I recently picked up an Athlon Ares 15-45x65mm angled spotting scope to put through the paces and see if I wanted to buy it. I planned to return the spotting scope and keep my current Vortex Viper 65mm spotting scope if I didn't like the Athlon better. The long and the short of it is that I'd choose the Athlon Ares by a wide margin. The Vortex Viper is a fine-to-good mid-range spotting scope to my eyes. The Athlon Ares is everything I want though: light, compact, great glass. My review took place in the Idaho hills near my house in bright sunlight and, most of all, low light conditions.
Size:
I’m a backpack hunter so size and weight is important to me. I’m not a guy who leaves the spotter in the truck but that doesn’t mean I’m not feeling the weight on mile 12 either. The Athlon Ares dimensions are 3.5"x9.5". I immediately thought this doesn't look like the size of a 65mm spotter--it looks like a 50mm spotter. The dimensions for popular 50mm scopes are 9-11 inches long. So, yes, the Athlon Ares spotting scope is the length of a compact spotting scope, an amazing feature for packability.
Dimensions for competitors of 65mm size I found were closer to 15 inches. I kept comparing the Athlon Ares and Vortex Viper and as you'll see in the picture it's pretty mind-blowing how much smaller the Athlon Ares is.
Weight:
The weight for the 65mm Athlon Ares is 43 ounces. That puts it near the top the class for 65mm spotting scopes and is approaching compact spotters. 30 ounces is celebrated by the 50mm spotting scope companies as being really light. That means there's less than a pound of weight difference between the Athlon Ares 65mm and the compact spotters. Even for an ounce-counting ultralight backpack hunter that is
not much of a weight penalty for the benefits of a larger lens.
Pick up the Vortex Viper and there is an immediately noticeable difference in weight difference. Many 65mm spotting scopes are in the 60-65 ounce range. After reviewing the weight and size, my feeling was that the Vortex Viper would have to be a noticeable notch above the Ares in optical quality to justify its place in my hunting backpack.
Build quality:
Unlike some companies, I don’t have any expectation to use the warranty based on the build quality of the spotting scope. Without getting into the technical and scientific features of the build, which I’ll leave for another day, Athlon is built with sturdy aluminum frame with a hard plastic exterior. It doesn't feel cheap which is what I'm normally looking at. The Athlon eye piece particularly interesting in how large and robust it is.
The Vortex Viper, by contrast, has an eye piece that's smaller and likely less able to withstand impact. The Vortex Viper also had some play in the eye piece which didn't affect performance but was concerning. There are no such issues with the Athlon Ares. The Vortex Viper has served me without issue for years so proof has been in the pudding. I would expect it to be very likely that the Athlon Ares would be the same or better.
Optical quality:
Welcome to the main event: the optics challenge. The Athlon Ares meet all my expectations in this area; in edge-to-edge clarity, I found the Ares to be very good. It had the pop through the lens that quality optics deliver and reminded me of some of the better glass I've looked through. It quickly crossed my mind that I can see why it gets some comparisons to the Vortex Razor spotting scope and others which are hundreds of dollars more expensive. The middle of the scope is very sharp and just at the very outer edges can you notice a hint of loss of clarity.
In comparing the Vortex Viper side-by-side with the Ares, I found them to be close in clarity and sharpness. Ultimately, the more I looked through the Ares the more I felt it had a more comfortable and natural view. I do feel the clarity is a slight notch above. When comparing the huge size difference between the spotting scopes, it was amazing to me that the view in the Athlon doesn't lose anything to scopes that are so much larger. Looking at the two side-by-side I subconsciously expected the larger scope to have a more powerful view.
With entry level scopes, a frequent issue is that the higher magnifications are not very useable because as you go to the upper magnification range the view becomes too dark and blurry. The Athlon Ares does not have this issue. Zoom on up to 45x magnification and you barely notice a smidge of clarity loss and the scope is naturally a little darker. I happily scoped out the country side from max magnification and wasn't feeling like I was looking through anything blurry or dark. Zooming back and forth between the lowest and highest magnifications you sometimes forget completely you're at 45x because the difference is so minimal. I found the Vortex Viper to be relatively similar in this aspect but not quite the same level again.
