SWFA update below

I read all the raving reviews, looked at one on another guys rifle, it looked great. Reticle is great, FFP, illuminated reticle is great.

Bought the scope for a new upper I am building, got it and was impressed. Nice feel, looked as good as my other expensive scopes, clear edge to edge, no chromatic aberwhatsits, zero tunneling down to minimum mag level, parallax was adjustable down to 10yds at 14x, very impressive. I thought wow, the reviews were right.

Of course none of that shit is really important though is it, I am not watching birds with it or shooting anything at 10yds or trying to look at stuff on the edge of the scope or trying to determine colors at distance or reading text at 100 yards or even using 4x power. The one and only thing that is important is that the reticle moves the same amount I dial on the turrets.

So does it track correctly? TL;DR Not it is worthless, the turrets are novelty items.

I mount the scope in my AD-Recon mount secure it to a stripped upper and secure that into my bench vise, a very solid setup.
I have a 6 foot ruler that is bright yellow with black writing it is marked to the 1/16". I mounted this across the yard plumb and carefully measured the distance to the turrets with my 300' tape. Luckily, with this nice looking scope I could easily and clearly resolve to the 1/32"(half way between 1/16ths).

Before checking tracking I cranked this scope through the full travel about 30 or 40 times, I was pleasantly surprised to find the scope had 26+mil rather than the advertised 20mil of travel. Later I found the reticle didn't move at the top for the last 1.5mil bad sign IMO.

I put the scope at 1 mil from bottom roughly where 100yd zero would be(with my 30moa mount). I record the measurement, crank it up 5 mil and record the measurement, I repeat this to 20mil, I go all the way to the top(26mil) then back down to 20mil and record the number, then down to 15mil and so on I do this 10 times.

I found it didn't repeat, I want back and fourth several times to see if I could go past and come back maybe to take out lash but it didn't help. It didn't matter if I was going up the scale or down the scale, "ups" didn't match "ups", "downs" didn't match "downs", it was just random.

Here are my results that I converted to extreme mil spread. Obviously the number should be zero.

@0 mil travel over 10 times extreme spread = .6 mil
@5 mil travel over 10 times extreme spread = .6 mil
@10mil travel over 10 times extreme spread = .9 mil
@15mil travel over 10 times extreme spread = .46 mil
@20mil travel over 10 times extreme spread = .46 mil

So basically when you move to say the 10mil position your reticle will be somewhere within .9mil of what you dialed. Not even usable in my opinion.
Well after seeing this great disappointment I know I cannot use this scope as intended(dialing for drops, that is what target turrets are for after all), I decided to check for dialing error between the increments just out of curiosity to see if it had an error or at least a consistent error. A consistent error is ok because it can be corrected in you solvers.

Since the numbers were kind of all over at each position I averaged all the readings for each position.

In the 0 to 5 mill range the movement was +6.3% error
In the 5 to 10 mill range the movement was +10% error
In the 10 to 15mill range the movement was -1% error
In the 15 to 20mill range the movement was  0% error

So even if you could live the reticle not repeating perfectly you couldn't rely on the same amount of movement throughout its travel.

I am returning this not exchanging it for another, so yes it could be a bad one but I suspect not, I have already wasted about 5 hours on this I don't plan on doing it again.

So you say, "what do you expect for a $300 scope?", well not much, but when I read all the raving reviews specifically talking about the great tracking, I think well maybe it is good.
I should have known, generally people suck at doing most things that involve attention to detail, tracking tests are one of those things I guess, half ass everything. I saw a video where one guy said he walked off the distance for his tracking test, LOL.

It is too bad everything else is nice on this scope. If it were to hold zero, a capped version might be a good buy.

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UPDATE

Got the SWFA 3-15x42 FFP in and tested it out and it is near perfect accept it doesn't track straight up.

I did pretty much the same test though this scope has 40.5mil of travel and the reticle moves for every single click of that travel.
This scope repeated so well I only went up and down the dial 4 times over a 35mil range. The only place I could find an error in verticle was in at 2 points, both had an extreme error of 0.05mil which is insignificant and honestly could be error on my part.

