PastorHunter
Member
This is a review of the Athlon Midas BTR 2.5-15x50 riflescope and the Athlon Ares 10x42 binoculars that I used on my recent Alaskan brown bear hunt. If this is in the wrong place or not allowed please move or remove. I am just a nobody, regular Joe hunter and these were my personal experiences with these particular optics. Full disclosure: I contacted Athlon about a discount to help defray costs and they agreed (incredibly, since they had never even spoken to me before) with the request that I share my experiences (good or bad) honestly. Further disclosure: while I have read this site for a few years on and off I never joined until I had reason to (this review) so I have but few posts on this site and little credibility for you to factor into my experiences. I am, however, a pastor; and while that doesn't mean I know squat about optics I hope it gives some measure of credibility to my character and honest opinions.
Athlon Midas BTR 2.5-15x50 - The guide's suggestions were a rifle no smaller than .300 WinMag and a low powered scope with an illuminated reticle, he uses a Leopold vx6 in 1-6x. After discussing with the Athlon rep I settled on the Midas due to the HD glass and the wider range of magnification that would suit me better in the long run. Truthfully I probably spent much more time behind the scope while zeroing and practicing than I did while actually hunting as it happened pretty fast. I already had a Midas in the 4.5-27x so I knew what to expect from the glass (very good) but was interested/concerned with how it would take the pounding and weather of a spring hunt in SE Alaska. It had to survive: 3 flights and 4 ground crews, 9 days of bouncing, bumping, and vibration in the skiff for 4-7 hrs a day, 6 straight days of rain, several saltwater baths from waves followed by freshwater baths when we got back to the big boat, temperature swings from 40* while hunting to 70* in the boat. The Midas shrugged all of that off and when the time came to pull the trigger I had no fog in the lenses, the reticle was clear, and the illumination worked perfectly for a good aiming point on the dark hide of the bear. In short, I can't speak to the repeatability of the turrets or the ability to see long range mosquitoes with this particular scope on this particular hunt, it wasn't that kind of hunt. What I can say is that it took the pounding and the weather and hit where it was supposed to when I told it to with a totally clear field of vision. What more could I ask?
Athlon Ares 10x42 - I spent almost 7 hrs/day for 9 days behind these binos. I compared them to the guides binos and we traded back and forth so I could get their opinions as well. The short version is they performed very, very well. For comparison the other binos were a Leica Geovid HDR 10x42, Nikon Laserforce 10x42, and Fujinon FMTR-SX 7x50. There were also a Canon and Zeiss but they were both 15x or 20x60 and image stabilized so not really a comparison. The Ares are advertised as having ED glass and it compared very favorably to the glass in the Nikon and Leica binos. In fact, in extreme low light while passing them back and forth the guide said he thought the Ares were a little brighter than the Leica binos, I agreed. We both thought the clarity was pretty much equal. In my opinion the Nikon glass was a little behind both the Leica and the Ares. The Fujinon might have had a slight advantage in light gathering but with a 7x50 that was to be expected. The image was clear, the weight is right, the focus worked great, and the eyecups never felt like they were going to snap off if you twisted too hard with gloves on. Now for the criticism. The weather was terrible and a real test of a binos ability to perform. At 40* and raining with a hood on and breathing steam, everyone's binos were fogging to some extent and the Ares were no exception. What bugged me was that the left eye fogged 200% more than the right eye. Which tells me that there is something goofy going on there. I'd say that the resistance to fogging of the left eye was pretty good not great, but the right eye was fantastic. So if they are both supposed to be like the right eye then fabulous and I just got a little bit of a lemon. I am sending them back and will report what I hear from Athlon. I also wish that the eyecups were just a hair longer for my face. I had to either just barely graze my eyebrow ridge or even hold just off my face to get a good sight picture. I fiddled with it and got it where it was fine eventually, but the Leica was so much easier to just pull up and immediately see full view. I got it figured out where it was comfortable, but it wasn't as easy as the Leica. This will not effect everyone the same as everybody's face is different. That's my only beef with these binos after about 60 straight hours of looking through them. All in all, I'd totally recommend them, especially for someone on a budget. I hope this helps someone in the future who's looking at Athlon products, my experience with them has been nothing but top notch, they are good, regular people. As always, YMMV.
Athlon Midas BTR 2.5-15x50 - The guide's suggestions were a rifle no smaller than .300 WinMag and a low powered scope with an illuminated reticle, he uses a Leopold vx6 in 1-6x. After discussing with the Athlon rep I settled on the Midas due to the HD glass and the wider range of magnification that would suit me better in the long run. Truthfully I probably spent much more time behind the scope while zeroing and practicing than I did while actually hunting as it happened pretty fast. I already had a Midas in the 4.5-27x so I knew what to expect from the glass (very good) but was interested/concerned with how it would take the pounding and weather of a spring hunt in SE Alaska. It had to survive: 3 flights and 4 ground crews, 9 days of bouncing, bumping, and vibration in the skiff for 4-7 hrs a day, 6 straight days of rain, several saltwater baths from waves followed by freshwater baths when we got back to the big boat, temperature swings from 40* while hunting to 70* in the boat. The Midas shrugged all of that off and when the time came to pull the trigger I had no fog in the lenses, the reticle was clear, and the illumination worked perfectly for a good aiming point on the dark hide of the bear. In short, I can't speak to the repeatability of the turrets or the ability to see long range mosquitoes with this particular scope on this particular hunt, it wasn't that kind of hunt. What I can say is that it took the pounding and the weather and hit where it was supposed to when I told it to with a totally clear field of vision. What more could I ask?
Athlon Ares 10x42 - I spent almost 7 hrs/day for 9 days behind these binos. I compared them to the guides binos and we traded back and forth so I could get their opinions as well. The short version is they performed very, very well. For comparison the other binos were a Leica Geovid HDR 10x42, Nikon Laserforce 10x42, and Fujinon FMTR-SX 7x50. There were also a Canon and Zeiss but they were both 15x or 20x60 and image stabilized so not really a comparison. The Ares are advertised as having ED glass and it compared very favorably to the glass in the Nikon and Leica binos. In fact, in extreme low light while passing them back and forth the guide said he thought the Ares were a little brighter than the Leica binos, I agreed. We both thought the clarity was pretty much equal. In my opinion the Nikon glass was a little behind both the Leica and the Ares. The Fujinon might have had a slight advantage in light gathering but with a 7x50 that was to be expected. The image was clear, the weight is right, the focus worked great, and the eyecups never felt like they were going to snap off if you twisted too hard with gloves on. Now for the criticism. The weather was terrible and a real test of a binos ability to perform. At 40* and raining with a hood on and breathing steam, everyone's binos were fogging to some extent and the Ares were no exception. What bugged me was that the left eye fogged 200% more than the right eye. Which tells me that there is something goofy going on there. I'd say that the resistance to fogging of the left eye was pretty good not great, but the right eye was fantastic. So if they are both supposed to be like the right eye then fabulous and I just got a little bit of a lemon. I am sending them back and will report what I hear from Athlon. I also wish that the eyecups were just a hair longer for my face. I had to either just barely graze my eyebrow ridge or even hold just off my face to get a good sight picture. I fiddled with it and got it where it was fine eventually, but the Leica was so much easier to just pull up and immediately see full view. I got it figured out where it was comfortable, but it wasn't as easy as the Leica. This will not effect everyone the same as everybody's face is different. That's my only beef with these binos after about 60 straight hours of looking through them. All in all, I'd totally recommend them, especially for someone on a budget. I hope this helps someone in the future who's looking at Athlon products, my experience with them has been nothing but top notch, they are good, regular people. As always, YMMV.
