$899 Vortex vs $489 Athlon

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Centercut

Centercut

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I recently bought an Athlon Midas HMR 2.5-15x50 AHMR IR MOA SFP scope. It has the HD glass, great holdover reticle and capped turrets. It is much better than I expected. I have it installed on my FX Crown .177 FT rifle.

I have had a Vortex Razor HD LH 3-15x42 HSR-4 MOA SFP for a couple of years now, and it’s been the best scope I own. I have it on my Cricket mini Carbine. 

This past Saturday I had them side by side at the 100 yard range a friend of mine owns. We both looked through each at targets placed at 100 yards. Surprisingly, there was no difference in clarity or contrast. And due to the Athlons 50mm objective, the image was slightly brighter than the Vortex. Neither of these scopes are intended for “clickers”, both are “holdover” scopes, so I didn’t compare turrets and tracking. Bottom line; the Athlon is every bit as good as the Vortex. Reticles are a personal preference, and I still like the one on the Vortex better. One item to mention is the Athlon at 26 ounces is approx ten ounces heavier than the Vortex, although neither are a true “brick” like the Nightforce scopes. Both have HD glass. I can tell you I have compared the Vortex side by side with the Nightforce SHV ($1195) and they are equivalent in clarity and contrast, so this Athlon truly is a great deal for the money.

This is a fairly new model Athlon scope and gets the Centercut two thumbs up stamp of approval! ;) I think JWR did a review of this scope but with the BDC reticle. Very good review. Prices are as of today at Amazon.com
 
I also have Vortex and Athlon scopes but mine are in the 6-24 power range. I find the controls on the Vortex operate smoother but I’m not saying the Athlon is overly stiff the Athlon is also a bit heavier. I got both of my scopes from both companies veteran pricing discount Vortex really gives a generous discount whereas Athlon discount is minimal but still appreciated. As far as the quality of what I see through the scope it pretty close. But I’ve been spoiled with my recent addiction of a Sightron SV 10-50x 60
 
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Nice comparison review Centercut...it is interesting that the Vortex is not illuminated and yet costs almost twice as much as the Athlon. In the Vortex description it says that it has "top tier" glass... I guess that is supposed to make us believe it is Tier One glass like an IOR Valdata to justify double the cost. 😂 But I also agree with you and your range buddy about the startling clarity and brightness of the Athlons...at one time I had two of the Midas BTR 2.5-15x50 IR MOA scopes with the same reticle you have, and I absolutely loved them.

The only drawback on your Athlon is that you have to purchase the sun shade separately, but you can make your own side wheel easily enough out of a UTG 3" Sidewheel for about $13.00. - https://www.pyramydair.com/s/a/UTG_New_Gen_80mm_Add_On_SWAT_Wheel_For_AccuShot_SWAT_Scopes/4513 - Just use a Dremel Tool with a sanding drum to make the rubber insert smaller to fit over the illumination knob and it works perfectly. I actually have one of these on my Sightron STAC 2.5-17.5x56 IR MOA scope...which is the only scope I like better than my Athlon's...

Glad to hear you are happy with your new scope! 😃

Best regards, Chuck
 
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This is a bit of an apples/oranges comparison when you consider the scopes capabilities. I won’t argue that lower-end scopes don’t have what seems like clearer glass, because my Millett TRS-1 (bought for $219 new, with an MSRP of $499) stunned me when I compared it to some of my Bushnell Elite and Vortex scopes on my powderburners. However, I wouldn’t mount that TRS-1 one on my 260 or 308 and lug it through the woods it shoot a long range match with it and expect it to perform as reliably as the higher-end Bushnell or Vortex. While the lower end scope may track reliably, will it perform that well over time, under adverse conditions, and after repeated hammering by recoil, or will the mechanisms loosen up? There are just so many factors to really consider when making that kind of comparison.

At the end of the day though it is a valid question to ask when put in the context of every day use air rifles, i.e. do I need to spend more for that additional performance/quality/engineering for my air rifle when the optical quality seems on par or better?
 
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I have a bunch of scopes, on airguns as well as PB ARs and Long Range Precision rifles. In summary, it is very difficult to beat the Athlon scopes at its price points. I have the Athlon top end Cronus and it is comparable to the high end Vortex Razor Gen 2. The Vortex outperforms the Cronus by a little, but is the Vortex worth the extra $600 over the Athlon Cronus? That is subjective, but I will say that for the extra $600, the Vortex provides more functionality and better build quality, with first class turrets. For some, this is not a dealbreaker. 

From my experience with my scopes, they can be classified roughly this way:

1) Scopes priced from $350-$600: Provides about 75% of the clarity and functionality of the highest end scopes

2) Scopes priced from $700-$1000: Provides about 90% of the clarity and functionality of the highest end scopes

3) Scopes priced from $1500-$3500: Provides about 95% of the clarity and functionality of the highest end scopes

4) Scopes above $4500: Top-tier no compromise for the additional ever so slight performance gain

In each of the above brackets from 1) to 3), Athlon has a scope at the lowest range in that bracket that competes well in its bracket.

It is a personal preference where you like to be, no right or wrong answer.




