The sound was clear but quiet. Thanks for the review. I would also be very interested to see a Delta Stryker, Athlon Cronus, Tract Toric 34mm review. Thanks again
Thanks again for a great review !!!! I personally own the Athlon Ares , Viper in 3-18x44 , & a Meopta optika6 in 3-18x56. Between those I feel that the Meopta is best of this group. My son owns a Gen II Razor and ZCO. We are going to do a comparison with the Meopta optika6 next. Thanks again for your excellent reviews 🙂
Ilya Koshkin it’s in Santa Clarita off the 14 freeway. So you think the Ares ETR it worth $1,199. I think so. I’m just a regular shooter that wants to do some PRS type matches. I shoot a 6.5 creedmoor. Howa 1500 in a krg bravo chassis. Do you compete?
Ilya Koshkin ok cool. I have a 3 year old little girl so I know what you mean. Thanks for the good info. Are you going to do a review of the cronos and of its worth the extra 7/800 bucks.
Tips about the shotgun mic: Don't point it against the outdoors as it will then pick up the background noise. Preferably point it downwards from above keeping it out of frame, otherwise against a acoustically neutral backdrop. Also, increase the pre-amp on the mic or the levels on your camera as audio was very low. Good content like this deserves good audio.
Thank You! Much appreciated. The way my setup is right now, I can't point the shotgun mic independently from the camera, but I will fix that. I also just bought a powered lapel mic which will work with both the camera and the cellphone using a TRRS adapter. It is a little unwieldy with the wires, but should help me if I want to show an image through the scope: I don't have to be in front of the camera/mic to be heard.
Maybe you can help me choose between the Vortex Viper PST Gen II 5-25×50 and the Athlon Ares ETR 4.5-30×56? I intend to target shoot out to 1km and and hunt out to 750m, want the best option for the money... I understand the value in the 34mm tube, 56mm lens and x30 magnification of the Athlon offers advantages "in theory" over the Vortex but... That doesn't mean it has an actual "real world" advantage over the Vortex. Which scope actually performs "better" overall and which would you recommend between the two? I do understand that my question is subjective and that there may be no definitive answer but... Which of the two do you recommend I purchase? Thanks in advance for your expertise and valuable on the matter opinion Sir.
Thanks for sharing this! Very curious to see how the Ares ETR stacks up given some recent praise. I've heard amazing things about the Delta Stryker HD so wasn't surprised to hear you sing it's praises. I agree that it's hard to justify $3k+ optics given these newer offerings and reticles showing up in that $1100-$1800 price range. The net benefit seems to increasingly diminish between these and the top tiers
I checked your website and you recommend the T5xi, but that was in February, before evaluating the Delta, would you still recommend the T5xi? Or, one of the others?
I’ve seen that the new tract toric 4.5-30x56 is very similar to the delta Stryker, but tract touts their use of Schott glass. I’m on the fence between those two and the Trijicon Tenmile since they all seem to be the same scope (besides reticles) and only the smaller differences that someone like you could tell.
I have not yet seen the new Toric. Between Stryker and Tenmile, I prefer the Stryker reticle, but these are clearly similar designs. Delta gets very good QC from the OEM, but I would imagine Trijicon does as well.
Looking at, Vortex razor g2 4.5-27 Delta stryker 5-50x56 Or do I just bite the bullet on the March 5-42x56.....I guess a better way to ask . Is the March worth the price increase for the performance gains with the 3 scopes....
NXS is an excellent scope mechanically, but the optics are a little dated. Stryker is definitely a step above in terms of image quality, but it is not quite as good as the ATACR especially as far as FOV goes. Still, optically, it is closer to the ATACR than to the NXS. Mechanically, I have not had any problems with the Strykers. I have two and I am very happy with them.
I have not seen anything from DD Optics and I am not sure they have a presence in the US. Their scope is a 5-30x50, though, not 5-30x56. It is likely a version of the earlier LOW design that has had a few iterations, Sightmark Pinnacle probably being the most recent. I would not be surprised if Bushnell's XRS was also related. If that is what the DD Optics scope is, then its a nice design, but not quite as good as the Stryker, especially at high magnification. I am a little surprised that the Nachtfalke still has the illumination control on the eyepiece. That is what the 1st generation of LOW's 5-30x50 scope looked like, but they have now moved onto a 2nd gen that I thought was a little better.
@@DarkLordOfOptics Your looking at the older version. Opticstrade recently made a video about it. 5-30x56 DDMP. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JIhJhB9YsAc.html It´s a 1900€ scope. Opticstrade has sent scopes for review earlier so maybe you might get one if you ask.
Ilya how do you rate the glass of the sightron siii 8-32 vs these 3? Would love to have seen the sightron compared as it has been held in high regard for a long time?
Sightron being a SFP scope, it is not quite an apples to apples comparison. Generally, it would hang quite well in this company in terms of optical quality. Delta Stryker is a little better than the SIII 8-32x56. PST Gen 2 is slightly worse than SIII 6-24x50 in terms of image quality, but it is close.
I have the same question as carlostjejackal1969. Would the Vortex Viper PST Gen II 5-25×50 or the Athlon Ares ETR 4.5-30×56 be a better scope for the money? Which one is clearer? Which one is brighter? Do you have any experience with the Athlon Ares BTR? If so, how would it compare in brightness and clarity?
As a matter of fact, I had all three of these side by side and, honestly, all are quite good for the money. Ares ETR is a bit better than PST Gen 2 in terms of resolution, but contrast is pretty close. PST does have a wide FOV and slightly warmer colors which many people like. ETR definitely has an edge at higher magnifications (larger objective helps). Both are pretty easy to get behind, but PST is a little better at that at low power. Ares BTR is a little below the other two in terms of optical performance, but very respectable and impressively compact given how nice it is. I will also add that if you do not need too much magnification. Doug at CameraLandNY just put Steiner P4Xi 4-16x56 on sale for $850. It is a crazy deal and there is nothing out there that is as good for the money right now. If call and mention "Dark Lord Of Optics" he'll give you an extra $50 gift certificate toward purchasing something else.
Great review Ilya! I notice some cosmetic changes to the Delta Stryker model you have reviewed here on their web site. Looks like a rev counter of some sort? Locking windage also? Cheers
New locking turrets have the rev counter moved to the top of the turret. I've looked at both locking and non-locking scopes and other than the turrets they seem identical.
You have great content, but to be straight with you I struggle a lot to hear you clearly. Seems the audio input level combined with the background noise which is constantly present, it makes you sound kind muffled. Thought I would mention it to perhaps help you out. Again though, great content! Just maybe work on the audio a bit. Cheers
Later videos have much better sound, but it is still work in progress. I got a better microphone and learned ho to process videos better. Still experimenting with different mics.
I’m afraid I can’t watch your videos as I can’t hear what you are saying in every video you reply to other comments about the new microphone setup you will be using. Go on amazon spend $25 and get a better microphone. Your accent is something you can’t do much about but for an engineer that can’t figure out how to make a video is embarrassing.
That is a little embarassing indeed. I now have six different microphones and I've got the sound worked out adequately when I record using the cellphone and TRRS lapel mic (recent whiteboard videos are that). For the camera filmed stuff, using shotgun or X-Y mic still gives me trouble, so I purchased a powered lapel microphone, but have yet to try it (it turned out that my camera requires a powered mic while cell phone can power it internally).
