Spent some time at the range today and took down a few notes from some more affordable options for optics. Both scopes are MIL adjustment and similarly priced. The Athlon is mounted on a .308 Bergara B-14 Ridge SP and the Arken is mounted on a Bergara B-14 Ridge .300 Win Mag.
Athlon Helos BTR Gen2 2-12×42:
-Excellent glass for a Chinese scope.
-Nice smaller/compact scope.
-Very good eye relief.
-Turrets are decent lift/turn, down/lock
-Tracked accurately
-Parallax, zoom, fast focus all felt very nice.
-Not a huge fan of the reticle but it works, center dot is too large for my taste at longer distance.
Arken SH4 4-16×50:
-Glass is nice and clear but I felt it had a blueish tint to it/not as true to color.
-Large/bulky scope and heavy.
-Shorter eye relief than the Athlon, sometimes I felt like I needed to scoot my cheek a little closer to get a full picture.
-Excellent turrets, crisp, and clear.
-Tracked accurately
-Parallax, zoom, fast focus weren't as smooth and felt a little tighter than the Athlon but were good.
-Excellent reticle, thick enough to see as lower power, but fine enough at high power to not cover point of aim.
Athlon Helos BTR Gen2 2-12×42:
-Excellent glass for a Chinese scope.
-Nice smaller/compact scope.
-Very good eye relief.
-Turrets are decent lift/turn, down/lock
-Tracked accurately
-Parallax, zoom, fast focus all felt very nice.
-Not a huge fan of the reticle but it works, center dot is too large for my taste at longer distance.
Arken SH4 4-16×50:
-Glass is nice and clear but I felt it had a blueish tint to it/not as true to color.
-Large/bulky scope and heavy.
-Shorter eye relief than the Athlon, sometimes I felt like I needed to scoot my cheek a little closer to get a full picture.
-Excellent turrets, crisp, and clear.
-Tracked accurately
-Parallax, zoom, fast focus weren't as smooth and felt a little tighter than the Athlon but were good.
-Excellent reticle, thick enough to see as lower power, but fine enough at high power to not cover point of aim.
