Athlon Cronus 15x56 Binocular Review

Athlon Cronus 15x56 Review

Athlon Optics have been gaining steam over the past couple of years, especially in the tactical and hunting riflescope realm. Last year I published a review on the Ares Spotting scope and was really surprised at it's performance vs price. When they announced that they were producing a big binocular in the Cronus line I was excited to get it in hand to see how it performed.

The Specs:

The Athlon Cronus 15x56 features a magnesium chassis, Athlon's proprietary E2ES lens system and an Enhanced Spectral Prism coating that claims to reflect 99% of light through the prism assembly. As with most decent optics on the market today, they're fully waterproof, argon purged, feature twist up eyecups and diopter adjustment. They weigh in at 45.2 oz with a FOV of 235 ft at 1000 yards. This puts them right in the range of competing 15x56 optics, perhaps barely on the heavy side, but still competitive. They are also on the tall end when compared to some other models, but within about an inch. You can see all of the technical specs on the Cronus 15x56 on Athlon's website.

Real Word Testing:

In testing, the Cronus performed as advertised, and I was very impressed with their optical performance and quality. Edge to edge clarity was very good, focus was responsive and easy to find, light transmission was excellent. I took a pair of Zeiss Conquest 15x56 to do a side by side comparison, and surprisingly found the Cronus to have comparable, if not slightly better better edge to edge clarity and low light performance.

Takeaways:

The Athlon Cronus 15x56 is a very high performing optic for the price tag. With competitive pack ability, functionality, clarity, light gathering, and performance to optics costing much more, the Cronus 15x56 should be considered when looking for a mid-high range 15x binocular for your next mountain hunts.

*Note: The Cronus 15x56 comes in a rugged plastic case as pictured.