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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Athlon Optics (1 Viewer)

Frank:

Athlon looks like a new seller, from Lenexa, KS, who has just been to the supermarket in China.
Just go there with a good check, and you can buy whatever you want.
They link to Amazon, as their main place to buy.

Another similar seller is Styrka Optics, based in St Paul, MN. They are using Optics Planet.

It looks like both sell very much the same products, binoculars, rifle scopes and spotting scopes.

They all customize armor, etc. Zenray is an early example of clone optics.

I am not saying this is good or bad, but just an observation.

Jerry
 
Hello Frank,

The 8.x42 is another mid priced binocular, although others glasses in their catalogue are cheap. Comparing the Crounus with the others, it would seem that the dioptre setting may be on the central focussing knob, which is fairly ritzy. The sides look like pistol grips, probably an appealing feature for its intended market, the shooting set.
It makes a lot of claims, like edge to edge focussing, and close focussing, but unless someone want to buy one and write a review, it seems to be a proverbial "pig in a poke."

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:
 
Jerry,

Your observations are basically the same as mine for the most part. One thing that interested me though is some of their news releases. The first one, dated about a year ago, specifically references spending quite a sum of money on toolings and molds for their new models.....

http://athlonoptics.com/athlon-optics-committed-in-bringing-specially-designed-product/

Arthur,

The 8.5x42 caught my eye initially because it resembles the ZR Prime/Leupold McKinley and Theron Questa. Then I looked at the specs/features and noticed the reference to a field flattener. The only oddity is the magnification and subsequent field of view difference. Sort of reminds me of a direct shot at the Swaro SV 8.5x42.

The other model that interested me at this point was Argos 8x34. 407 foot listed field of view with 17 mm of eye relief. 16 ounce weight, dielectric prism coatings and a familiar open bridge design. Looks very much like the Sightron BS SII 8x32 with some upgrades. The kicker? $169

I have emailed them via their contact form and have requested the opportunity to review some of their products. We will see if they get back to me.

On another note, their scopes intrigue me. They definitely seem to be shooting for high performance with all of their models.
 
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Just an FYI, I heard back from Athlon today. They did buy all of their own machines, moldings, etc.... The gentlemen that started the company are all from Bushnell and left there two or so years ago after the company was purchased. I sent them a link to this thread and they are monitoring it so if you have any questions then post away. ;)
 
FrankD said:
Jerry,

Your observations are basically the same as mine for the most part. One thing that interested me though is some of their news releases. The first one, dated about a year ago, specifically references spending quite a sum of money on toolings and molds for their new models.....

http://athlonoptics.com/athlon-optics-committed-in-bringing-specially-designed-product/

Arthur,

The 8.5x42 caught my eye initially because it resembles the ZR Prime/Leupold McKinley and Theron Questa. Then I looked at the specs/features and noticed the reference to a field flattener. The only oddity is the magnification and subsequent field of view difference. Sort of reminds me of a direct shot at the Swaro SV 8.5x42.

The other model that interested me at this point was Argos 8x34. 407 foot listed field of view with 17 mm of eye relief. 16 ounce weight, dielectric prism coatings and a familiar open bridge design. Looks very much like the Sightron BS SII 8x32 with some upgrades. The kicker? $169

I have emailed them via their contact form and have requested the opportunity to review some of their products. We will see if they get back to me.

On another note, their scopes intrigue me. They definitely seem to be shooting for high performance with all of their models.
Click to expand...


I also noticed that the specs of the 8.5x42 Cronus have a close similarity to that of the Swarovski 8.5 x 42 SV. Specifically the Flat Field (which they call E2ES or edge to edge sharpness system); the 399'@1000yds FOV and their very long ER of 22mm.

It would be interesting to see a report comparing the 2 binoculars.

You have the Swaro don't you Jerry?;)

Bob
 
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Pinewood said:
Hello Frank,

The 8.x42 is another mid priced binocular, although others glasses in their catalogue are cheap. Comparing the Crounus with the others, it would seem that the dioptre setting may be on the central focussing knob, which is fairly ritzy. The sides look like pistol grips, probably an appealing feature for its intended market, the shooting set.
It makes a lot of claims, like edge to edge focussing, and close focussing, but unless someone want to buy one and write a review, it seems to be a proverbial "pig in a poke."

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:
Click to expand...