The reticle actually moved less than the dial showed but was consistent at each of the seven 5mil increments. The error was .07% a very small number and not really worth correcting for though I will in my solvers because I can. These numbers are small but the way I am doing this I feel I can resolve down to .032"or better on this ruler(with my keen machinist eye LOL). These numbers are coming from my careful reading of a ruler several times at each point so I think the numbers are legit.


The reticle didn't track straight up with the reticle being plumb. The nice thing about the open diamonds is you can see the dead center of the vertical line so I could make sure the ret. was perfectly plumb.

Over 35mil of travel the reticle moved 0.4mil in horizontal everytime, with the greatest movement being 0.1mil in the last 5mil section( the 100yd end not the 2000yard end). This is probably not really a problem considering I wont be using 35mil of travel unless I am shooting the Grendel over a mile.

In the 15-20mil middle section of travel the offset is a little over 0.1mil, so with a 20moa base/mount there shouldn't be much effect for dialing out for extended ranges.

I am using a 30moa mount so I am a little concerned where my 100 yard zero may end up, I hope I end up 5-10mil from the bottom to stay out of that bad area where it seems to move more.

I think this will work great for long range work.

Oh and the glass is see through that's important I guess, no tunneling down to 3x, zero parallax at super close distances blah blah etc, all I care about is the reticle moves the way it should.

UPDATE. 3/20/17
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LONG RANGE UPDATE FOR SWFA



Finally got to use the SWFA over 100yds and it worked great! 

Had two different 6.5G loads, one was 1.49" high and one was .870" @100yds, input the offsets for each load in AB Mobile. 

First shot at 563yds was dead on center as was the second, moved to 687 and 757 with the same results, at 757 I had to add 1click for perfect centering. 
The second load was perfect with AB Mobile at all 6 distances. 

I went out and back in the various  at a fast rate, it always repeated perfectly. 
Looked great, and plenty of mag for 1052yds 

My only complaint is the 5mil turrets(which I knew going in). I  got lost in the rotations several times and had to go back to my zero stop(I put a 1" Oring under the cap for a stop). 

The plate at 1052yds had hits on it already and the 6.5G don't leave much of a mark so I couldn't spot my shots at that range to verify the scope adjustment but I have no doubts. 

This really is a great long range scope that I  will never outgrow, I had no problems aiming at 3" and 4" plates at 500yds. There is no reason to upgrade to anything else for target shooting. For competition where speed is a factor then I would suggest something with a 2

turn turret; I never get lost with my IOR on my .308.

Don't blame you returning it.

When I saw you mention you bought one of these, I was looking forward to your review. Thanks for doing this as always, I knew your research of the scope would be thorough and done right. 

I too have seen all the reviews on this from people touting how great it is. Give this feedback to the company, I'm sure it's way more than the average return customer does

Have you done similar testing with other inexpensive full feature scopes like the PA 4-14?

Thanks for the review.

I too read many of the glowing reviews and was thinking about picking one up for a 308 AR.  My gut feeling was it sounded to good to be true, I think you are confirming that.

No suprise really.  I'm still going to put one on my Savage FV-SR.  Capped turrets would be nice since I didn't plan on dialing drops.

I doubt any of the Chinese offerings track true.  I think the cheapest glass I would rely on would be a Vortex Viper or SWFA's offerings.

I have no idea what regular size is, they were not really small, they had a big head that goes into the top of the turrets rather than set screws into the side. Nothing was loose though. The Midas and Argo lines may be higher quality.

No, I have stayed away from them for this reason.

They do have capped versions which would probably be great, because it looked great. My errors may just be an issue of needing to "settle in" with a shot or two. I didn't tap the scope after the adjustment to  try to settle it in because I don't think that is satisfactory for a long range scope.

I will probably just mount my Mark 4 in the AD-Recon QD mount and swap it between uppers.

