Leupold bx-4 10x42 or Athlon Cronus 8.5x42

[TNhuntsman]

Looking to upgrade my Leupold Yosemite BX-1 8x30 binoculars for an elk hunt this November in Colorado and have narrowed it down to these 2 binoculars.
Leupold BX-4 pro guide 10x42 for $370
Athlon Cronus 8.5x42 for $300

Looking to stay under $400 and these seem to be the best deals, just not sure which one to lean towards. Anyone compare these optics?

 

[RussDXT]

I have a Cronus spotter that has issues with the eye piece. Called them and they said they have sold out all stock until the Gen 2 come in they have nothing they can do. Now in theory I may get a Gen 2 out of the deal, but the reality is I go at least one hunting season with no spotter. My recommendation would be to go with a company that will honor warranty in a timely manner and steer clear of Athlon.

Id recommend adding the Maven c series to tour list of prospects.

 

[sndmn11]

Leupold 1000x over, Japanese before generic Chinese.

 

[TNhuntsman]

Leupold 1000x over, Japanese before generic Chinese.

Hmm, I know Cronus line of Athlon scopes are made in Japan, figured that held true for the binoculars as well. If they are Chinese then the choice just got easy.

 

[JGRaider]

Cronus binocs are Japanese, not Chinese.

 

[TNhuntsman]

Cronus binocs are Japanese, not Chinese.

Ok, I just found a post by Doug from cameralandny on a different forum stating "Cronus BTR scopes are made in Japan and Cronus binoculars are made in China, however, to high quality standards"

I contacted cameralandny.com to see if this is still true.

 

[sndmn11]

Ok, I just found a post by Doug from cameralandny on a different forum stating "Cronus BTR scopes are made in Japan and Cronus binoculars are made in China, however, to high quality standards"

I contacted cameralandny.com to see if this is still true.

I will stand corrected if they are Japanese. I was under the impression from folks at Athlon that a majority of their offerings are from China, so I assumed their inexpensive binoculars fell in line with that.

 

[TNhuntsman]

I will stand corrected if they are Japanese. I was under the impression from folks at Athlon that a majority of their offerings are from China, so I assumed their inexpensive binoculars fell in line with that.

All Athlon scopes are made in China except the Cronus which I believe is made at the LOW factory. I wasn't sure about the binoculars but it looks like all the binoculars are Chinese so I'm leaning heavily towards the BX-4 now.

 

[Kyle Wheeler]

I would go with BX4. I like Athlon but the Cronus binos are made in China vs Japan for BX4 and much heavier. The Leupold BX4 are great under $400. I’ve seen them on Amazon warehouse around $330.

 

[FSB12B]

BX4 all day.
Cronus indeed are Chinese. BX4’s hit it out of the park for the price.

 

[JGRaider]

BX4 all day.
Cronus indeed are Chinese. BX4’s hit it out of the park for the price.

My apologies, and I stand corrected then. That would make it an easy choice for me...BX4 as rec'd by several others.

 

[TNhuntsman]

Just went ahead and ordered the bx-4 pro guide, thanks for the help in getting this sorted out and making the decision easier.

 

[Boarmaster]

Between those two choices I would go with BX4s.

 

[Schroedernd]

I was set on the leupolds until I read this article, and I can get the cronus much cheaper... https://backwoodspursuit.com/26-best-binoculars-for-hunting/

 

[FSB12B]

That article just re affirms the statement “everyone’s eyes are different”

I completely disagree with almost every ranking on the list. Best thing to do, is buy a try from somewhere with a good return policy!

Seems like they had the Maven C1 and CS1 spotter confused on some the lists.

 

[Schroedernd]

That article just re affirms the statement “everyone’s eyes are different”

I completely disagree with almost every ranking on the list. Best thing to do, is buy a try from somewhere with a good return policy!

Seems like they had the Maven C1 and CS1 spotter confused on some the lists.

I did a ton more digging and was shocked how well liked the cronus are. I have a few of their mid tier scopes and they have shocked me with the glass as well.

 

[Hoodie]

Place of manufacture has a bigger effect on build quality and QC than image quality a lot of times.

Lots of hunters like edge clarity. It's much more important for glassing off a tripod than for using a bino off-hand. The Cronus is essentially a clone of the Zen-Ray Prime, Theron Questa, Leupold BX-4 McKinley. All of which have field flatteners.

Having used one of those models and a BX-4, there is no doubt in my mind the Cronus will be far superior on edge to edge performance. Center resolution and brightness will be a wash.

There are good general rules of thumb to follow when buying optics. Generally Japanese binoculars will be better than Chinese. Not always, and not always on every metric.

I've used most of the Japanese binos in the $1k range and none have sharper edges than the Theron Questa I had.

If a flat field is a high priority for you, I'd lean towards the Cronus. If not, or if you don't like flat fields due to the rolling ball effect, go for the BX-4.

 

[rj2]

I tried a pair of cronus 8.5x42. I had just received a pair of Tract Tekoa 8x42 (not the toric) at the same time, so I was comparing them. To me, the Tracts were night and day better. Way way easier to find focus, way brighter, crisper. Basically everything was better with the Tracts.

The cronus had to have the diopter nearly maxxed out as well. Basically they were a huge let down. I went back and forth between the 2 binos a few times and boxed the Athlon back up to return them in probably 2 minutes of testing.

That's when I found out cameralands free shipping isn't really free because you don't get refunded for original shipping even though it was "free"

 

[Schroedernd]

I tried a pair of cronus 8.5x42. I had just received a pair of Tract Tekoa 8x42 (not the toric) at the same time, so I was comparing them. To me, the Tracts were night and day better. Way way easier to find focus, way brighter, crisper. Basically everything was better with the Tracts.

The cronus had to have the diopter nearly maxxed out as well. Basically they were a huge let down. I went back and forth between the 2 binos a few times and boxed the Athlon back up to return them in probably 2 minutes of testing.

That's when I found out cameralands free shipping isn't really free because you don't get refunded for original shipping even though it was "free"

So you were looking at the first gen. I'd like to hear your review in the 2nd gen cronus that are getting all the love.

 

[rj2]

So you were looking at the first gen. I'd like to hear your review in the 2nd gen cronus that are getting all the love.

It was just about a year ago, did they update them?