Full Review- Athlon Ares 65mm Spotter

[midwesthunter]

I am curious about their 60x 80mm spotter but I don't believe it has BAK-4 glass in it??? I think Athlon did enough market research and decided to use BAK-4 glass in their Ares 45X scope at a reasonable price point as they believe it will be their flagship scope and probably out sell the larger 60X scopes 3to1 is my guess? It is a perfect size scope for hunters. I am curious if they will eventually come out with a UHD BAK-4 glass in a 60x power scope? Have you had the opportunity to compare the 60x with their 45X spotter? Mostly curiosity for me as my two non BAK-4 glass 60's (non Athlon scopes) really don't compare to the BAK-4 glass Ares 45X.

I haven't had the chance to compare it to the 45X, but I have been able to compare to a vortex razor 16-48 and a older Leupold 40X gold ring. The Athlon was clearer then the luepold and equal to the razor at similar magnifications. I recieved it to try out late last year on a antelope hunt and the weather didn't cooperate to get the best comparison. But I will be doing more this year.

 

[schmalts]

You are putting way to much thought into the Bak4 glass. Bak4 is a prism spec and a lot more to worry about is overall design and all the other elements including the eye piece. Bak4 euro specs are different than Chinese Bak4 and Chinese Bak7 is comparable to Bak4 euro. Bk7 is sometimes better than Bak4 depending how it's used. UHD is nothing more than a made up Buzz word with no specs to verify what it means. Same with all the coatings BS buzzwords companies come up with. I can sell you binos with schmaltsbright coatings of Moondust, you'd never know what it is.

 

[Sawtooth]

You are putting way to much thought into the Bak4 glass. Bak4 is a prism spec and a lot more to worry about is overall design and all the other elements including the eye piece. Bak4 euro specs are different than Chinese Bak4 and Chinese Bak7 is comparable to Bak4 euro. Bk7 is sometimes better than Bak4 depending how it's used. UHD is nothing more than a made up Buzz word with no specs to verify what it means. Same with all the coatings BS buzzwords companies come up with. I can sell you binos with schmaltsbright coatings of Moondust, you'd never know what it is.

Optics with Schmaltsbright coatings are the bomb. Just received my spotting scope from him today! Mine is a limited addition scope with Schmaltsbright UHD glass.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

Optics with Schmaltsbright coatings are the bomb. Just received my spotting scope from him today! Mine is a limited addition scope with Schmaltsbright UHD glass.

Damn! You picking out gophers at a mile with that glass!?

 

[Sawtooth]

Damn! You picking out gophers at a mile with that glass!?

Field mice at a mile and a half.

 

[ntodwild]

You are putting way to much thought into the Bak4 glass. Bak4 is a prism spec and a lot more to worry about is overall design and all the other elements including the eye piece. Bak4 euro specs are different than Chinese Bak4 and Chinese Bak7 is comparable to Bak4 euro. Bk7 is sometimes better than Bak4 depending how it's used. UHD is nothing more than a made up Buzz word with no specs to verify what it means. Same with all the coatings BS buzzwords companies come up with. I can sell you binos with schmaltsbright coatings of Moondust, you'd never know what it is.

Hey Schmalts.

Totally understand where you are coming from with the BAK-4, 7, Chinese vs German vs Japanese glass. I know there are "slight" differences in them. I do understand the buzz words surround coatings and labels that manufacturers/retailers place on their products as well. I am purely speaking about my experience with the Athlon Ares 15x45x65 scope. I don't have the money for a Swaro, Zeiss or something of the kind and probably wouldn't spend that kind of money on a field spotter I am gonna beat the sh*t out of over the years even if I had it $$. Thats just me. I have nothing against the high end scopes at all nor do I pretend I am an expert on spotting scopes. I am merely pointing out that the Ares is a far better scope than many I have looked at within the same price range and very comparable to many $200-$500 higher in price. I personally think this one scope we are talking about in this posting (Ares) is an exceptional deal for the price. This forum is about education and it's nice to have real world opinion from people using the gear so hopefully someone can make an informed decision. I have had amazing results with the Ares Scope in comparison to what I have used in the past and am very impressed with it's price point, glass quality, BAK-4 glass, coatings and its solid build and I am not one to jump on a forum and blabber about MY PRODUCT just because I purchased it and want to tell everyone its the best. I truly think its a great scope. I totally understand others will have different opinions or experiences and surely more experience than I AND may even be in the industry?

 

[schmalts]

Hey Schmalts.

Totally understand where you are coming from with the BAK-4, 7, Chinese vs German vs Japanese glass. I know there are "slight" differences in them. I do understand the buzz words surround coatings and labels that manufacturers/retailers place on their products as well. I am purely speaking about my experience with the Athlon Ares 15x45x65 scope. I don't have the money for a Swaro, Zeiss or something of the kind and probably wouldn't spend that kind of money on a field spotter I am gonna beat the sh*t out of over the years even if I had it $$. Thats just me. I have nothing against the high end scopes at all nor do I pretend I am an expert on spotting scopes. I am merely pointing out that the Ares is a far better scope than many I have looked at within the same price range and very comparable to many $200-$500 higher in price. I personally think this one scope we are talking about in this posting (Ares) is an exceptional deal for the price. This forum is about education and it's nice to have real world opinion from people using the gear so hopefully someone can make an informed decision. I have had amazing results with the Ares Scope in comparison to what I have used in the past and am very impressed with it's price point, glass quality, BAK-4 glass, coatings and its solid build and I am not one to jump on a forum and blabber about MY PRODUCT just because I purchased it and want to tell everyone its the best. I truly think its a great scope. I totally understand others will have different opinions or experiences and surely more experience than I AND may even be in the industry?

I am not saying anything about the Ares in general. I am just saying you seem to use UHD and Bak4 as some kind of quality spec when in reality neither mean diddly because they are simply advertising terms. If anything the APO objective and the quality of the EP (Eye Piece) on the Ares is what makes it a good optic. Keep in mind there is more glass elements in some EP's than most scope bodies. Every glass element an image (light) has to penetrate will degrade the image so quality of every element via glass, design, and coatings is extremely important. My point was read buzz words with a grain of salt. Overall design and quality of the elements in the end is what matters. There has been some budget spotters that outperformed higher end spotters simply by better design by having less elements for light to pass through. But in the end I agree the Ares is a great buy. I have a factory sample of an 80mm spottter that uses some high end mirrors in place of prisms and it honestly will blow away most of the competition. Only downside is the FOV is a little smaller but that might be resolved with a WA EP. I am really curious to see what company will end up putting a logo on it and start selling it.