Rifle Scopes Vortex G2 PST FFP vs Athlon Ares ETR

insidetheten

Private
Minuteman
Oct 8, 2018
65
28
Ojai, CA
Does one stand out miles ahead of the other? How does glass clarity compare? I like the reticles in both, so that is not an issue. For anyone that has used them, what is your impression on how the turrets feel? Positive clicks? Thanks!!
 
Ilya’s site has a preliminary review from a couple months ago comparing these two and he came down on the side of the Ares ETR. Sounds like the PST2 glass really fits the 3-15x mag level better than the 5-25x, so if you want/need the higher mag the ETR is the way to go.
 
Ares ETR is a little better in terms of optics, but I prefer the reticle in the PST Gen 2. ETR has a very nice reticle and I like the tree in it better, but the center dot is thinner than I like. Both have weird inconsistency between 0.2 and 0.5 mrad graduations that I do not like, but on balance, APRS1 is just thinner enough for me to prefer EBR-2C by a hair.

All that said, one does not stand out miles ahead of each other. Both have good turrets, although the feel is different.

Ares ETR is remarkable in that it is the best tactical scope I have seen come out of China to date. That is extremely impressive and I really want to see Athlon extend the ETR line.

ILya
 
I looked on Ilyas site and could not find anything on the Ares ETR, I probably missed it somewhere. If you can give me a link, I will check it out.
Just saw Ilyas reply, Thanks Ilya!. So both the ETR and the PST are Chinese? I like the 2C reticle so far, as I have that in my Razor, but being pretty new to this, I haven't spent hours behind the reticle to be able to use it to the fullest. Other than the reticle, I think that glass clarity and turrets that dial repeatably are the most important. Price point of 1K +/- is the other limiting factor.
 
^^^ THAT'S what I was thinking of. I've been spending too much time shopping scopes lately, ha.

So both the ETR and the PST are Chinese?

ETR is Chinese, PST Gen2 is Philippines. ETR doesn't have the track record (and there are early reports about glued turrets being slightly off in the ETR thread) but both seem to be fine in the tracking department. I think I'd made the decision based on mag needed: if topping out at 15x is enough I'd save the money and go with the Vortex; if you need something with power deep into the 20s I'd do the ETR.

Scott at Liberty Optics is the guy to talk to for Vortex, Doug at Cameraland for Athlon.