Came here for pictures of a pair of a beat-to-death scopes; left disappointed lol.

 

I was hoping some of us would be able to bad mouth some products.

 

... Anyone else own both brands in a similar format?

I do not own both, but I did recently buy a Neos 6-18X44 (simple crosshair, no illumination), so I am very interested in hearing what you have to say.

I plan on a full review of mine in the Scopes subforum once I have considerably more rounds downrange. I am still experimenting with mounting options, but my first impressions are good glass, reticle thickness is perfect, and I love the side focus. I would call the eyebox relatively unforgiving, but I don't have loads of experience with loads of scopes, so take that with a grain of salt.

Where did you buy your Athlon?

 

I do not own a Vortex but have checked them out. I own 5 Athlon scopes. 3 4-14X40 and 2 of the 6-18X44, all have been worth the money as far as I am concerned.
I like them better than the Vortex brand.

 

Well, got it mounted.

A few more views of the Athlon. Will be using the same ring set on both CZ's for the comparison. I like these rings because I can still use my iron sites. Also wanted the smaller objective. At 50mm it starts to interfere with the iron site picture. Athlon mounted on my 455 trainer. Vortex is mounted on my CZ Ultra Lux.

 

Gonna be a little tough to get a consistent cheek weld being mounted that high. Maybe consider some type of riser.

 

My bench rest skills are not the best. As for cheek weld, at 6'5" and my long neck, it has always been problematic for me trying to contort my head to get it low enough to use iron sights. Scope being high works for me. Probably because I do not know proper shooting form or technique.

 

Lol, as long as it works for you. Do you actually still use the iron sights with a scope installed ever?

 

Actually, it's a hold over habit from when I was a avid squirrel hunter. Always had a 4 power scope for long shots and iron sights for close shots. Open sights was the only way for me to follow those running tree rats when they heard me first!

The second advantage is it helps me sight the scope in. I use the iron sights at 50 yards and adjust the newly mounted scope to the same point. Just like bore sighting…only better.

 

Have you shot it yet? If so, what are your impressions?

 

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No, not yet. When I leave for work in the morning...its dark. When I get home in the evening...its dark.

I will be out and about with both scopes Saturday morning. It is supposed to be a fantastic day on Saturday with temps close to 70 so that's when the comparison will be made. My CZ452 UL has the Vortex mounted with the same exact rings. I think I have already noticed a magnification differential, (Athlon being less, at least at 6x) but will not be able to verify until I get outside with both.

 

Okay, the final reveal!

It was cloudy today and around 65° F outside which made it perfect for my scope comparison in terms of light transmission.

The Athlon Neos, with the caveat "to my eyes" was brighter, crisper, and seemed to have more contrast than the Vortex. I did not see any fringing/distortions at the edges of the sight picture in the Athlon. The reticle was thinner in the Athlon which made it easier to see your aim point and shots. I only put 50 rounds down range with the scope mounted before it started to rain so short session. That being said there was an issue. The side parallax adjustment had an extreme amount of play....not loose, it took firm pressure to turn but variability/play in the markings on the knob and when the target was in focus.

For example, I sighted in at 25 yards, then I switched to my 55 yard target. I adjusted the side parallax to perfect focus and noticed it was just over the 75 yard mark. So while watching the target I turned the knob to see when it would go out of focus. Just as it started to get blurry, I looked at the knob and it was just above the 25 yard mark. Looking at my 25 yard target, not even close to being in focus. I tried this several times and determined the play was in the range of 40 Yards per markings on the adjustment knob. In other words I could move the knob from 30 yard setting to 70 yard setting and the focus did not change. (Actual marks at 25, 50 and 75 yards).

The Vortex Crossfire II with its AO adjustment was immediate and noticeable. The marking were corresponding to the distance I was shooting. At 55 yards the objective was setting just past the 50 yard marking. Not bad, not bad at all. Also, the Vortex seemed to have a slightly higher magnification at both 6x and 18x. It was noticeable, however, not deal breaker with the Athlon. The Vortex did seem to exhibit a little bit of distortion at the edges of the sight picture, but this would not bother me in the way I use a scope.