My $1500 Mark 4 isn't right either, it is +3% error but is consistent for its full travel and it repeats so it predictable and completely fine for long range. I just put the 3% error into my solver and everything works fine.  

Maybe the windage is OK. Just turn the scope sideways.

I ordered a SWFA 3-15x42, we'll see how it does. Twice the price..... Damn way over budget on this build.

I just got my Christmas gift. I can't use it till after Christmas per wifey. SWFA 5 x 20 HD. Three times more than any other scope I have, (including another SS). Looks great, feels great, reviews are great. We will see.
My current 16X SS seems to not sync the "optimum parralax adjustment with the optimum focus of the image". Am I crazy? Too much coffee? I thought it was the same point of adjustment. The point of adjustment where the focus is best is not the same as the point where the point of aim does not shift when I move my eye around. Point of impact is most consistent with the "point of aim not shifting" adjustment.

No you are not crazy, zero parallax doesn't always mean perfect focus.
try adjusting the position of your head, toward or away from the scope.

You....... are the man. I will try that. Is it something that can be adjusted at the manufacturer? I had not noticed it until I moved the scope to a different rifle.

I am no expert but if I recall that can be a manufacturing defect. Something about the lenses not being properly spaced.

I have very limited experience with higher magnification scopes but I notice on my 6-24x56 IOR on the higher mag level it seems more picky with focus.

I can set it for zero parallax, have perfect focus fire some rounds then it will look blurry. I thought maybe the adjustment moved but the parallax was still zero. I found that if I moved my eye toward or way from the scope  it would focus.

I have since found that if I get into a better position then set the parallax then I can maintain focus. I don't know if it is only with this scope or common with all. Basically with firing  I wasn't getting a consistent cheek weld.

Don't forget their are two adjustment points for focus.  The parallax adjustment and the eye focus.  When the eye piece is properly adjusted, the parallax should then be correct at the same time the target is in focus.  You probably just need to adjust the "fast focus adjustment" shown in the top scope of this picture.

The fast focus is just to focus the reticle. I don't think it does much for the target as I understand it. But if it is wrong, your eye will only focus on one or the other, reticle or target not both so there is something to that.

UPDATE

Got the SWFA 3-15x42 FFP in and tested it out and it is near perfect accept it doesn't track straight up.

I did pretty much the same test though this scope has 40.5mil of travel
and the reticle moves for every single click of that travel.
This scope repeated so well I only went up and down the dial 4 times over a
35mil range. The only place I could find an error in verticle was in at 2
points, both had an extreme error of 0.05mil which is insignificant and
honestly could be error on my part.

The reticle actually moved less than the dial showed but was consistent at each of the seven 5mil
increments. The error was .07% a very small number and not really worth
correcting for though I will in my solvers because I can. These numbers
are small but the way I am doing this I feel I can resolve down to
.032"or better on this ruler(with my keen machinist eye LOL). These
numbers are coming from my careful reading of a ruler several times at
each point so I think the numbers are legit.


The reticle didn't track straight up with the reticle being plumb. The nice thing
about the open diamonds is you can see the dead center of the vertical
line so I could make sure the ret. was perfectly plumb.

Over 35mil of travel the reticle moved 0.4mil in horizontal everytime, with
the greatest movement being 0.1mil in the last 5mil section( the 100yd
end not the 2000yard end). This is probably not really a problem
considering I wont be using 35mil of travel unless I am shooting the
Grendel over a mile.

In the 15-20mil middle section of travel the offset is a little over 0.1mil, so with a 20moa base/mount there
shouldn't be much effect for dialing out for extended ranges.

I am using a 30moa mount so I am a little concerned where my 100 yard zero
may end up, I hope I end up 5-10mil from the bottom to stay out of that
bad area where it seems to move more.

I think this will work great for long range work.

Oh and the glass is see through that's important I guess, no tunneling
down to 3x, zero parallax at super close distances blah blah etc, all I
care about is the reticle moves the way it should.

Thanks for taking the time to perform and document the testing. I was skeptical when the majority of the reviews were from relatively new members of the forum and the others coming from people with an apparent vested interest.

