTR has a normal eyebox to me.
Thank you very much for your thoughts. What makes you like the Cronus more than the 5-40x56 March? The price sure is right on the BTR and it really seems hard to find people with a negative opinion of it. I'm pretty much leaning toward it.
Mainly I don't like the FML1 reticle, though it's thinner than in the 6-24 version. The knob tension is too much on the March as well, poor wifey has a hard time turning them.
I like the reticle a lot in the BTR!
Glass is a toss up, If anything I'd give the BTR the edge.
The daylight bright illume on the BTR is a neat feature and I use it sometimes.
I myself have not gotten behind those scopes mentioned. However, I saw a YouTube review from lowlight claiming that the March 3-24x52 had a significantly much better eye box than that of the 3-24x42. Again, I have not yet looked through them myself, just thought I'd let you know about this. Do a simple YouTube search and you might find it yourself.
Steve more or less reps the Athlon scopes and he had direct input into their design and features, so he thinks that they are better than any other scope on the market. I'm not stating a position one way or the other. I'm just answering your question.
While it is a step down from the Cronus the new ares that was just announced has a floating dot reticle that I think would be great on a .22
Steve more or less reps the Athlon scopes and he had direct input into their design and features, so he thinks that they are better than any other scope on the market. I'm not stating a position one way or the other. I'm just answering your question.
Uh oh, I'm busted again,(so he thinks that they are better than any other scope on the market) Ha, except for my S&B's/H59, hard to beat the old gold standard.
The S&B PM2 5-25 has 10M close focus which I use at times, warmer glass than both the March and the Cronus BTR. H59 I'll always have a soft spot for.
I paid almost as much for the March 5-40 compared to my S&B's, about $600 less. I'll take S&B thanks over March anyday, though the March isn't far off.
The Cronus BTR was literally less the half the price I paid for each S&B, and it's almost splitting hairs comparing the practical difference. I got those neato little yellow second rev windows, 14Y closer focus, and a wopping 1.5% refinement over the BTR. You gotta pay a heck of a lot more money for that small amount of superiority!
My BTR is shorter, lighter, has a ZS you can set anywhere, very distinct 10 mil knobs which have wider spacing than 14 mil knobs, daylight bright illume, a killer tree reticle that member "earthquake" designed - BTW, and the glass is right up there, however I can certainly resolve more on 29X.
Well I can resolve even more at 40X with the March but magnification isn't everything.
I seriously doubt I'll ever buy another S&B, same for March. The BTR is just fine.
There's no perfect scope and if there was I doubt I could afford it, lol.
Lolalol! Your making me want one of them. Fortunately for me (I guess), my firearms budget is taking a big cut this year, with what's left being focused on ammo supplies and some matches.
On the plus side for all concerned, this is a great time to buy high quality optics, with options and competition working in favor of the shooter/consumer.
On the plus side for all concerned, this is a great time to buy high quality optics, with options and competition working in favor of the shooter/consumer.
While I have nothing but good things to say about Steve, and he is just backing a product he believes in, my March 5-40 optically has been far superior to the 3 Athlons I looked through. And 2 of the 3 Athlons I have seen at matches have gone down.
Until Athlon gets more street cred I will stay away from them. March has been around a day and Im have heard of only 2 going down...both 3-24's on magnums. Doesn't mean much I guess, all scopes will have a bad egg and all warrenties are good. I just get this bad feeling with the price being too good to be true on athlons. Even killswitch tracking tests said the tracking was a little funky on the Athlons.
I sold my S&B and kept the March Steve...maybe regret it later, but the 5-40 is just too perfect for my airgun. And I want a tree rect on my match rifle. Think Im going to try the Minox.
Regardless, good luck.
DT
Until Athlon gets more street cred I will stay away from them. March has been around a day and Im have heard of only 2 going down...both 3-24's on magnums. Doesn't mean much I guess, all scopes will have a bad egg and all warrenties are good. I just get this bad feeling with the price being too good to be true on athlons. Even killswitch tracking tests said the tracking was a little funky on the Athlons.
I sold my S&B and kept the March Steve...maybe regret it later, but the 5-40 is just too perfect for my airgun. And I want a tree rect on my match rifle. Think Im going to try the Minox.
Regardless, good luck.
DT
I have tested March 3-24x42, 2.5-25x42, 3-24x52 and 5-40x56. As far as eye relief flexibility goes, the 52mm is a notable improvement over the 42mm version, as it should be given the larger exit pupil.
While Cronus is an excellent design, I do not think it was designed to outperform the S&Bs, Tangent Thetas and Marches of this world and it doesn't. Reticle dimensions and things like that are design features, not performance metrics.
That having been said, in terms of what you get for the money, Cronus BTR definitely gives you more than March. Scopes at the $2k +/- 20% mark are getting so competent that it is increasingly harder for me to recommend the really fancy stuff. There are some exceptions to that, of course, but generally, between Athlon Cronus, various Vortex Razor versions, Sig Tango6, Delta Stryker (likely; I plan to look at them, so I'll have a proper evaluation done) and a few others, you really get most of the performance of the alphas for a lot less cash.
