• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Athlon Optics Cronus 20-60x86 (1 Viewer)

FrankD

FrankD

Well-known member
This post isn't meant as a full review as I only received a review unit of this scope yesterday. However, I was so impressed with this scope that I felt the need to begin the discussion on it. I only have a few comments for now and some pics to share but I thought it worthy of discussion.

For one, the quality level on all of the mechanics are excellent. Butter smooth eyecups, focusing knobs and zoom adjustment. No play, not too hard and not too fast. Perfect in my opinion.

Optical quality is absolutely excellent. I phonescoped some pics with the scope at 20x and 60x. These are completely unedited...vignetting left in the image. Probably not the best test photos as I was photographing Snow Geese approximately 150 yards away..and over a road, so heat shimmer plays a part. Still, the images turned out pretty well (phonescoped with the Iphone 6S and Phoneskope Universal adapter.)

I have a feeling three characteristics are going to be points of discussion, the prism design/housing, the focusing knobs and the eyepiece (bayonet style btw).

Product website with specs.....
 

Attachments

  • spotter1.jpg
    spotter1.jpg
    136 KB · Views: 435
  • spotter2.jpg
    spotter2.jpg
    96.1 KB · Views: 342
  • spotter3.jpg
    spotter3.jpg
    84.4 KB · Views: 408
  • spotter4.jpg
    spotter4.jpg
    54.3 KB · Views: 322
Last edited:
That looks smart, sleek, and the pics speak volumes. Will look forward to your user report after a good test.
 
That does look interesting, Frank. The low slung prism housing and focusing knobs resemble the old Leica 77mm Televid. Shouldn't be too hard to determine the prism type and focusing method by just looking in from the front. Is there a moving prism or a moving focusing lens? As for the eyepiece, it's probably just a matter of determining which design has been copied.

I'd be very interested to see phonescoped 60x star-test images (maybe 4-5 rings inside and outside of focus), but I can't tell anything from the goose photos. Remember, the tiny lens on the iPhone restricts the effective scope aperture at 20x to about 38mm. Even the 60x image doesn't really show the true image quality.

Henry
 
FrankD said:
This post isn't meant as a full review as I only received a review unit of this scope yesterday. However, I was so impressed with this scope that I felt the need to begin the discussion on it. I only have a few comments for now and some pics to share but I thought it worthy of discussion.

For one, the quality level on all of the mechanics are excellent. Butter smooth eyecups, focusing knobs and zoom adjustment. No play, not too hard and not too fast. Perfect in my opinion.

Optical quality is absolutely excellent. I phonescoped some pics with the scope at 20x and 60x. These are completely unedited...vignetting left in the image. Probably not the best test photos as I was photographing Snow Geese approximately 150 yards away..and over a road, so heat shimmer plays a part. Still, the images turned out pretty well (phonescoped with the Iphone 6S and Phoneskope Universal adapter.)

I have a feeling three characteristics are going to be points of discussion, the prism design/housing, the focusing knobs and the eyepiece (bayonet style btw).

Product website with specs.....
Click to expand...
I suggest you post this on the what's happened in that last 10-15 years thread.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=320618

Given inflation (which few calculate) the price/performance ratio has improved in favor of the consumer.
 
Henry,

I will be happy to oblige with the star test images you requested if time permits either today or tomorrow. I had a feeling you would chime in once you saw the scope design. For some reason the eyepiece reminds me of either the Baader or the Swaro clones.

Pileatus,

Will do. ;)
 
Looks very similar to the Helios fieldmaster 82ED. I had a look through one a couple of years back, and for the money it was very good, nice optics and solid build quality. Think the mounting foot fitted straight into a manfrotto head too. The thing that will likely put folks off is the depreciation and the fact that for the same price you can get a second hand Leica/Nikon/Kowa that will offer similar optics without depreciating so much. Looking forward to an in depth review though.
 
Hi Frank,

The same Swarovski cloned zoom eyepiece as the one used by Vortex and Zen-Ray is likely. The field width specs are a good match for that one rather than the Baader and the Cronus eyepiece looks just like the picture of the Vortex Razor eyepiece. That's not a bad thing.

I'm willing to bet that the prism system is Porro + semi-pentaprism, with focusing by moving prism.

Looking forward to the star-test images, but no hurry.

Henry
 
Also looks like the Alpen Rainier 25x75-86mm. I have seen it at various web sites under a $1000. One equipment review here, not a very good one ?
 