Hopefully they'll get some of the issues worked out (tracking and turrets) because the optical quality seems to be great (I've only viewed the Cronus). If they can track properly, I'd consider purchasing the Ares next year.

Thanks for taking the time to test the tracking and right the review.  I was reading reviews of this scope and very interested in it so I'm a little disappointed to read this.  On a different note I was interested in this scope to be able to use the reticle for hold over and wind age instead of having to dial.  Did you measure the hold over marks on the reticle and are they correct?

No, once I found it didn't track there was no need for further testing.

For hold overs though, absolute perfection is not really a requirement.The reticle, i am sure, is going to be damn close, close enough for holds....assuming you aren't holding for 900 yard shots.
At least with the reticle it will be exactly the same every time. 

I bought the same scope and am going to test the tracking once I get a chance.  Sucks if it doesn't track correctly since it has some really clear glass.

Just a suggestion but if you want a sweet scope for under $1000 and you can find one, get a Burris XTR II. I have one in 4-20X50 w/scr MOA reticle. Best I have ever owned. Just a suggestion.

Amazon had a Bushnell 6-20x50ffp MIL/MIL and a nice reticle for about $860 that I was considering. I am already way over budget on this stupid build so I opted for the cheapest I could find.

Finally got to use the SWFA over 100yds and it worked great!

Had two different 6.5G loads, one was 1.49" high and one was .870" @100yds, input the offsets for each load in AB Mobile.

First shot at 563yds was dead on center as was the second, moved to 687 and 757 with the same results, at 757 I had to add 1click for perfect centering.
The second load was perfect with AB Mobile at all 6 distances.

I went out and back in the various  at a fast rate, it always repeated perfectly.
Looked great, and plenty of mag for 1052yds

My only complaint is the 5mil turrets(which I knew going in). I  got lost in the rotations several times and had to go back to my zero stop(I put a 1" Oring under the cap for a stop).

The plate at 1052yds had hits on it already and the 6.5G don't leave much of a mark so I couldn't spot my shots at that range to verify the scope adjustment but I have no doubts.

This really is a great long range scope that I  will never outgrow, I had no problems aiming at 3" and 4" plates at 500yds. There is no reason to upgrade to anything else for target shooting. For competition where speed is a factor then I would suggest something with a 2 turn turret; I never get lost with my IOR on my .308.

Thank you as always for the post and review

Did you buy a kit for zero stop or just a regular rubber o ring?  1" is all you needed?

I too have had similar experiences with mine at up to 800 yards. Dialed per my solver (Shooter) and was spot on

I have a box of various O-rings and the 1"-ish one happened to just fit. It allows me to go about 3mil past but it works for my needs.

I do have a 30moa mount so if you are more toward the middle of adjustment the single Oring may not work.


ETA oring is 1" OD x .135" thick.

I like the ss scope.   cross hair could be a little finer and the diamonds can hinder wind holds at longer ranges/small targets but it serves its purpose well on my cheap 700

I'd say its better than good enough for my shooting ability.

Iirc it's the thickness that actually determines how much you bypass zero. Is that right?

Yes, and of course the rubber squishes a little bit. 

Sounds like a canted reticle as the vertical stadia doesn't match the movement of the turret. .4 mil over 35 mils is not bad at all though. I wouldn't worry about it.

perhaps you got a bad one?  it happens.  I've returned Vortex scopes that did not work properly and the replacement was spot on.

I have one of them and have not done your exact test, but it tracks well enough out as far as I've taken it (400y).  I bought it as an experiment as it is cheap enough that if it is a fail I can return and they also have a lifetime warranty.

Just at thought - get a second one and see if all of them are as bad as your test case of 1?

I am not a proponent or otherwise, but if I have an issue with some brand/make/model, I will usually let them try to make it right and try again.

I see you don't want to spend the time to do it, which is understandable, but I think only fair before issuing a "it sucks" conclusion.  I may get there, but not yet :)

It did suck though, absolute garbage, the one thing it had to do correctly it failed at miserably. I made it clear the particular scope I test was worthless and it may have been a bad one.