 
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It is a good comparison. Thanks for taking the time to make it. :) 

The thing which is a little funny to me about all this is that, somehow, Vortex has been viewed as "the best" or at least nearly the best by the airgun community. I view Vortex as essentially being the Athlon of just a few years ago, that is to say a relatively new player on the market trying to make their mark by advertising many of the features of the "big boys" (Schmidt and Bender, Nightforce, Kahles, etc) at just a fraction of the price. 

I wouldn't say Vortex has fled up-market necessarily, but they certainly are trying to use their design, warranty, and marketing to place themselves as having the support and features of a premium brand at a more affordable price. *shrug* 



The thing about different scopes which matters more to me than brightness and clarity is accuracy. How accurate are the gradations in the reticle, and how accurate are the turrets (both in terms of distance moved as well as return to zero)? This is really what separates the men from the boys, and you fairly rarely see people actually take the time to go out and shoot a scope to test it like that. 
 
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And to think I got banned from the Yellow forum at the mere mention of Athlon when this Co first came on the scene....

FYI, I'm the guy that gave the ideas with most of the feature sets in Athlon riflescopes. Mainly close focus so we could use them on airguns, I would have liked all of them to focus at 10Y but at least some of them do. They did put upgraded glass compared to most brands which was also my suggestion. My favorite feature is the "all" .2 mil reticle in FFP, with mil line numbers off to the side so as not obscure a wind holdoff, like in the Talos BTR 4-14 and the Ares BTR line! 

As an aside, I won our AZ FT specific "freestyle division" at State the last 3 years with a Athlon Argos BTR 6-24x50 mounted on my USFT. So far all of my personal Athlon scopes have tracked well and been reliable. For the money they are hard to beat.

Wish they had put, and still hoping for, the APLR3 reticle in the Midas TAC series. The TAC line is the highest quality I've ever seen for it's price point and feature set. That's coming from an owner of S&B and March as well as other high end brands.




 
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It is a good comparison. Thanks for taking the time to make it. :) 

The thing about different scopes which matters more to me than brightness and clarity is accuracy. How accurate are the gradations in the reticle, and how accurate are the turrets (both in terms of distance moved as well as return to zero)? This is really what separates the men from the boys, and you fairly rarely see people actually take the time to go out and shoot a scope to test it like that.
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@sto, I didn’t mention it since it’s been my experience at this price point and up that the reticle calibration is accurate. Both these scopes have MOA reticles calibrated at 15x. Each has hash marks at 2 MOA. We had shoot-n-see targets with one inch squares, and both scopes were dead on with each hash mark covering two squares. Not scientific I know, but it gives a good idea of reticle accuracy quality. And since these are both holdover scopes, I didn’t check turret adjustments since once you’re calibrated for your zero distance you don’t routinely “click”. . 
 
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It is a good comparison. Thanks for taking the time to make it. :) 

The thing about different scopes which matters more to me than brightness and clarity is accuracy. How accurate are the gradations in the reticle, and how accurate are the turrets (both in terms of distance moved as well as return to zero)? This is really what separates the men from the boys, and you fairly rarely see people actually take the time to go out and shoot a scope to test it like that.
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@sto, I didn’t mention it since it’s been my experience at this price point and up that the reticle calibration is accurate. Both these scopes have MOA reticles calibrated at 15x. Each has hash marks at 2 MOA. We had shoot-n-see targets with one inch squares, and both scopes were dead on with each hash mark covering two squares. Not scientific I know, but it gives a good idea of reticle accuracy quality. And since these are both holdover scopes, I didn’t check turret adjustments since once you’re calibrated for your zero distance you don’t routinely “click”. .
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Apologies, I didn't mean it as a criticism. Almost nobody actually does the calibration checks on these scopes because largely they're "good enough" and they are a LOT of work to do. I didn't mean to suggest you should have done it, or that I expected you to do it, that'd have been going way above and beyond as far as quick forum-posts go. It is just one of a couple different things that some of the higher end scopes tend to (but don't always) do better, was my point is all. As far as clicking goes, some people don't use it, others absolutely must have it. For example, even with a holdover reticle like this, if you're shooting ELR on your platform you're still probably going to want a canted mount and are going to have to dial a lot of distance in addition to holding over. There just isn't enough FOV to hold-over alone. Scopes with greater ranges of adjustment, and great accuracy to that adjustment, simply work better in those situations. Everyone has their own use case scenarios I guess would be my point. I hope that makes sense. :) 
 
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STO,

I completely agree with you. I don’t see Vortex as a high end scope, and that includes the $2500 Razor Gen 2. It is more like a budget high end scope. For the real high end, not even NightForce is up there. For the true high end, you did have to go to a Tangent Theta or ZComp. Talk about scopes that cost an arm and a leg...
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Interesting stance, given information like this: https://precisionrifleblog.com/2018/12/21/best-scope/

I looked at Athlon scopes a while back but OpticsPlanet had a price drop + coupon on the newer Hawke FFP so I went that route and have been very happy. Personally I've considered replacing my Millett TRS-1 with an Athlon Argos after the Millett took a spill and the windage adjustments started hanging up, based on some other good reviews of the Athlon Argos, and because at the end of the day I'm putting this glass on an airgun, not a powderburner. Still, the Vortex Diamondback Tactical is a pretty good deal and I've heard a lot of good things...


 
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