I did not test the Athlon's tracking due to the rain, that being said, it seemed to hold my aim point once I had it sighted in. The Vortex has been mounted on my rifle for awhile and has stayed on point. That I can confirm.

I am going to contact Athlon and see what they say rather than just send it back to Amazon. Maybe its a fluke or maybe they will tell me that is normal. I do not think you would run out of adjustment but I did not have time to test it at its lowest yardage setting to see if the claimed close focus distance of 10 yards is achievable. Lets see what Athlon Optics has to say first.

 

Does not sound normal to me.n
Mine do have that problem.
Let us know what Athlon says about it.

 

I never look at the numbers when adjusting for parallax on any of my scopes. I just turn the rimg until it is in focus and then move my head back and forth about 1/8" to see if there's any parallax still. If there is I dial until there's not. I have some pretty high end scopes that don't even put numbers on their focus rings.

 

Thanks for the feedback. The number markings really do not bother me that much, it just seemed strange that I could move the dial so much and not change the focus. I am familiar with camera lenses and "depth of field" allows for a distance range to be in focus. Maybe that is what is going on here. I did get out this morning and test its close focus - 10 yards - and it focused perfectly at its maximum magnification of 18x. So the side parallax/focus is working as it should for that purpose. I do not own, what I would call, high end scopes. The most I have paid for a scope is $400 bucks. For $140 bucks this Athlon Neos is a heck of a deal and offers great value and features not found in more expensive scopes. I find the clarity of the lenses to be outstanding. I did put the sun directly behind me to test the reflective coating of the ocular and although it did have some direct reflections, its nothing a typical brimmed hat would not take care of and there was no bleed of the reflection to cloud the view. One thing I forgot to mention was the turrets for windage and elevation on the Athlon Neos have very defined detents. The Vortex turrets are very mushy feeling but work as they should.

 

On my Neos (not the same model), the side focus markings are "off" as well, but the control works perfectly. It doesn't bother me that the marking reads about 37 yards when I'm shooting at 50 yards.

When the scope was fresh out of the box, both the magnification and side focus were very hard to turn, but that changed within two back-and-forth rotations. I called the company and asked about this. They said it was fairly common because the scopes are flown in. The lube gets cold at altitude, and makes things hard to turn for the first rotation or two.

 

Well the reply I received from Athlon was this is normal for their scopes.

Hello Brad,
The side parallax reference marks do not represent the exact amount of parallax you will need at said distance, as that can vary depending on the size of your target and the magnification being used. They are intended to give you a rough idea of where you need to be. As long as the scope is able to focus at all distances, the parallax will be within spec.
This will be the case on any scope that has a side parallax adjustment. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Best Regards,

Athlon Optics
Customer Service
801 N. Meadowbrook Dr.
Olathe, KS 66062
855-913-5678 Toll Free Number

I find this hard to believe, however, this is my first side parallax adjustment scope so it may be just the nature of the beast. Remember, my experience above, I could turn the side parallax adjustment knob from just above the 25 yard mark to just below the 75 yard mark with no change in focus on my 55 yard target.

I find it hard to believe that my AO type scopes can be so accurate in the distance markings and have really no play what so ever..... on my Vortex models...I own 4 of them, in various powers up to 24x.

I may try the Athlon Talos 6x24-50 next to see if the same behavior exists. If it does then I am going to return it and break down and buy an expensive scope....Leopold, Zeiss or Night-force and see what all the fuss is about with the higher end offerings. Wish me luck! With all of the above being said, for $140 bucks the Athlon is a decent scope.

 

Well the reply I received from Athlon was this is normal for their scopes.

I may try the Athlon Talos 6x24-50 next to see if the same behavior exists. ..........

I have the Talos scope mentioned above. The parallax markings are off like yours but are not excessively off.