You have this scope already, you bought it as an experiment, you can test yours. All new scopes should be tested for tracking, that's the first thing you do.

I wasted enough time on it, I am 1k rounds into this SWFA and am happy with it no need to back to the Athlon.

I've been very happy with the SS 3-15 on my Grendel build.  I've never put a scope through a test like yours, but I often have 1st round and consecutive hits on steel out to 750' with it using my dope and ballistic app, and that's my best with this rig until I can load up something that will stay supersonic out of my 20" barrel out to 1000.  Elevation where I shoot is about 1100ft above sea level.

I am biased.  DISCLAIMER: I am also a dealer, but am not soliciting for orders.  I work more as a consultant.

That said:

The Talos BTR by Athlon has a street sales price of under $300....
Comes with matched FFP Mil-Rad Reticle and Turrets.
Reticle is illuminated with hashmarks for precision ranging.
30mm tube with side-focus parallax.

The optics I judged to be comparable to my Viper PST.  I sold the viper...

The reticle is very good for holdovers.  The illumination has 11 settings.  It's a 44mm objective.
Has a great fast focus ocular with lots of adjustment.


The scope is well built. The Turrets can be zeroed and Zero-stopped.   For $300.....
I still own a Leupold mark4 4.5-14 50mm TMR illum.  Is it nicer?  yeah.  $1000 nicer? not nearly enough...
The paint on the mark4 is nicer.  The 50mm objective gives a bit more detail in shadow.  The Talos BTR has
smoother parallax control and might focus closer.  Not much difference after that...


If the scope didn't track, why not use the unlimited lifetime warranty?   Get it fixed at no charge?
Yeah, it should work right, right out of the box.  But, Athlon will fix it or replace it.  Lifetime Transferable Warranty.

$300....   FFP, great optic quality, great turrets, illum reticle, Side-Focus Parallax.  Built like a tank for tactical durability.

The Talos BTR is a screaming deal for an entry level FFP Tactical scope.  There are 4 higher quality series of FFP Mil-Rad Athlon Tactical BTR products.

If you have a problem, Athlon will make it right.

Dare To Compare.  Athlon offers you a lot more...

What were the results of your tracking test?

The Talos BTR is an under $300 scope from any mail-order house.  While I ask you, did you expect $1000 quality?  Were you impressed by the features and functions?
Why not get it repaired to track satisfactorily, or let Athlon send you a new replacement?

When I setup, I use the collimator grid, after aligning the rings with Brownells alignment tool which is solid aluminum with precision machined point in 2pcs which have very fine tips.  When the tips touch with the rods secured in the rings, you have precise alignment.

The collimator will show by its grid that the reticle movements are true.  I am more concerned that the reticle move exactly vertical and horiz.  Do a box test  of 10 moa up,  10moa L/R, 20moa down, 10moa R/L, and then 10moa up.  Start on the edge of a grid intersection and if wind up back there, you've got something to work with.  If shooting a precision box test, you best have precision ammunition.  Handloads that your rifle delivers 5rds into .4" and under .7" at 200yds.  Then you better be able to shoot that well every time.  If getting groups of .38 and .65 once in a while, you have reliable ammunition and proven control of your rifle.

To assure your scope mount system is on-spot, you prove the mounting with results like above.  Then you shoot your box test...

Really, there is too much human error involved, unless you have a benchrest rig with a beam of 40lb steel for a stock, to get caught up in SD of turret movements.  How does the proven precise rifle shoot with that scope.  That $300 scope....

The Cronus BTR at under $2000 is expected this week.  Compare your $1300 SWFA to that.  Or compare any scope over $3,000 to the Cronus BTR.

Glad you're happy with the SWFA, compare it to the sub $400 Argos series.  You might be damn surprised.  Then there are the sub $600 Helos and Midas with HD Glass and upgraded optic coating and side-focus turret with integrated illum control.   Oh yeah, there are the Ares series coming at around $800 that will have Optics and Internals made by the same Japanese firm that builds NF NXS.  The NF NXS 8-32x 56mm I had in `07 was NOT the holy grail.  Optically, it was no better than my Leupold Mark4, but weighed 2x as much...  At 32x it wasn't all that usable.  I have 15/20 vision.

