Samolot
Well-known member
Hi all,
As an owner of the B5 15x56 and having had a chance to compare it to the Conquest HD 15x56, I decided to do the same with a Maven against my Conquest HD 8x42. I initially bought the Maven B1.2 8x42 but returned it because at the same price point, I was not blown away by it in comparison to the Conquests. The Conquests had punchier contrast and the narrow field of view didn't bother me as much anymore from a price point perspective.
Having heard amazing things about the B3 series, I decided to give it a try. Before I dive into the brief comparison, I just want to give Maven tech support a shoutout. The first copy I got had an oddity where the edge performance was not the same. The right seemed to be softer earlier in the field of view than the left side. A minor nuisance but Maven offered to pay for return shipping to check out the binocular. The tech reached out to me who seemed very knowledgeable and essentially agreed. They then cherry picked an exemplary copy that underwent additional QC testing on their collimator and hands-on testing to ensure that the copy they send back to me would be better (not sure how much of this is true) - but my oh my - when I got the second copy, I was thoroughly impressed.
Right, back to the original subject -
I know - comparing an 8x30 to an 8x42 is not really a fair comparison, but this is what I have at hand. I used to compare binoculars from "memory", but I learned that is impossible without going back and forth in real time.
Both binoculars are supremely well made. The Conquests have thick rubber armoring that I have always been impressed with. They are simply a rugged binocular. The Mavens appear well made, but armoring is not as thick and I would fear dropping them. The focuser on the Mavens is firmer, but very smooth. The conquests is much lighter, but very snappy - snappier than the Maven's. The eyecups are more robust on the Mavens (rubber coated metal) than the conquests (plastic). The eyecup rim on the conquests is thinner which makes for easier eye placement and more comfortable viewing. The Maven eyecups must have undergone a change because they do not collapse in like the prior reports I read on here - they snap into place and stay there. The Maven eyecups do not extend as far as I would like but I quickly got used to placing them over my brow just right to get the full view. I tried placing a rubber O-ring which extended the cup by 1-2 mm which greatly increased comfort but the eyecup would not collapse smoothly so I got right of them. This does not need to be mentioned, but the B3's are significantly smaller and lighter. They are indeed a grab and go.
Regarding the view - Maven claims to have a very bright and color neutral view. This is true. I was really impressed that despite the cloudy conditions, the Mavens continued to show a bright cloudy sky, whereas the conquests just dimmed the color a bit - the Zeiss favors blue/green colors and I think this may be the reason. The colors are very neutral with the Maven. Colors pop more a bit with the Zeiss. Sharpness is equal on both, but contrast again was better in the Conquests. CA was a tiny bit better controlled with the Mavens - but I really had to push the binoculars hard to find any - theyre both really good.
Overall this is just the start of my comparison as I hope I can test them out in sunny conditions tomorrow, but I had great time with both of them today. They're both great optics.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
As an owner of the B5 15x56 and having had a chance to compare it to the Conquest HD 15x56, I decided to do the same with a Maven against my Conquest HD 8x42. I initially bought the Maven B1.2 8x42 but returned it because at the same price point, I was not blown away by it in comparison to the Conquests. The Conquests had punchier contrast and the narrow field of view didn't bother me as much anymore from a price point perspective.
Having heard amazing things about the B3 series, I decided to give it a try. Before I dive into the brief comparison, I just want to give Maven tech support a shoutout. The first copy I got had an oddity where the edge performance was not the same. The right seemed to be softer earlier in the field of view than the left side. A minor nuisance but Maven offered to pay for return shipping to check out the binocular. The tech reached out to me who seemed very knowledgeable and essentially agreed. They then cherry picked an exemplary copy that underwent additional QC testing on their collimator and hands-on testing to ensure that the copy they send back to me would be better (not sure how much of this is true) - but my oh my - when I got the second copy, I was thoroughly impressed.
Right, back to the original subject -
I know - comparing an 8x30 to an 8x42 is not really a fair comparison, but this is what I have at hand. I used to compare binoculars from "memory", but I learned that is impossible without going back and forth in real time.
Both binoculars are supremely well made. The Conquests have thick rubber armoring that I have always been impressed with. They are simply a rugged binocular. The Mavens appear well made, but armoring is not as thick and I would fear dropping them. The focuser on the Mavens is firmer, but very smooth. The conquests is much lighter, but very snappy - snappier than the Maven's. The eyecups are more robust on the Mavens (rubber coated metal) than the conquests (plastic). The eyecup rim on the conquests is thinner which makes for easier eye placement and more comfortable viewing. The Maven eyecups must have undergone a change because they do not collapse in like the prior reports I read on here - they snap into place and stay there. The Maven eyecups do not extend as far as I would like but I quickly got used to placing them over my brow just right to get the full view. I tried placing a rubber O-ring which extended the cup by 1-2 mm which greatly increased comfort but the eyecup would not collapse smoothly so I got right of them. This does not need to be mentioned, but the B3's are significantly smaller and lighter. They are indeed a grab and go.
Regarding the view - Maven claims to have a very bright and color neutral view. This is true. I was really impressed that despite the cloudy conditions, the Mavens continued to show a bright cloudy sky, whereas the conquests just dimmed the color a bit - the Zeiss favors blue/green colors and I think this may be the reason. The colors are very neutral with the Maven. Colors pop more a bit with the Zeiss. Sharpness is equal on both, but contrast again was better in the Conquests. CA was a tiny bit better controlled with the Mavens - but I really had to push the binoculars hard to find any - theyre both really good.
Overall this is just the start of my comparison as I hope I can test them out in sunny conditions tomorrow, but I had great time with both of them today. They're both great optics.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