While there is of course a scope out there with better optics that costs more than two thousand dollars, the ability to better spot animals due to clarity is minimal at best. In my testing I found an eagle at approximately two miles away. The view was clear as day and I easily identified it as a bald eagle. Yes, that bull three miles away is definitely a shooter six point with their scope. The Athlon is very clear glass that will help you spot and judge animals.
Color fidelity:
I don’t consider myself an expert in determining color distortions in glass. In looking as closely as possible, I feel the color tone is very neutral and I did not notice any real color distortion while viewing objects with vibrant colors side-by-size between the spotting scope and the naked eye, including the sky, signs, structures, and construction signs.
Field of view:
The Athlon Ares has a field of view of 171 to 81 feet depending on the magnification. This beats the Vortex Razer by a wide margin. In the field I could notice a bit of extra field of view between the Athlon Ares and Vortex Viper side-by-side. I believe there is better field of view on scopes well out of the Athlon Ares’ price range but the Athlon Ares is pretty strong in this category.
Light gathering:
Crucial for glassing during those early and late animal movement areas, I found the light gathering to be quite strong for the Athlon Ares. The Vortex Viper performed similarly. I was able to glass without noticing significant loss of clarity of light gathering through right around 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset. As I kept glassing I would start to get the effects of darkness but would be able to pick out much of the detail on distant hillsides as it became dark enough that I could see little with the naked eye around me and all cars had their headlights on. I really can’t imagine that a top end spotter would provide much additional benefit here.
Functionality:
I found the Athlon Ares to be well designed and more functional than the Vortex Viper. One item that stuck out was that the focus nob was easier to reach and easier to use. The magnification numbers were more easily visible. The caps on the lens went on and off quicker and stayed better. I was pretty impressed by how the Ares was designed as everything felt intentional.
Warranty:
Athlon has a no-fault lifetime warranty on their optics. It's nice peace of mind to have when traversing snow-covered steep slopes.
I am quite impressed after putting the Athlon Ares through field tests and close inspection. The view is clear. The scope is off the charts on packability and weight for a 65mm spotting scope. The Athlon Ares is a great choice for a mid-range spotting scope and it strikes well above its price category. Please feel free to ask me any questions.
Size:
I’m a backpack hunter so size and weight is important to me. I’m not a guy who leaves the spotter in the truck but that doesn’t mean I’m not feeling the weight on mile 12 either. The Athlon Ares dimensions are 3.5"x9.5". I immediately thought this doesn't look like the size of a 65mm spotter--it looks like a 50mm spotter. The dimensions for popular 50mm scopes are 9-11 inches long. So, yes, the Athlon Ares spotting scope is the length of a compact spotting scope, an amazing feature for packability.
Dimensions for competitors of 65mm size I found were closer to 15 inches. I kept comparing the Athlon Ares and Vortex Viper and as you'll see in the picture it's pretty mind-blowing how much smaller the Athlon Ares is.
Weight:
The weight for the 65mm Athlon Ares is 43 ounces. That puts it near the top the class for 65mm spotting scopes and is approaching compact spotters. 30 ounces is celebrated by the 50mm spotting scope companies as being really light. That means there's less than a pound of weight difference between the Athlon Ares 65mm and the compact spotters. Even for an ounce-counting ultralight backpack hunter that is
not much of a weight penalty for the benefits of a larger lens.
Pick up the Vortex Viper and there is an immediately noticeable difference in weight difference. Many 65mm spotting scopes are in the 60-65 ounce range. After reviewing the weight and size, my feeling was that the Vortex Viper would have to be a noticeable notch above the Ares in optical quality to justify its place in my hunting backpack.
Build quality:
Unlike some companies, I don’t have any expectation to use the warranty based on the build quality of the spotting scope. Without getting into the technical and scientific features of the build, which I’ll leave for another day, Athlon is built with sturdy aluminum frame with a hard plastic exterior. It doesn't feel cheap which is what I'm normally looking at. The Athlon eye piece particularly interesting in how large and robust it is.
