Nobody seems to be going crazy over the midway offering.
How is this scope, especially on a pcp ?
How is this scope, especially on a pcp ?
Athlon Helos 6-24x50
- Thread starter craighobbist02
- Start date
OH you edited your title to correct it. That's an Argos type glass with better turrets and illumination on the side focus wheel instead of the eyepiece. It's not clear all the way according to my eyes. I have gotten private chats with Athlon owners stating the 6-24x vary in clarity some seem clear only to 18x and others 20x and 21x. These are the critical folks ask me about it and just parrot great warranty just send it for a brand new one can't refund it and atckeast it's not a Hawke and I just suggest the Midas TAC as the minimal acceptable Athlon scope based on my eyes.
You should take one for the team and post your review if it's clear all the way to maximum power and how the eyebox is. Midway has a good return policy so if it's junk just send it back just don't mount it.
You can maybe buy $10k-$20k worth of scopes and keep just the ones you like. Put it on a credit card it's not like you are actually spending 20 grand because you only keeping one or two that you like the best. Thats what I do with unfamiliar scopes all the time. Really isn't like paying all that money since all charges and interest are reversed after you get credited back.
This way you can be a helpful contributing poster by stating your first hand experience why you don't own specific scopes that you already had first hand experience looking through within the whole 90 days return policy and why you felt they were good or junk thats why you returned them and why you kept what you kept.
Everyone's eyes are different and just because someone says it's clear they in fact may not be according to YOUR EYES. It's really fun to do this you know.
https://www.midwayusa.com/returns-policy
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I have purchased a few scopes. Trying to do an "Odyle". Trying to find that diamond in the rough.
But maybe I should have written a review. But they were so bad I could have summed them up with one word. "JUNK". Sent them back or gave them away to kids in the neighborhood.
But maybe I should have written a review. But they were so bad I could have summed them up with one word. "JUNK". Sent them back or gave them away to kids in the neighborhood.
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Here's what I do first when I receive my huge boxes of scopes. Open every one of them starting with the ones you doubtful you gonna keep and crank the magnification all the way to maximum power and rest it on a stack of folded towels padded in a V shape and Rangefind 100 yards and put a newspaper or open book there plus sprinkle crushed crackers cheese and brown sugar and candy at that distance you can see through your scope. Can you clearly read the newspaper and book? Next is if that pass look for ants through that scope can you easily see them crawling at 100 yards? If that doesn't pass it goes straight back into the box for return no question. If pass then next you look for color contrast in the background and make sure no chromatic aberration or color shift. Be mindful how critical it is to keep constant eye distance for eyebox forgiveness or critical do you have a headache or not?
USE a Note pad rank the 20-40 different new scopes you got ranked in order of best to so-so line them on a table (just the ones that passed) in that order as you test every single one of them. Some gonna be really close just mental note think life or death choose the ones that you can easily read the newspaper best if your life depended on it with the least eye fatigue and most forgiving eyebox. Force yourself to find faults in the boarder line ones if you can't afford to keep 10 that passed (I keep all scopes that pass though).
In your case probably 2 or 3 to keep unless you can afford to keep all of the ones you like.
Blank out any prejudice about price. Very important. Even if you compare a $200 scope to a $900 scope don't think of price differences since You keeping only the ones your eyes like regardless of price cheap or expensive. You may be surprised at what you find based on price that may shock you.
The bad ones are Really quick and easy and should tell your eyes they aren't good in the first 5-10 seconds of looking through them at max power and goes straight back in the box for return. Those rejects are easy. Most may be like this. It's the clear ones at max power that will become more of a challenge.
USE a Note pad rank the 20-40 different new scopes you got ranked in order of best to so-so line them on a table (just the ones that passed) in that order as you test every single one of them. Some gonna be really close just mental note think life or death choose the ones that you can easily read the newspaper best if your life depended on it with the least eye fatigue and most forgiving eyebox. Force yourself to find faults in the boarder line ones if you can't afford to keep 10 that passed (I keep all scopes that pass though).
In your case probably 2 or 3 to keep unless you can afford to keep all of the ones you like.
Blank out any prejudice about price. Very important. Even if you compare a $200 scope to a $900 scope don't think of price differences since You keeping only the ones your eyes like regardless of price cheap or expensive. You may be surprised at what you find based on price that may shock you.
The bad ones are Really quick and easy and should tell your eyes they aren't good in the first 5-10 seconds of looking through them at max power and goes straight back in the box for return. Those rejects are easy. Most may be like this. It's the clear ones at max power that will become more of a challenge.
