DLO Reviews: Athlon Ares ETR vs Cronus BTR 

Glad you like them! Spread the word.

Thanks!

Different folks, different strokes.

You can't easily separate the reticles. They are critical. Anyway, these are all nice scopes. I own the Delta and Meopta.

I have not had a chance to spend time with the Javelin, but from what I understand of where it is made, it should be very similar optomechanically to the Ares ETR 4.5-30x56.

Would you reccommend ares 3-18×50ffp mil for an ar15? Or meopta optika6?

Gen2 Cronus has better turrets. Optical system looks to be very similar.

Cronus is a better scope

Not too much. From what I have seen, ETR is still a solid step up from a Gen 2 BTR.

I generally think of FOV in terms of angular units. If you know the angle in degrees, you can get pretty close by taking a tangent of the angle and multiplying it by 300. That will get you feet at 100 yards. It is an approximation, but it works pretty well for narrow angles.

You will like the reticles I designed for March: FML-3 and FML-TR1.

Dark Lord Of Optics I didn’t see them in the March website. I don’t think a March is in the budget, but I’d still like to see them.

Thanks. There was a little too much gain with this mic setting. I'll dial it back a little and see how it works. Adding sound deadening is a different ballgame since my wife might not take well to me re-decorating to make better RU-vid videos. If the channel takes off a little more, I might be able to justify making one room into a proper studio, but not yet.

Why etr for range?

Why not?

You may want to check with Delta, but I think it is a 10 year warranty, which is pretty common for European companies.

Cronus and Stryker are related designs, but not identical. They do perform similarly, but Stryker seems a touch better to me optically. Turrets are very similar.

@@DarkLordOfOptics , good deal. Another option I have been looking at for my .257 Ackley Improved rifle and I fairly nice AR 5.56 is the Leupold line of either VX-5HD or the 6HD. Have you had much exp. with those? I haven't ever owned a high mag power scope before , so this is fairly new ground for me. My optic exp is in camera lens though. For target shooting, long range, I was considering going long, like 30 or even 35x. Leupold has a 7-35x56 in their VX-5HD series. Also of course they have a 5-25x50 for slightly less money and size. For wanting to go long (1000 yard ish) does a magnification power of 30 or 35 seem excessive or finicky? I ask because I am familiar with my larger Telescopic lens and the way they behave and wasn't sure if I should assume rifle scopes would be any different. Thanks so much for your feedback , really appreciate that

@@freeandcriticalthinker4431 I tested and liked VX-6HD 3-18x44. With VX-5HD, I played with the 2-10x and 3-15x models and I think they are very good. That having been said, in the 3-15x range, I think I slightly prefer the 3-15x Vortex Razor HD LHT models. I have not tested the higher magnification versions of the VX-5HD and VX-6HD. Shooting and looking are two different things. For shooting, even fairly far away, I seldom use very high magnification. I use high magnification often when shooting very small targets at moderate distances. For long range, most of the time (and this varies between different parts of the country), the atmospheric conditions are not ideal for high mag use. Everyone treats normal muscle tremor differently as well, so there is a lot of personal preference in this.

Dark Lord Of Optics thanks much. Well that sounds fairly similar to “shooting” with the very long tele lens, I have had quite a few issues with our harsh high desert climate here in western Colorado. Differentials can be into the 40 F range and with that kind of rapidly rising and falling temps and very mountainous terrain, the “seeing” as I have heard it called is rarely stable. Thus with super tele lens they are going to be the most effected. Rapidly fast forwarding thru large numbers of pics shows you this effect quite plainly. Oh well, I do appreciate your feedback on my questions, helps a lot. Have a good one:)

I’d like to know this also.

Cronus and Stryker are better scopes optically, but they also cost more. This really comes down to how much you want to pay. Optiak6 5-30x56 is a fairly direct competitor to the Ares ETR and Javelin.

@@DarkLordOfOptics thank you.

Cronus

That's next on the list.

They are fairly similar, but Cronus is a touch more forgiving.

@@DarkLordOfOptics thanks

I am not sure where you are getting your prices, but that does not jive with what I am seeing in the market. $1000 difference between Cronus and Razor seems a little excessive and I do not think I have seen a new ATACR 7-35 under $3k for quite a long time. Generally, you really need to figure out how much you are looking to spend. I think the price range where Cronus, Stryker, Razor and a few others are ($1600-$2000) is where you get the most for your money right now. You do get more with higher end scopes, but whether that's worth the money is up to you. I'd start by figuring out how much you are really looking to spend and then giving some thought to the reticle selection.

@@DarkLordOfOptics cameralandny had a deal on Cronus for about $1000 after the rebate. I believe the cheapest I’ve seen a Razor Gen II 4.5-27x was about $1700 but most going for 1800-2000... the ATACR I was looking at for $2600 was SFP, my mistake, I thought it was FFP. I believe EuroOptic has the FFP ATACRs for about $3000 I also was looking at the Optika6 5-30x I believe. What are your thoughts on that or the Cronus? Or is the Razor worth the extra $? I can afford the ATACR, but just debating on if I’ll be able to justify it considering I don’t know if there are many ranges over 600-800 yards that I’d be going to very often

@@ucdan5 I think Athlon is introducing Gen2 Cronus. You are probably seeing a rebate on Gen1 because of that. Honestly, it hard to do better than Cronus for $1k.

@@DarkLordOfOptics Cronus over the Meopta? Yeah, hopefully the Gen I comes down as I think they popped up to $1200 after the New Year’s Deal ended last night at Midnight.

@@ucdan5 At that price, yes. Cronus is a good deal at $1500 or so. At $1k, it is steal.

Quite possibly. I have not tested Arken.

I am not a Slav

@@DarkLordOfOptics apologies mr dark lord sir, it is foolish of me to assume you are Eastern European

@@NaNa-rb7ou no worries at all. I grew up in Russia, but I am not Slavic. There are lots of people in Eastern Europe who are not Slavic.