Try another Talos BTR someday...  Great value and quality,  you just got one that snuck by.  It happens.  I had a Leupold vari-x III Illum mil-dot 3.5-10x that consumed batteries every 2 weeks.  Sent that in to be repaired, Leupold never fixed it.  Finally sold it.  Lithium batts were not cheap back in the early 00s.

The reality is, that you had to spring for $1000 more to get similar quality to that which Athlon brought you for $300.  Why not see if they could fix the tracking before you spend that $1000 and get nothing more (really) to show for it?  Glad you are pleased and happy.

A lot of New, 2017 product is finally arriving.  Maybe try a Helos or Ares?  With what you save on a Cronus BTR versus its competition, you can send your wife & daughter to Europe.  At least the savings will pay for the tickets...

I bought a new unused $1400 2-12x IOR illum tactical sf scope about 8yrs ago.  It came in, and was like looking down a coke bottle from 2-4x and from 9-12x.  Terrible...  Sent it in to IOR-Valdada and Val checks it out and finds it is "within spec"...  I owned 4 IORs at the time.  Only kept my 6x 42mm bucuresti model.  

Scopes are damn complex machines.

There is a youtube by Athlon that shows how to setup a zero-stop with a spacer.  Maybe that would have solved your over-turning problem?

I think using a 1/16 calibrated 72" ruler as a precise measure is kind of optimistic.  A calibrated rule is a very spendy thing.  No carpenter rule is precise.  Not meant to be.  The Boresighter/Collimator keeps your AR lower from being squashed in a bench vise.  Being integral with the barrel when in use, no worries about the rifle moving.  30moa riser or cantilevered scope mount on that AR?  Might actually not be concentric with the bore. I owned 3 LaRue #110 qd risers and scopes mounted on them I found out were 20moa off from center.  Lot of reasons your test of the Talos might have been flawed.

IOR Valdada cost me $400 on the resale of that one scope.  Not so much a loss with the 4-14 illum and the 10x fixed, but it was still a lot of money gone because who knew IOR was a 2 guy operation with nothing but a 1980 code-a-phone answering machine?  When you have warranty problems, you learn the real story...  Was only recently that S&B put a warranty service center in the USA.  

One thing for sure, with Leupold, Burris, IOR and all the other scopes, a lot of what you pay for is to cover Warranty Service.  For $300 to get you a Vortex Viper PST comparable scopesight, Athlon is pretty certain they Won't Have as many warranty issues as the other guys on product they sell.

Everybody is looking for greatness in the scope realm.  If you got $4,000 maybe $5k if you consider mounting systems and accessories; you can buy "The Best".

I need to test out the spacer-Zero Stop on my 2 Argos BTRs and Talos BTR.  Athlon needs to offer a kit with a few spacers so those who don't want to see any over-turn will feel comfortable.  Not a big deal, but responsiveness to customer need matters.  NF used to charge $300 extra for zero-stop turrets.  Those NXS scopes that sold for $1500 base w/o zero-stop are now $2300 in the ATACR series; but they are upgraded...

The features and build quality I have seen are really good, and the optical clarity and rendition are even better.  Keep an eye on Athlon, or better yet; Treat your Eye To An Athlon.  See what they have to offer you and then compare.

Originally Posted By hogan:

Scopes are damn complex machines.
There is a youtube by Athlon that shows how to setup a zero-stop with a
spacer.  Maybe that would have solved your over-turning problem? That has nothing to do with anything.

I think using a 1/16 calibrated 72" ruler as a precise measure is kind
of optimistic.  A calibrated rule is a very spendy thing.  No carpenter
rule is precise.  Not meant to be. It doesn't have to be precise, to show repeatability and by the way it is very precise being checked with precision measuring tools. 12" is 12.000", 1" is
1.000" and 1/16" is 0.0625".