The specs read: Edge to Edge Sharpness System. That could be Chinglish for "field flatteners." With the 8.5x42 configuration, could this be a "Poor Man's EL" or as Jerry suggested, a clone, perhaps sharing DNA with the Hawke Panorama ED.

hawke-panorama-ed-8.5x42

Brock
 
ceasar said:
I also noticed that the specs of the 8.5x42 Cronus have a close similarity to that of the Swarovski 8.5 x 42 SV. Specifically the Flat Field (which they call E2ES or edge to edge sharpness system); the 399'@1000yds FOV and their very long ER of 22mm.

It would be interesting to see a report comparing the 2 binoculars.

You have the Swaro don't you Jerry?;)

Bob
Click to expand...

Bob:

You are an interested observer on the new optics that do come
along. What I found interesting, is in the link you quoted from
Frank above, from Dec. 31, 2014, the Cronus line that includes
an 8x42 model, and not an 8.5x42.

I suppose they had not had time to say what size to call it.
The current website has the same specs. and refers to
their current 8.5x42 model.

I don't think that is the way to do things, the Bushnell guys do
have to know this. Wow. :-O

Don't try to fool the customer.

Jerry
 
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I did hear back from their customer service and will see if I can get one or two of their products to review. More to follow....
 
brocknroller said:
You should ask for three, then you'd have a Triathlon. ;)

<B>
Click to expand...

Brock:

You have lots of thoughts on binoculars, you should become a reviewer.

Many companies love to get some exposure, especially the new start-ups.

Frank is on the cutting edge, and gets his hands on them early.

Jerry
 
I don't know about lots of thoughts, but I've got lots of jokes ("I’ve got a million of ‘em, ha-cha-cha-cha!).

I met an IT guy at Thanksgiving, a neighbor of the woman who hosted the dinner, and he's going to set me up with a blog, because that's what publishers want these days, bloggers and social media savvy writers. Then Frank won't have a leg up on me, anymore, and maybe I'll get some new bins to review.

The other advantage I have is that I can see CA, pincushion, RB, field curvature, Absam Rings, vignetting, image blackouts, etc., and I can feel wonky focusers, loose diopters, "bad hang," and well, you-name-it, so I won't miss a thing in my reviews.

Brock's Bino Blog & Shtick. Coming to cyberspace next year.

<B>
 
Brock,

I did ask for three...two binos and a scope. Their high-end bino isn't in stock yet but should be so before the end of this month. They are going to send me the 8.5x42 at that time. The scope won't be ready until that time as well.

However, they are sending me the 8x34 Argos which is one model I was interested in because of the configuration, specs and price point. Will see how it stacks up to the Sightron and a few other sub-$200 roofs that I have on hand. ;)
 
The warranty looks very good, although, of course, it will only be around as long as they are. It looks like these are interesting times for specialty companies, such as Maven, and now Athlon. I guess there wasn't a copyright issue with the Nikon Athlon name. Interesting that these are also available on Amazon, so a bit different than Maven.
 
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FrankD said:
Brock,

I did ask for three...two binos and a scope. Their high-end bino isn't in stock yet but should be so before the end of this month. They are going to send me the 8.5x42 at that time. The scope won't be ready until that time as well.

However, they are sending me the 8x34 Argos which is one model I was interested in because of the configuration, specs and price point. Will see how it stacks up to the Sightron and a few other sub-$200 roofs that I have on hand. ;)
Click to expand...
You think if I contacted Swarovski and said I would write a review on their binoculars they would send me over a few SV's?
 
[email protected] said:
You think if I contacted Swarovski and said I would write a review on their binoculars they would send me over a few SV's?
Click to expand...

Do you want an honest answer or a smar-alleck one?

|:D|

I will assume the former.

I never ask any of the "big names" for review models. Why? They already have plenty of established professional reviewers to do reviews on their products. Plus you don't really need to read a review of a $2000+ product to know that it is good. It has to be good if it is going to cost $2000+. ;)
 
FrankD said:
Do you want an honest answer or a smar-alleck one?

|:D|

I will assume the former.

I never ask any of the "big names" for review models. Why? They already have plenty of established professional reviewers to do reviews on their products. Plus you don't really need to read a review of a $2000+ product to know that it is good. It has to be good if it is going to cost $2000+. ;)
Click to expand...
I am a professional reviewer! Just kidding. I agree that all $2K level alpha binoculars are good but some people still like reviews on them to help them decide what is best for them. For example, if you like a bright binocular and the reviewer says the Zeiss SF were brighter than the Leica HD it would help you narrow your choices.
 
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