Athlon Midas Tac 6-24X50 HD Initial Impressions

The brown santa just delivered my Athlon Midas Tac HD scope which I bought based on the rave reviews here. I bought it from Walmart, of all places, because I got the best deal and if I didn't like it, I could return it to the store without the hassle of shipping it back to some mail-order place. Anyway, after taking it out of the box, here's my initial impressions:

1. Nice compact size
2. Clear optics but a rather tight eyebox
3. Nice elevation knob with positive clicking, but I wish the windage was the same. It's a little small and harder to click.
4. Not much comes in the box with the scope except a manual and an allen wrench. No scope caps of any kind. Also, made in China. The quality appears great but I feel the price is a little high for a Chinese scope. At least scope caps and a sunshade could be included.
5. This is my first FFP scope. It will work fine for my old eyes down to about 12X
6. I like the reticle. Just the right thickness and not too busy with all kinds of dots and windage lines.

Overall, I think I will like this one.
 
The thing is with all the extras you get with other scope companies, that's less money that went into the actual optic. I like Athlon as you don't get the frills and such and you get good deals on scopes where the money went into the scope, not caps or sunshades or anything else. And while you might think there expensive for a Chinese optic, they punch well above there price especially compared to Japanese scopes. 

Case in point, SWFA 3-15x42 vs my Midas Tac 4-16x44. Midas Tac is cheaper and better in almost all aspects, glass, turrets, smoothness of controls. Chinese scopes have come along way.

I love my Midas Tac. The SWFA was unimpressive to me. I preferred the fixed power ones instead.
 
OK, I got to play with this scope a bit more and compare it with a couple of others that I have of the same specs.

Hawke Airmax 6-24X50 IR SFP Compact-$410
Aztec Emerald 6-24X50, SFP-$440
Midas Tac HD 6-24X50-$630

The reticles of each one is different. The Hawke's is nice and illuminated, but I wish it filled out the image. The Aztec is the same configuation as the Midas but too thin IMO.
The turrets, of course are slightly different, but all kinda similare. I didn't do any tracking or "nipple twisting" as Joe Rhea does.
Clarity-The best is the Midas, with the Aztec second. Is it a big difference? Not $200 worth.
They all focused well at 10 yards using an eye chart.

I dunno. You pays your money and take your choices. Neither one was perfect, but will do the job very well.


 
The thing is with all the extras you get with other scope companies, that's less money that went into the actual optic. I like Athlon as you don't get the frills and such and you get good deals on scopes where the money went into the scope, not caps or sunshades or anything else. And while you might think there expensive for a Chinese optic, they punch well above there price especially compared to Japanese scopes. 

Case in point, SWFA 3-15x42 vs my Midas Tac 4-16x44. Midas Tac is cheaper and better in almost all aspects, glass, turrets, smoothness of controls. Chinese scopes have come along way.

I love my Midas Tac. The SWFA was unimpressive to me. I preferred the fixed power ones instead.

I'll echo this. Even my $400 Argos BTR 6-24 puts the SWFA 3-15 that I had to shame. Better feeling turrets, better reticle, better price.