 The Boresighter/Collimator keeps your AR lower from being squashed in a bench vise. I have no idea why you keep bring up a boresighter/collimator, it has absolutely nothing to do with scope tracking.

 Being integral with the barrel when in use, no worries about the rifle
moving.  30moa riser or cantilevered scope mount on that AR?  Might
actually not be concentric with the bore. I owned 3 LaRue #110 qd risers
and scopes mounted on them I found out were 20moa off from center.  Lot
of reasons your test of the Talos might have been flawed. You have no grasp of how to do a tracking test, the mount moa, concentricity with bore, lower squashed in a vice?, integral with barrel, none of that matters.

There are zero reasons why my test was flawed, it was repeated with another scope that showed to be very close to perfect and then that was confirmed with a tall target test.



The features and build quality I have seen are really good, and the optical
clarity and rendition are even better.  Keep an eye on Athlon, or
better yet; Treat your Eye To An Athlon.  See what they have to offer
you and then compare.  

I mentioned how nice the scope was in all other aspects.

What you don't seem to understand is this is a precision rifle forum, people
here actually intend to use the target turrets to dial for drops. When a
manufacturer puts target turrets on a scope, the implication is that
they actually do what they are suppose to do. If the turret movements
don't coincide with the reticle movements then they are just a novelty.
One might as well save $100 and get the capped version and enjoy their
"adjust and tap" method of zeroing to "settle in " the adjustment, that
is not acceptable for a precision rifle scope.

Athlon would fix this scope, how so, send it back to China?

You cannot fix cheap.

I expected it to work as advertised, is that too much to ask?

The SWFA, that actually works as advertised was $700, the Athlon was not similar quality, it was a toy. https://www.amazon.com/SWFA-3-15x42-Tactical-Rifle-Scope/dp/B00X4MY570?tag=vglnk-c102-20

You drone on with irrelevant drivel trying to sell your scopes, please do that elsewhere. None of what you are saying is really relevant. I couldn't care less about all the features it has if the reticle doesn't move with the turrets, that is the most important part.

Actually, Athlon has warranty service in Kansas.  I recently returned, to Burris, a FF Tac-30 1-4x for reticle movement irregularity.  They got the scope on Mar 6th and still ain't evaluated it as of last Thu/Fri.  I'm sure they're busy,...   My trusty boresight/collimator diagnosed the problem.  The reticle moves on diagonal in the central area of the grid, and then straightens up?  Never seen anything like this, and the illum turned on w/o being switched; so back it went...  Scopes break, fail, and sometimes aren't right from the factory.  I am sure with this mid-range diagonal movement it was never right.  Probably need to do more testing before assuming any scope works properly these days....  

Point is.  With the right tool, scope diagnostics are more reliable.  I mention the zero-stop mod because with it in place, you can't over-dial... Easy to use the 74-3333 boresighter/collimator to verify accurate scope tracking as each box in the grid of 20x20 boxes, represents 4" at 100yds.  The known value and the gridlines make accurate testing and evaluation very simple.  The bushnell tool also aids in precise scope mounting.  There are many variables that affect scope performance.

No reason to gripe at me about "this is precision rifle forum"...  Precision riflery demands a precise approach to all the variables that can affect precise delivery of the round.  Rather than get further involved here, I will just wish you a Good Day and Happy Shooting...  

I am sure if you had found this problem, the tracking, when your Athlon was still a new purchase, (maybe it was?), and contacted them about the problem, they would have sent you a pickup label to return the defective product, and sent you a new scope.  Or, your dealer could have done that for you...  But that was not the route you took.  Yep, turrets are critical.  Maybe give Athlon another try sometime?  Evaluate as soon as scope arrives?  Try their $700 level scopes, or try an Argos for under $400.  Sorry you got the scope with the bum turret movements.  Stuff does happen to all of us.
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ETA:  I mounted a new Talos BTR, received 10 days ago, on an AR-15.  The scope in high 30mm TPS alum rings has both rings on the Upper Receiver which is an Armalite.  Used the 74-3333 w/collimator grid after aligning the reticle, and setting the turrets to -0-.  From factory, the turrets are indexed between 3 & 4 on the mil-rad turret.  Removed turret cap, w/o moving the reticle and put the cap so indexed at -0-.

