Midas Tac 6x24 and Arken EPL-4 6x24 (30mm tubes) side by side

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EPG

EPG

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Dec 12, 2020
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Connecticut, United States
I received my Arken EPL-4 6x24 late yesterday. This is the new version with 30mm tube and 10 yard parallax.

As you can see, it is smaller than the Midas Tac. It is obviously shorter. The sunshade is also shorter on the Arken vs. the Athlon.

My immediate impression taking it out of the box is that it seemed small and lightweight - completely different than Arken’s previous 34mm tube monster sized scopes built for center fire rifles. (I have seen/handled the 34mm version in the past).

It has the argon gas plug on the bottom - I kinda like the bottom of the scope to be completely flat…

The etched glass reticle on the EPL-4 is very fine - very similar in “thinness” to the Midas Tac. If you really want to see the center dot well (without using illumination) then 16x and up makes the dot more “friendly” to older eyes.

I’ll compare the glass clarity as soon as it stops raining here.

The Arken one piece scope mount (an option with their $170 swag kit) is nice - small and lightweight with nice machining - and 20 MOA built in.

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MartyMcFly said:
Looking forward to the comparison since I have had my eye on this new scope. That said, I would guess that the EPL-4 competes more with the Argos series than the Midas, unless the optics in Midas = Argos.

-Marty
Click to expand...
Hi Marty. I have 4 Athlon Argos 6x24 FFP scopes. Two Argos Gen 1 and two Argos Gen 2. The turrets on the Gen 2 is noticeably better.

I feel that for airgun distances, the Argos Gen 2 cannot be beat for the money - outstanding value.

The Midas Tac has noticeably better glass than the Argos - it is very obvious when looking through them. However, the Midas Tac does not have illumination, the Argos does.

I have years of experience with $1,500+ camera lenses as I was a serious photographer for many years - so I can evaluate glass clarity pretty well. As for the rest of the scopes performance - turret tracking, etc - there are better evaluators than me out there.

I will test the minimum focus distance of Midas Tac vs. Arken at say 10x, 16x and 24x - hopefully they will both focus down to 10 yards as per the spec.
 
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EPG, I’m glad you have experience with high quality glass, because it will add more depth to the review. There are many reviews out there by folks that haven’t experienced what high end glass looks, which makes those reviews really just feature comparisons. Of course for some eyes it will not make a difference but my guess is that it’s more cost effective for manufacturers to add features than improve on glass quality. I suspect optics improvements require much more sophisticated manufacturing and quality control…

-Marty
 
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Patiently awaiting the rest of your review. I own the Midas tac 4-16, and the Arken sh4 4-16, and I like both equally. The Midas is lighter, but lacks illumination. The Arken is a monster, and the turrets are a little large for my liking, but super clear glass and nice repeatable turrets for the money. I’m looking into a larger mag scope for my newly squires M3, and was looking hard into these new EPL-4 scopes.
 
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I’m looking forward to your comparative evaluation of the Arken vs. the Midas. I’m currently running the Midas and I’m quite impressed but it doesn’t have illumination.

If the EPL4 at 24X struggles a bit with IQ it might be advantageous to go with the 4-16x44 variant instead.

When it comes to precision air gunning where the targets are often very small and fine printed than a >20X with quality glass helps a lot when shooting those farther distances. Maybe the 4-16 would be the ticket on my HW97 where I rarely shoot beyond 50 meters.
 
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madeintheuk said:
Patiently awaiting the rest of your review. I own the Midas tac 4-16, and the Arken sh4 4-16, and I like both equally. The Midas is lighter, but lacks illumination. The Arken is a monster, and the turrets are a little large for my liking, but super clear glass and nice repeatable turrets for the money. I’m looking into a larger mag scope for my newly squires M3, and was looking hard into these new EPL-4 scopes.
Click to expand...
How does the Midas TAC compare to the SH4 with IQ? Also, it would be interesting to know how the EPL4 compares to the SH4 glass wise.
 
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peaceful_ruler said:
How does the Midas TAC compare to the SH4 with IQ? Also, it would be interesting to know how the EPL4 compares to the SH4 glass wise.
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Forgive my ignorance, but what is IQ?

Edit: figured it out myself.
The image quality is better on the Midas tac for sure. There’s some slight chromatic aboration on the sh4, but being it’s only a 4-16, it’s not bad at all. The colors are more vibrant in the Midas tac, but with the 34mm tube, the Arken has much better light transmission in low light conditions.
 
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Just to clarify....


■ Better light transmission does depend on (with all other things being equal):
• larger objetive lens
• better glass quality
• better glass coatings

And if I use a lower magnification, I also get better light tranmission.



■ A larger tube gives more space for the erector assembly and the turrets, usually resulting in more elevation adjustment (helpful if you dial your scope and want to shoot long range).
(It does not improve light transmission.)

Matthias 😉
 
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JungleShooter said:
Just to clarify....


■ Better light transmission does depend on (with all other things being equal):
• larger objetive lens
• better glass quality
• better glass coatings

And if I use a lower magnification, I also get better light tranmission.



■ A larger tube gives more space for the erector assembly and the turrets, usually resulting in more elevation adjustment (helpful if you dial your scope and want to shoot long range).
(It does not improve light transmission.)

Matthias 😉
Click to expand...
While we are identifying particulars, I’d like to a say that the better part of the scope length difference between the new Arken and the M-TAC (OP’s picture) is due to the latter’s long sunshade. Take that off, and the difference to my eye seems modest. S7
 
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JungleShooter said:
Yeah, it happens to me all the time..... 🤣
I mean to say something — and others understand something DIFFERENT!!

