Parallax / Focus Disconnect on Athlon Ares

[Southern Custom]

So first I’ll admit I have limited experience using optics with parallax adjustment. This is my first year shooting with them. I’ve also never shot with any upper tier scopes. So my experience is limited to two scopes. With that being said I have an observation and I’m wondering if it’s a problem or just a fact of life.
On my Athlon Ares BTR I was having some issues shooting groups one day that were bigger than my norm. Finally I checked parallax and I noticed something odd. If I brought the parallax into perfect focus, I had parallax shift. If I adjusted to the point I had zero parallax shift, I was slightly out of focus at the target. I’ve played with adjusting the diopter but that offered no difference. So, is this simply a quirk of a $800 scope that I should learn to live with or can I expect better from this Athlon? Have any of you running higher end scopes noticed this in your optics? I have no problem running like this but it’s a minor annoyance and if it’s something Athlon will remedy I’ll definitely pop it in the mail.

 

[gnochi]

That’s an issue, and Athlon support will probably help with it.

 

[IPoutdoors]

Might need to adjust your ocular setting.

 

[Baron23]

So first I’ll admit I have limited experience using optics with parallax adjustment. This is my first year shooting with them. I’ve also never shot with any upper tier scopes. So my experience is limited to two scopes. With that being said I have an observation and I’m wondering if it’s a problem or just a fact of life.
On my Athlon Ares BTR I was having some issues shooting groups one day that were bigger than my norm. Finally I checked parallax and I noticed something odd. If I brought the parallax into perfect focus, I had parallax shift. If I adjusted to the point I had zero parallax shift, I was slightly out of focus at the target. I’ve played with adjusting the diopter but that offered no difference. So, is this simply a quirk of a $800 scope that I should learn to live with or can I expect better from this Athlon? Have any of you running higher end scopes noticed this in your optics? I have no problem running like this but it’s a minor annoyance and if it’s something Athlon will remedy I’ll definitely pop it in the mail.

As mentioned, get a very good focus on your reticle with your ocular adjustment....then leave it alone. This has now defined the focal plane to which you will then adjust the parallax to which to bring the target.

THEN, adjust parallax until target is in the same clear focus as the reticle. This means that they are indeed on the same focal plane and you will not have parallax induced error.

If this doesn't work, yes....there may be something not quite right with your scope and you will need to take it up with Athalon.

 

[steve123]

Try the extremes of diopter focus at one distance past 25Y, while doing the same with the parallax focus. It's common with many scopes, depending on ones prescription, that when there is no parallax error the image focus will be slightly out of focus.

I usually choose the image to be in focus if I have to choose between the two. If you have your cheek weld correct and consistent it doesn't make much difference if there's a minute amount of parallax error.

 

[RTH1800]

I have seen several scopes that did not correlate maximum optical clarity with minimum parallax. Some were tier one.

 

[Southern Custom]

After a bit of digging this is apparently not as uncommon as I thought it would have been. I did see a good post about getting in focus first and then adjusting the diopter. Solved the issue for one gentleman though the whole thing seems a bit off base to me. It’s worth a try.