Last edited:
On paper the Alpen Ranier looks like a better version, the same rear end wedded to a longer focal length objective lens. IMO, its magnification range is more useful for a scope of this aperture and, if we assume a Swarovski clone zoom with 22.1-7.7mm focal length range, the focal ratio of the objective increases from f/5.37 to f/6.68. The latter should be a lower aberration scope with less vignetting of the aperture at close focus, IF everything else is equal, never a certainty.

The review is more of a complaint about shipping damage. The reviewer erroneously thinks that couldn't happen to a more expensive scope.
 
I have to say this looks exactly like a Focus Eagle 20-60x83ED spotting scope, a scope that I own and love. The bayonet is a direct copy of swarovski's and I am about to buy a 25-50xw to try on it. The quality of this scope is superb imo, 39-20m @1000m fov is quite good actually and the full so is usable most of the time. If it is one of these scopes that's just rebranded it is an Air Spaced Triplet used and to my eyes it handles CA very well. The Focus scope has a magnesium housing and weighs in at 1886 grams with ep.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
New User / Thread Revival / Athlon Cronus 20-60x86

New to the forum, so hello all!

I'm not actually a birder, but an avid adventurer/overlander who appreciates viewing wildlife and landscapes in general. I also enjoy some casual astronomy with my Celestron 8se at home.

I own a pair of Vortex Viper binos. I am satisfied with them - bought them a few years back on a recommendation without too much knowledge of the offerings and not enough time to fully research before heading out west.

After a few cross-country trips, I'm in the market for a spotting scope for wildlife/landscape viewing. I was originally intending to go with a Vortex Viper (or possibly Razor) since I like the binos enough. But with some more time on my side I've been researching a bit. I came across the current sale for the Athlon Cronus 20-60x/86mm @ $999. Haven't found an awful lot of info and reviews on them.

So, hoping to revive this thread and see what the OP thinks after a couple of years with them. And also open to any other advice on spotters @ the $1k mark.

For context, I have a Jeep and an expedition trailer I haul to remote places. While I do hike, I don't need the spotter to be especially light weight as my main use would be from my base camp. I am inclined toward the ~85mm objectives vs the ~65mm for additional light gathering as I would also use it for very casual stargazing.

That's about it... Thanks!
 
TheBlueNewt said:
...I came across the current sale for the Athlon Cronus 20-60x/86mm @ $999. Haven't found an awful lot of info and reviews on them...
Click to expand...

Two things I've noted that are missing from reviews. First, this scope doesn't focus as closely as others. Second, the bayonet eyepiece is not a perfect precision tight fit, so weight on the eyepiece (e.g. when attaching a camera for digiscoping) causes the view to shift as if the scope were pointed in a slightly different direction such that whatever is originally centered may be at the periphery or beyond the edge of the view.

--AP
 
Alexis Powell said:
Two things I've noted that are missing from reviews. First, this scope doesn't focus as closely as others. Second, the bayonet eyepiece is not a perfect precision tight fit, so weight on the eyepiece (e.g. when attaching a camera for digiscoping) causes the view to shift as if the scope were pointed in a slightly different direction such that whatever is originally centered may be at the periphery or beyond the edge of the view.

--AP
Click to expand...

Thanks Alexis. Good info. Are those detriments enough to warrant considering something else? Or is the Cronus still a best buy @ $1k and those are just issues to be aware of?

The close focus of 29.5' I can live with. The digiscoping issue would be more irritating as I do hope to get some nice pics with it.

-Mike


-Mike
 
I think it's a matter of being aware of the limitations. For digiscoping, my description of the problem was exaggerated because in my case I was taking pre-cropped pics from the very center of the FOV. I don't have enough experience w/the current competition at $1000 to know for sure whether the Cronus qualifies as a best buy, but I think it does.

--AP
 
Warning! This thread is more than 4 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

S
Quick positive review of Athlon Cronus G2 20-60x86 Spotting Scope
Replies
0
Views
646
sully6982
S
A
Any opinions on the Athlon Cronus G2 here?
Replies
4
Views
1K
Bill Atwood
Bill Atwood
G
The New Athlon Cronus G2 20-60x86 UHD Spotting Scope Has Been Released
Replies
0
Views
1K
gr8fuldoug
G
D
Sky Rover Banner Cloud 8x42 APO Review
2
Replies
29
Views
4K
dries1
dries1
dwatsonbirder
Kowa TSN-501 - a brief review
Replies
10
Views
3K
Hermann
Hermann

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top