Sorry.
What I said about a "larger tube" refers to the diameter of the scope tube (34mm vs. 30mm vs. 1") — not the length of the tube....

Matthias
Click to expand...
If you are referring to my comments, JS, I was not misunderstanding you. My response was simply piggybacking on to your clarification of what tube length does and does not do. S7
 
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EPG said:
I received my Arken EPL-4 6x24 late yesterday. This is the new version with 30mm tube and 10 yard parallax.

As you can see, it is smaller than the Midas Tac. It is obviously shorter. The sunshade is also shorter on the Arken vs. the Athlon.

My immediate impression taking it out of the box is that it seemed small and lightweight - completely different than Arken’s previous 34mm tube monster sized scopes built for center fire rifles. (I have seen/handled the 34mm version in the past).

It has the argon gas plug on the bottom - I kinda like the bottom of the scope to be completely flat…

The etched glass reticle on the EPL-4 is very fine - very similar in “thinness” to the Midas Tac. If you really want to see the center dot well (without using illumination) then 16x and up makes the dot more “friendly” to older eyes.

I’ll compare the glass clarity as soon as it stops raining here.

The Arken one piece scope mount (an option with their $170 swag kit) is nice - small and lightweight with nice machining - and 20 MOA built in.

View attachment 314148

View attachment 314149

View attachment 314150

View attachment 314151
Click to expand...
I’m really looking forward to how the glass compares to the Athlon Helos and Athlon Midas. I suspect it is similar to the Helos unless Arken has changed some glass specs with this EPL4.
 
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peaceful_ruler said:
I’m really looking forward to how the glass compares to the Athlon Helos and Athlon Midas. I suspect it is similar to the Helos unless Arken has changed some glass specs with this EPL4.
Click to expand...
Well, I've got a SH4 GEN2 6-24X50, I LOVE the turrets, I love them so much I've just ordered a EPL4 6-24x50 FFP. Some have said the SH4's have a chromatic issue with the lenses at long range, well I don't go past 200yards so meh don't much care. But I haven't seen an issue with the SH4. I've got some Elements, I don't mind them, they work but the turrets are getting so stiff I'm going to need channel locks to move them, no I'm not kididng. I thought it was the cold but I've kept one in the house for a few days and it's still tight. So, they're getting a phone call, I've got 3 of them.
 
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I spent some time with the Arken EPL-4 on my backyard “range” today.

Some things I noted:

Arken sent me the scope with it optically zeroed (middle of adjustments). They set the zero stop at this optical zero. You just loosen the “zero” screw on top of the turret to allow you to move past the zero stop.

I mounted on my HW110 .22 and went to zero the scope at 15 yards - first shot hit my target dot - 1/2 size of dime. Nice job Weihrauch with rail and Arken with optical zero, lol.

Today I primarily tested ranging and parallax and minimum focus distance. I was able achieve a sharp focus (using up to 24x) at 35.52 feet from the front of the scope - I measure with a green laser supposedly accurate to 2mm at 100 yards. So, it’s pretty close to Arken’s specification of 10 yard minimum focus distance.

I had targets set at 30 (30.08), 35 (35.12) and 40 (39.98) yards. I had some very small text on the targets and focused till the text was very sharp. The distances on the parallax adjuster were pretty close, but were a couple yards short of actual distance… i.e. para scale showed 28 yards when actual distance was 30 yards. Parallax adjustment knob turned very smoothly.

Early thoughts on the glass quality… very nice at my distances today (out to 50 yards). Noticeably sharper than the Athlon Argos Gen 2 6x24 that I was also shooting with today. I did not get a chance to compare to my Midas Tac today - promise to do that soon. The Arken showed no CA fringing on the black text on white background targets. The Athlon Argos did show some slight CA on the same targets.

Final thought, the Arken definitely seems an excellent value at the $380 price point. Had that thought as soon as I achieved focus at a few distances today.
 
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EPG said:
I spent some time with the Arken EPL-4 on my backyard “range” today.

Some things I noted:

Arken sent me the scope with it optically zeroed (middle of adjustments). They set the zero stop at this optical zero. You just loosen the “zero” screw on top of the turret to allow you to move past the zero stop.

I mounted on my HW110 .22 and went to zero the scope at 15 yards - first shot hit my target dot - 1/2 size of dime. Nice job Weihrauch with rail and Arken with optical zero, lol.

Today I primarily tested ranging and parallax and minimum focus distance. I was able achieve a sharp focus (using up to 24x) at 35.52 feet from the front of the scope - I measure with a green laser supposedly accurate to 2mm at 100 yards. So, it’s pretty close to Arken’s specification of 10 yard minimum focus distance.

I had targets set at 30 (30.08), 35 (35.12) and 40 (39.98) yards. I had some very small text on the targets and focused till the text was very sharp. The distances on the parallax adjuster were pretty close, but were a couple yards short of actual distance… i.e. para scale showed 28 yards when actual distance was 30 yards. Parallax adjustment knob turned very smoothly.

Early thoughts on the glass quality… very nice at my distances today (out to 50 yards). Noticeably sharper than the Athlon Argos Gen 2 6x24 that I was also shooting with today. I did not get a chance to compare to my Midas Tac today - promise to do that soon. The Arken showed no CA fringing on the black text on white background targets. The Athlon Argos did show some slight CA on the same targets.

Final thought, the Arken definitely seems an excellent value at the $380 price point. Had that thought as soon as I achieved focus at a few distances today.
Click to expand...
That’s helpful information, EPG. I look forward to the M-TAC comparison. Thanks. S7
 
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