Athlon Binos

[wjarrell]

Has anybody looked through the Athlon Cronus, Ares, or Midas in 10x42? I'm interested in these but no one around here sells them. I've looked through Vipers, Steiners, BX-3's and the new Trinovid. Do they compare to any of these? I have the Ares 15-45x65 and am impressed so far. Out of the binos I've looked through the Vipers have been the best to my eyes. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[wjarrell]

Anyone?

 

[DHwreckage]

hey i thought i would reply since i just picked up a pair of cronus 10x42s. initial impression of the binos are they are right on par with the Vortex razor HDs. To note this was at home just taking them out of packaging and playing with them but not having anything to compare them to so take that opinion with a grain of salt if you will, on a side note i was at cabelas last week and looked at the viper HDs, mojave pro guides, razor HDs, El's and SLC's so i am familiar with their optical quality. i am hoping to get to cabelas in the next few days so i can compare them to the vortex, Sig, Leupy and maybe the swaros, but i dont think they will even match the budget swaros (SLC's i believe).

 

[wjarrell]

Thanks DH

 

[DHwreckage]

ill try and get to cabelas by this weekend!

 

[DHwreckage]

sorry this took so long, got sent out to the field for work all last week, but i got to Cabelas yesterday and compared the Cronus to the Viper HD's and Razors. First off let me say this was an in-store comparison, with that said the Cronus have way more clarity and E2E contrast then the vipers, the Cronus are hands down better through my eyes. Where it gets tricky is against the razors, Cabelas only had a pair of 12X50's to compare to my 10x42 Cronus. The razors had a crisper edge then the Cronus but i felt like clarity was right on par with the razors while checking out animals at different distances. Ideally i would have been able to compare them around sunset but i didn't have time, so while i think the razors may have a little bit of an edge in-store, for a product 1/3 the cost the Cronus comes pretty dang close to razor quality.

 

[wjarrell]

sorry this took so long, got sent out to the field for work all last week, but i got to Cabelas yesterday and compared the Cronus to the Viper HD's and Razors. First off let me say this was an in-store comparison, with that said the Cronus have way more clarity and E2E contrast then the vipers, the Cronus are hands down better through my eyes. Where it gets tricky is against the razors, Cabelas only had a pair of 12X50's to compare to my 10x42 Cronus. The razors had a crisper edge then the Cronus but i felt like clarity was right on par with the razors while checking out animals at different distances. Ideally i would have been able to compare them around sunset but i didn't have time, so while i think the razors may have a little bit of an edge in-store, for a product 1/3 the cost the Cronus comes pretty dang close to razor quality.

Thanks DH for getting back to me!

 

[DHwreckage]

thought i would give this a quick little update, my buddy picked up a pair of razor 10x42s so we got to compare them in fading light and outside. first thing i really noticed was the razors are easier to look though, its hard to explain but the glass just felt easier on the eyes. i couldn't really tell a difference in clarity between the two binos while outside and in dimming light. one major thing i saw while the sun was out was the razor eye cups keep out more light then the cronus eye cups, this isn't a huge problem and im sure with a bit more adjusting i could fix this but i thought it should be noted. anyways hope this helps a bit more!

 

[HookUp]

You made some observations about the razors being easier to look through. While your review is great information it also shines light onto the fact that there is no mid range substitute for high end glass. Looking through a pair of Leica or Swaro is like an extension of your vision, looking through mid-grade to low grade glass is like looking through a pair of binoculars.