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I gotta be totally honest that I'm prejudiced against scopes that aren't clear all the way to max power. Only way they pass in my book if they are dirt cheap in addition to maybe only 1 or 2 clicks from clear and dirt cheap say a 6-24x clear only till 23x I can live with it if it's under $200. You will find a lot of scopes costing over $200 not clear past 3/4 of the zoom range say the 6-24x only good till 18x that won't pass in my book if it cost $200 because it's only a 6-18x in my book and if it's good to 20x then it would be worth $200. Prices and expectations are based on scope prices I paid that are already proven to be clear as a minimum price for clarity all the way to 25x for $200 shipped and 26-27x for $215 average price shipped including tax.
If your eyes can't see chromatic aberration then consider yourself very lucky because you won't be disappointed as much as me.
If you want cheapest bang for the buck $104 shipped Wal-Mart Centerpoint 3-12x44 PLT SFP BDC 30mm. This one alone will certainly raise the bar in scope clarity expectation for what you buy in the future.
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If you have good eyes then it's easy to spot the rejects within 5-10 seconds.
You already have an Alpha6 to compare to so its going to be real easy for you probably only one or 2 that you may want to keep.
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Depends on what you will use it for. I had a Helos 6-24 on both of my HW97s and found them to be great HFT scopes (16x max and no clicking allowed). With all the rave reviews given the Midas tac I sold 1 Helos and got a Midas tac. True the glass was a bit better but ( to my eye) the reticle was too fine for some FT lanes. I sold the Midas tac and ordered another Helos. They hold up on a tuned springer, have an excellent warranty and the reticle is perfect for my intended use. YMMV. Uj
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I have been very pleased with mine. Robust build, precise and convenient to use turrets, bright, clear optics. Like UglyJohn mentioned the reticle is easy to use for HFT. It’s hefty at 30 oz. but balances well on my Steyr.
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I own and use an Athlon Helos BTR FFP with the APLR2 MOA reticle for a year now... It has been a solid scope. I constantly dial elevation with this scope and it has consistently returned to zero. The current price is over $200 USD less than what I paid. Mine is atop a Bantam Sniper HR. Just today I made a 45 yard kill on a rat and an 84 yard kill shot on a pigeon. I have made many, many kills with this scope and can consistently get first round hits on 1/2” targets out to 64 yards. If I hadn’t just spent 3K on another toy, I would buy another.
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I have had two. The first one developed a sticking issue with the parallax in the cold. Athlon had exchanged another to my door within about a week. The second has been flawless, both in parallax and dialing for different yardages. If the one on sale this week was in MOA I'd buy another for the $300.00 price.
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I have to give Athlon credit for customer satisfaction. I recently purchased another Midas TAC because of it. AND for the first time in nearly a year am going to attempt to actually click it.
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The advantage which has to be mentioned in the case of the Helos is the LOCKING TURRETS. Not that this feature isn't offered in other brands, but that if it's a feature one wants -(hunting??) then this is a great purchase, especially at this sale price. The Helos actually has decent feeling lock/unlock actuation unlike many scopes in this price range.
If one is going to be dialing a lot it makes sense to spend as much $ as you can afford to hopefully get more reliable internals, and also will hopefully holdup for many years. What am I saying, I'm saying glass is only part of the equation of the "WHOLE" of a scope. I base whether I buy in the first pace, keep, or sell, a scope, in if it satisfies in most areas starting with its feature set and going from there. I'll tell a little story that relates to this subject in my last paragraph.
Just some advice - when you buy a scope the first thing you need to do is fine tune the "diopter/reticle focus" on the front of the ocular lense, picking the distance that you'll be using most often, as well as the magnification, and concurrently tuning in the side focus, or AO, if the scope has this feature. FINE TUNE all this or you won't get to see the full potential the IQ/image quality has to offer.
Also make sure the scope is at least close to optical center when you tune the scope for your eye "at first". When you sight in the rifle the OC could change but it's not the end of the world as long as the turrets travel aren't all the way to the end of the adjustments, in which case the IQ will degrade noticeably.
Recently I bought a March High Master 5-42x56 for $3500. In hopes of finding my idea of a perfect scope. Nope even it has a fault to me but only one. I should have known because I always say there is no perfect scope!!! Actually I've discovered something, that is the fact that younger guys with decent vision have eyes that "SEE" more detail and see a brighter IQ. LOL, I actually thought there was something wrong with my new scope on 42x (IQ gets a bit dark and a little blurry) after asking older shooters to look through it on one occasion who felt the same as me, then asking shooters 10-15 years younger to look through it, the younger guys didn't "SEE" what the problem was??? They loved the scopes IQ! OH TO BE YOUNG AGAIN! The rest of the "WHOLE' of this scopes form factor is simply luscious to me!
