I have the Cronus and I think it is one of the best scopes I have ever had my eye in been shooting since I was a kid looking to buy some others in the future the ARES ETR is my next scope been shooting for50 years wish I had one of these when I was growing up happy to introduce these scopes to my son I have shot from 100 yards out to one mile with great accuracy well enough of this just get one you wont be sorry they take the recoil of my 338 edge with no problem
Rated 5 out of 5
RonT –
Purchased this scope for long range and precision rifle competitions and have been extremely pleased with it's performance. It is well made, sturdy and the glass is outstanding. It has gone through a lot of abuse and has never let me down. I did manage to break an elevation knob-my fault, contacted Athlon for a replacement and offered to pay for a new knob and postage after explaining what happened. Athlon graciously covered the cost of the replacement and postage. Although only one instance, Athlon customer service is amazing in my book. Based on the quality and performance of their products, I will remain a loyal Athlon customer.
Rated 4 out of 5
Rusty in Oregon –
I SO wanted to give this scope 5-stars, and only one tiny issue is stopping me.
Once mounted and working correctly, this scope is AWESOME and cheaper than the rest of the world by "hundreds". Glass is super clear, reticle is great, and controls track flawlessly. Bought this to shoot my Masterpiece Arms 300 Win Mag out to a mile, and it's a terrific value and compares favorably to much more expensive glass.
BUT ... my initial experience was awful and so frustrating, until I figured it out. Pay attention, because this could be important if you buy this scope.
I unboxed, unwrapped and the only "assembly" per se is to remove the illumination battery cover, insert the battery, and screw the cap back on. No big deal ... right? WRONG! I removed the batter cover, it was tight, but not unreasonably tight since it's o-ring sealed. I inserted the battery, and spent the next two days of my holiday weekend desperately trying to screw the cap back on. The threads simply wouldn't engage, and it would just spin and drop off. Drove me "nuts" until I accidentally figured it out.
I was near the end of my rope, having tried everything I could think of. My last attempt was to use a dental tool (tiny end) and a magnifying lamp (lousy vision) to follow and clean out both thread patterns to see if there was something blocking them, or perhaps a cross-thread. Here's where the epiphany took place. As I was nearing the end of the threads in the battery compartment, my tool "fell" into a tiny plastic slot adjacent to what appeared to be the threads ... and the plastic MOVED.
Long story short (sorry ... it's already long), that plastic ring is how the interior electronics is exposed/removed/serviced. All I did was take my little dental tool, and turned that plastic ring on the threads to a solid stop, exposing several more rings of threads. Then the battery dropped in, the cap threaded perfectly, illumination worked fine, and the scope was officially healed. Mounted and aligned just like it should ... ready to shoot.
And since I'm an Engineer ...
Symptom: Battery compartment cap will not screw in correctly after replacing illumination battery - cap spins without engaging the compartment threads.
Root Cause: Manufacturing (or human) error where the electronics keeper ring was not sufficiently tightened to keep it from threading out when the battery compartment cap is removed.
Corrective Action: Use a jewelers screwdriver or some other very small tool and use one of the two notches in the plastic keeper ring to screw it all the way down to the base of the threads.
Here endeth the lesson ... the initial relationship started badly, but I think now we've fallen in love. Without that issue (described above) ... it's a 5-star scope all day long - twice on Sundays.
patrick pregley –
I have the Cronus and I think it is one of the best scopes I have ever had my eye in been shooting since I was a kid looking to buy some others in the future the ARES ETR is my next scope been shooting for50 years wish I had one of these when I was growing up happy to introduce these scopes to my son I have shot from 100 yards out to one mile with great accuracy well enough of this just get one you wont be sorry they take the recoil of my 338 edge with no problem
RonT –
Purchased this scope for long range and precision rifle competitions and have been extremely pleased with it's performance. It is well made, sturdy and the glass is outstanding. It has gone through a lot of abuse and has never let me down. I did manage to break an elevation knob-my fault, contacted Athlon for a replacement and offered to pay for a new knob and postage after explaining what happened. Athlon graciously covered the cost of the replacement and postage. Although only one instance, Athlon customer service is amazing in my book. Based on the quality and performance of their products, I will remain a loyal Athlon customer.
Rusty in Oregon –
I SO wanted to give this scope 5-stars, and only one tiny issue is stopping me.
Once mounted and working correctly, this scope is AWESOME and cheaper than the rest of the world by "hundreds". Glass is super clear, reticle is great, and controls track flawlessly. Bought this to shoot my Masterpiece Arms 300 Win Mag out to a mile, and it's a terrific value and compares favorably to much more expensive glass.
BUT ... my initial experience was awful and so frustrating, until I figured it out. Pay attention, because this could be important if you buy this scope.
I unboxed, unwrapped and the only "assembly" per se is to remove the illumination battery cover, insert the battery, and screw the cap back on. No big deal ... right? WRONG! I removed the batter cover, it was tight, but not unreasonably tight since it's o-ring sealed. I inserted the battery, and spent the next two days of my holiday weekend desperately trying to screw the cap back on. The threads simply wouldn't engage, and it would just spin and drop off. Drove me "nuts" until I accidentally figured it out.
I was near the end of my rope, having tried everything I could think of. My last attempt was to use a dental tool (tiny end) and a magnifying lamp (lousy vision) to follow and clean out both thread patterns to see if there was something blocking them, or perhaps a cross-thread. Here's where the epiphany took place. As I was nearing the end of the threads in the battery compartment, my tool "fell" into a tiny plastic slot adjacent to what appeared to be the threads ... and the plastic MOVED.
Long story short (sorry ... it's already long), that plastic ring is how the interior electronics is exposed/removed/serviced. All I did was take my little dental tool, and turned that plastic ring on the threads to a solid stop, exposing several more rings of threads. Then the battery dropped in, the cap threaded perfectly, illumination worked fine, and the scope was officially healed. Mounted and aligned just like it should ... ready to shoot.
And since I'm an Engineer ...
Symptom: Battery compartment cap will not screw in correctly after replacing illumination battery - cap spins without engaging the compartment threads.
Root Cause: Manufacturing (or human) error where the electronics keeper ring was not sufficiently tightened to keep it from threading out when the battery compartment cap is removed.
Corrective Action: Use a jewelers screwdriver or some other very small tool and use one of the two notches in the plastic keeper ring to screw it all the way down to the base of the threads.
Here endeth the lesson ... the initial relationship started badly, but I think now we've fallen in love. Without that issue (described above) ... it's a 5-star scope all day long - twice on Sundays.