Did 3 box tests.  1 full rotation (5 mils) up, 5mills Left, 10 mils down (2 rotations), 5mils Right, 5mils up.  Did this going right and 3rd time went down and then left.

Every time, the center crosshair came back to where it began  at the same elevation  and windage on the collimator grid.

Evidently, these turrets are in correct operational condition.
The turrets appear to be the same as Athlon uses in their Argos series.  They are waterproofed and can be setup for Zero stop.

The turret design, with center bolt fastener, is much stronger and easier to adjust than any of 5 Mark4 turrets.  The turret dial fastener doesn't bear against the adjustment stem like the Leupold does w/its 3 tiny allen head screws.

Considering the Illum glass etched FFP reticle w/matched turrets and side-focus and very good optic quality,  a Talos BTR (in full working order) is very fine piece of gear before you even look at the price.  For $299?  

Ten years ago that was what guys said about the Tasco 10x SWFA was selling, then that morphed into the SWFA line of fixed tacticals, the upgraded ones at $400 had a side-focus parallax...  Athlon is Progress.  Great Value and Build Quality, and then there's the savings...

OK.  time to describe to a neophyte how to simply set up a tracking test.  I have a new gen 2 viper I want to check.  and compare to my uso.

Simply? Just do a tall target test. My tall target test came within a tenth of a percent of my dry test. 

Excellent review, no surprises.

I try to tell people that there is no way you're going to get a scope that will track worth a crap for that price, with those features.

The features are a waste if it doesn't work predictably, and cheap internal components with slip and slop will do this.

A cheap precision rifle scope that doesn't track is like a cheap vehicle that doesn't start. It doesn't matter how cheap it is if it can't do its job.

With the exception of the Cronus, I am constantly hearing of tracking issues coming from Athlon. (Actually lowlight on SH had tracking issues with the Cronus too, but that's just one data point). Even if the SWFA has worse glass and fewer features, I would take it over a paperweight any day. And I don't even like SWFA (the company).

For around the same price point as the 3-15, I am really curious as to the performance of the Athlon Helos 6-24 X 50.

Saw only 1 tracking test (just out to 1K and back) with a fellow using a 338LM rifle, which looked positive.  

I would like to see more feedback before I make that type of investment though. Buy once, cry once and all that.

If that’s the Athlon video, I’d pay more attention to the box test than the distance test. The box test didn’t look positive at all, especially with a rifle that should shoot sub 3/4 moa.

I didn't see the video but that isn't a tracking test.
Too many variables and too big an opportunity to fudge results. Stinks of marketing.

A tall target test up and back down a couple times over 15mil  in 5 mil increments at 100yds. Do the groups land within the abilities of the rifle and is the spacing correct for the distance.

So if the rifle shoots 1moa each group should be 1moa that means the scope is repeating.

If the distance is exactly 100 yards, each dial is 5mil, the groups should be 18" apart measured center to center after the fact. Not on a pre marked target where it can be called "close enough" to the mark.

I would like to see a ladder test with the Helos, there's just not much out there.

From what I've read the higher price point is for better turrets than on the talos & argos.

I don't have the money to just throw down in order to test one.

I created an account and revived this thread for the sole purpose of sharing my experience. This was one of the few threads returned in a web search and heavily influenced my purchase(s). Yes purchases. I purchased 4 scopes. I avoided Athlon because of mixed reviews & this thread. However after watching Tiborasaurusrex tutorial videos & seeing his review of the higher end Athlon scope, I decided to give Athlon a try.

TLDR: I kept the Athlon Talos BTR 4-14x44mm; I would not hesitate to buy another Athlon if when I build another rifle. Unbeatable price and value for all the features included. Accurate and Tracks.

Experience in next post...