Rifle Scopes Athlon ETR vs Steiner P4xi

[Friday]

Does anyone have both of these to compare the difference?

I personally have the Steiner P4xi 4x16x56 I purchased about a year ago.
This scope is flat bad to the bone I picked it up with Steiner rings for 800 bucks, and let me tell you this rig is a lot of scope for the money. The turrets are a little stiff but extremely tactile, the glass is fabulous and the eye box is incredible. The field of view is very well as well. This scope performs like an $1500 optic in my opinion. I feel it has a little more to offer than my SHV. I’ve owned a Athlon ares BTR and it was a nice scope but wasn’t on the same playing field at all as this Steiner and it was the same price.

My question is did they upgrade the ETR to where you think it’s a better piece of glass than the Steiner P4xi?

I’m putting together a new rifle and will be needing another scope.

 

[oneforall]

I have neither scope, if you shoot dusk or dawn conditions, then P4Xi 56mm objective lens will be great help. But if you shoot out to 800 plus yards and target is small, then ETR is a easier scope to use. As for glass, ETR is better than BTR, close range one may not see much difference, pass 600 yards or in marginal conditions, ETR will pull ahead, but does ETR is as good as P4xi? my guess is if you got a good P4xi( it seems steiner have had QC issues on this scope), it will be slightly better than ETR, specially at the center of the image circle. But the ETR has higher X, image is bigger thus as easy to see as the the brighter P4xi. It might be a wash in the end.

 

[Friday]

They are both a 56mm objective if I’m not mistaken

 

[oneforall]

I know, what i meant is ETR at 30x vs P4xi at 16x, ETR will be a lot darker. With them both at 16x, ETR maybe just as bright( maybe ETR even has higher image quality, as P4xi is at max out on the zoom range), one has to see how many lens elements each scope has and what kind lens coatings each scope has.

 

[Eoddave27]

I have had both scopes and still have the Athlon Ares ETR. When I bought the Steiner I was super impressed by the look and quality feel of the optic. I really wanted to like the optic. The one I ordered had two major problems which made me send it back and ultimately buy a Athlon Ares ETR. For starters the elevation turret was super stiff. Stiff to the point that my son could barely turn it and the scope was for his rifle. There as no way he would have been able to dial elevation on the clock with it. The second issue was the CA above 12x was absolutely horrible. It was the worst I have ever seen in any scope. At lower magnifications or with no high contrast in the sight picture the glass was nice and clear. It had snowed that day though and it literally looked like the image was glowing purple. For the price I can’t say that I have really found any faults with the Ares ETR. The glass is fantastic, the turrets are really nice and the locking windage turret is a nice touch. It has tracked true so far with weekly use for about a year now. It is a bit long but that is the case with a lot of optics in that magnification range. Overall I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Ares ETR. With the Steiner even at the deeply discounted price I just can’t bring myself to buy another one. I may have just got a bad scope but it seems like a lot of people talk about tight turrets and a lot of CA with them. I must have just got one that was worse than normal. I would consider buying another one if I could see the actual optic I was getting and test the turrets and glass out for myself before I bought it.

 

[Friday]

I haven’t had any CA with mine to speak of the turrets are a bit tighter than all my nightforce optics and my previous Athlon optics. I’m basically torn do I get another one or try the Etr or buy a 7x35 atacr and put my NXS on this build I’m not really sure

 

[slimJim2000]

The Steiner tactical line are really burris scopes. They are totally different then the German made military line.

 

[aslrookie]

My turrets have loosened up a lot since I first got the scope. Now they feel perfect. I’ve only seen CA twice in this optic. The P4Xi has not made me want to get anything else as I’d have to spend quite a bit more for added performance.

It has tracked with all my dope, returned to zero every time and no QC issues. I’ve owned a wide variety of quality scopes from low end vortex to Kahles. I don’t think anything else comes close to performance per dollar.

 

[lou400a]

The Steiner tactical line are really burris scopes. They are totally different then the German made military line.

Who cares, I rather spend $800 on US made scope with great features and great warranty vs China made ETR. I do like Atholon's Cronus scopes for few hundred more.