The Vortex Viper, by contrast, has an eye piece that's smaller and likely less able to withstand impact. The Vortex Viper also had some play in the eye piece which didn't affect performance but was concerning. There are no such issues with the Athlon Ares. The Vortex Viper has served me without issue for years so proof has been in the pudding. I would expect it to be very likely that the Athlon Ares would be the same or better.
Optical quality:
Welcome to the main event: the optics challenge. The Athlon Ares meet all my expectations in this area; in edge-to-edge clarity, I found the Ares to be very good. It had the pop through the lens that quality optics deliver and reminded me of some of the better glass I've looked through. It quickly crossed my mind that I can see why it gets some comparisons to the Vortex Razor spotting scope and others which are hundreds of dollars more expensive. The middle of the scope is very sharp and just at the very outer edges can you notice a hint of loss of clarity.
In comparing the Vortex Viper side-by-side with the Ares, I found them to be close in clarity and sharpness. Ultimately, the more I looked through the Ares the more I felt it had a more comfortable and natural view. I do feel the clarity is a slight notch above. When comparing the huge size difference between the spotting scopes, it was amazing to me that the view in the Athlon doesn't lose anything to scopes that are so much larger. Looking at the two side-by-side I subconsciously expected the larger scope to have a more powerful view.
With entry level scopes, a frequent issue is that the higher magnifications are not very useable because as you go to the upper magnification range the view becomes too dark and blurry. The Athlon Ares does not have this issue. Zoom on up to 45x magnification and you barely notice a smidge of clarity loss and the scope is naturally a little darker. I happily scoped out the country side from max magnification and wasn't feeling like I was looking through anything blurry or dark. Zooming back and forth between the lowest and highest magnifications you sometimes forget completely you're at 45x because the difference is so minimal. I found the Vortex Viper to be relatively similar in this aspect but not quite the same level again.
While there is of course a scope out there with better optics that costs more than two thousand dollars, the ability to better spot animals due to clarity is minimal at best. In my testing I found an eagle at approximately two miles away. The view was clear as day and I easily identified it as a bald eagle. Yes, that bull three miles away is definitely a shooter six point with their scope. The Athlon is very clear glass that will help you spot and judge animals.
Color fidelity:
I don’t consider myself an expert in determining color distortions in glass. In looking as closely as possible, I feel the color tone is very neutral and I did not notice any real color distortion while viewing objects with vibrant colors side-by-size between the spotting scope and the naked eye, including the sky, signs, structures, and construction signs.
Field of view:
The Athlon Ares has a field of view of 171 to 81 feet depending on the magnification. This beats the Vortex Razer by a wide margin. In the field I could notice a bit of extra field of view between the Athlon Ares and Vortex Viper side-by-side. I believe there is better field of view on scopes well out of the Athlon Ares’ price range but the Athlon Ares is pretty strong in this category.
Light gathering:
Crucial for glassing during those early and late animal movement areas, I found the light gathering to be quite strong for the Athlon Ares. The Vortex Viper performed similarly. I was able to glass without noticing significant loss of clarity of light gathering through right around 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset. As I kept glassing I would start to get the effects of darkness but would be able to pick out much of the detail on distant hillsides as it became dark enough that I could see little with the naked eye around me and all cars had their headlights on. I really can’t imagine that a top end spotter would provide much additional benefit here.
Functionality:
I found the Athlon Ares to be well designed and more functional than the Vortex Viper. One item that stuck out was that the focus nob was easier to reach and easier to use. The magnification numbers were more easily visible. The caps on the lens went on and off quicker and stayed better. I was pretty impressed by how the Ares was designed as everything felt intentional.
Warranty:
Athlon has a no-fault lifetime warranty on their optics. It's nice peace of mind to have when traversing snow-covered steep slopes.
I am quite impressed after putting the Athlon Ares through field tests and close inspection. The view is clear. The scope is off the charts on packability and weight for a 65mm spotting scope. The Athlon Ares is a great choice for a mid-range spotting scope and it strikes well above its price category. Please feel free to ask me any questions.