If one is going to be dialing a lot it makes sense to spend as much $ as you can afford to hopefully get more reliable internals, and also will hopefully holdup for many years. What am I saying, I'm saying glass is only part of the equation of the "WHOLE" of a scope. I base whether I buy in the first pace, keep, or sell, a scope, in if it satisfies in most areas starting with its feature set and going from there. I'll tell a little story that relates to this subject in my last paragraph.
Just some advice - when you buy a scope the first thing you need to do is fine tune the "diopter/reticle focus" on the front of the ocular lense, picking the distance that you'll be using most often, as well as the magnification, and concurrently tuning in the side focus, or AO, if the scope has this feature. FINE TUNE all this or you won't get to see the full potential the IQ/image quality has to offer.
Also make sure the scope is at least close to optical center when you tune the scope for your eye "at first". When you sight in the rifle the OC could change but it's not the end of the world as long as the turrets travel aren't all the way to the end of the adjustments, in which case the IQ will degrade noticeably.
Recently I bought a March High Master 5-42x56 for $3500. In hopes of finding my idea of a perfect scope. Nope even it has a fault to me but only one. I should have known because I always say there is no perfect scope!!! Actually I've discovered something, that is the fact that younger guys with decent vision have eyes that "SEE" more detail and see a brighter IQ. LOL, I actually thought there was something wrong with my new scope on 42x (IQ gets a bit dark and a little blurry) after asking older shooters to look through it on one occasion who felt the same as me, then asking shooters 10-15 years younger to look through it, the younger guys didn't "SEE" what the problem was??? They loved the scopes IQ! OH TO BE YOUNG AGAIN! The rest of the "WHOLE' of this scopes form factor is simply luscious to me!
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To those of you that have an Athlon 6-24. What reticle you prefer ?
The big question and debate of MOA vs Mil..
I like the small circle crosshair on the MOA.
Since the scope won't be clicked that much. I will be using the reticle for what it was designed for.
Any thoughts ?
The big question and debate of MOA vs Mil..
I like the small circle crosshair on the MOA.
Since the scope won't be clicked that much. I will be using the reticle for what it was designed for.
Any thoughts ?
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On two of your previous recommendations. AIM Sports and the Barra. I was so damn tempted to pull the trigger.
I am an optical clarity snob as well. Especially since the eyes are now going bad. I had 20-15 vision when I was younger. Now being driven nut with age. Never can seem to get enough light on a subject. But I digress.
The deal breaker on those two scopes was the reticles.
My priorities for a scope in order. 1. Optical clarity/ light transmission. 2. Reticle. Windage/ Holdover . One I can pick up in very dark conditions. 3. Locking turrets. 4. Parralax 10-15 yards
I am an optical clarity snob as well. Especially since the eyes are now going bad. I had 20-15 vision when I was younger. Now being driven nut with age. Never can seem to get enough light on a subject. But I digress.
The deal breaker on those two scopes was the reticles.
My priorities for a scope in order. 1. Optical clarity/ light transmission. 2. Reticle. Windage/ Holdover . One I can pick up in very dark conditions. 3. Locking turrets. 4. Parralax 10-15 yards
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I chose the APLR2 MOA reticle because of personal preference. The center point of the reticle is less cluttered. I like it more than the MIL version. Hope that helps.
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Clarity I find much easier to come by in fixed magnification scopes. Even Chinese home grown brands such as Marcool are very clear hunters in 8x or certainly 10x. 90-150 bucks go a long way.
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If you are not clicking the turrets much after setting it then I would get a BTR reticle, in whichever MOA or MIL that you prefer, as you can use hold-over hash marks to shoot whatever yardage you need. These reticles also have the "Christmas tree" dots for windage that are extremely useful at longer range accuracy in the wind. I like the scope in FFP so I can know have consistent measuring and hold-over no matter the power of magnification that I am using.
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Clarity I find much easier to come by in fixed magnification scopes. Even Chinese home grown brands such as Marcool are very clear hunters in 8x or certainly 10x. 90-150 bucks go a long way.
Beware the clarity for the Marcool 6-24x50 FFP Illuminated really sucks. It's worse than the MTC VIPER PRO 5-30x50 and Leapers Big SWAT 6-24x56 and 8-32x56 and almost as bad as the Discovery HD 34mm 5-30x56.
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