Some of the alphas have their specializations, like the remarkable turrets and DOF of Tangent Theta, compactness of March 3-24x, center parallax of Kahles, etc. However, overall, the market is increasingly more difficult for $3k+ scopes.
ILya
While Cronus is an excellent design, I do not think it was designed to outperform the S&Bs, Tangent Thetas and Marches of this world and it doesn't. Reticle dimensions and things like that are design features, not performance metrics.
That having been said, in terms of what you get for the money, Cronus BTR definitely gives you more than March. Scopes at the $2k +/- 20% mark are getting so competent that it is increasingly harder for me to recommend the really fancy stuff. There are some exceptions to that, of course, but generally, between Athlon Cronus, various Vortex Razor versions, Sig Tango6, Delta Stryker (likely; I plan to look at them, so I'll have a proper evaluation done) and a few others, you really get most of the performance of the alphas for a lot less cash.
Some of the alphas have their specializations, like the remarkable turrets and DOF of Tangent Theta, compactness of March 3-24x, center parallax of Kahles, etc. However, overall, the market is increasingly more difficult for $3k+ scopes.
ILya
Excellent write up. I recent picked up two new Sig T6 3-18's, two new Athlon Cronus, and a used March 3-24x42 and the March is without question the best of them in terms of build quality & design, but the Sig and Athlon track well and get the job done at a far lower price tag.
Are you saying you're going to do a review of all these: Athlon Cronus, various Vortex Razor versions, Sig Tango6, Delta Stryker? I agree, the waters for the $2k +/- 20% realm of rifle optics is getting extremely competitive and it's amazing what is on the market today compared to just a few years ago.
Thanks DTROS. I have always held you in high esteem as well!
March - a few years ago I tried a March 3-24x42. I sold it specifically because on that particular scope the glass wasn't what I expected it to be. Not because of the so called finicky parallax as I'm used to close focus scopes and all that comes with those types of scopes. Other than that it was fine.
The glass in our March 5-40x56 (it's actually my wife's scope that is mounted on her PCP Field Target rifle) is very nice but so is the glass in my Cronus BTR. I can hardly tell the difference honestly but at 40x the March tends to start getting dim. I'm guessing if we were to put our 5-40's side by side with most of the $3000 scopes we would hardly be able to tell the difference in glass between them. Also we as individuals because our eyes are different from one another would naturally prefer certain scope prescriptions over others.
I don't go to tactical matches with the frequency I used to but I've seen nearly every brand of scope go down. The one with the most problems were USO's??? But look which brand Jake Vibbert uses. Maybe the newer ones are more reliable???
I've seen two S&B's go down and that was one of the main reasons it took me so long to buy one. After using them for years now I am confident in them.
As we see here in the optics forum nearly every week people have problems with every brand and grade of scope. I think any man made object will have problems from time to time. We can't buy perfection no matter how much money we spend, right???
I don't doubt you saying that you saw those scopes go down. Maybe it was teething pains with the original Cronus, I don't know, but the Cronus scopes I've been around have worked fine. I know for sure that my Cronus BTR tracks to 1122Y, at some point I'll test the tracking farther out.
But you're right, trust must be earned, so we'll both be keeping an eye on Athlon. I think the company will continue improving as they go.
Thanks guys for all the really great info and advice. I guess it comes down to if I want to spend the extra cash for a little bit more performance and quality. Got to decide if the March is worth the extra $1K. The March is about the same price as a Vortex AMG so that's another possibility. How does the AMG stack up against the March? There are just too many good choices.............
I currently have Sig Tango 6 4-24x50 and Vortex Razor AMG 6-24x50 on hand, so I will definitely be publishing something on those. I might be able to get my hands on the Cronus (I tested the 1-6x version and liked it) if the Athlon guys will still talk to me. With Delta, I hope to be able to get my hands on a couple. They have really peaked my curiosity.
ILya
Thank you ILya, I'll be curious to find out your thoughts between the AMG and 4-24 Tango, is the Tango 4-24 really 40oz? Delta has piqued my interest as well, I like the background of the company and their philosophy, just wish they had a bigger presence in the US, or rather any presence in the US, seems kind of strange they have no distributor here, but given that they appear to be a small European manufacturer I am not too surprised. Their specs look very similar to Athlon so it might be difficult for them to compete since Athlon seems to be gaining more and more headway here in the US.
Tango6 is heavy, but I have not weighed it.
I think Delta could differentiate themselves enough to do well here, but it is a decision for them to make, not me. The market is big enough for them and for Athlon. Generally, Primary Arms is aiming for the same niche with their Platinum scopes, as does Sightmark with their Pinnacle product line. I would not be surprised to see some others there, like GPO.
I have some ideas of what I would like to see in this market segment, so I'll go try to convince some people at SHOT.
ILya
