Buying Maven binoculars in the UK (1 Viewer)

[Megaloblatta]

Maven's business model of direct to consumer seems to not apply outside the USA, as there are now Maven retailers in the EU, Australia and the UK. The UK one is Nature Observation UK (Maven Optics) and the others are Maven Binoculars - Optics-Trade and The Modern Hunter Australia I live in the UK and recently wanted to buy a pair of Maven B1.2s. Unfortunately the UK retailer does not sell the black/grey version I wanted and has no plans to do so. The EU retailer said they could order a pair but it would take about 3 months to get them, and the Australian retailer said they were not permitted to sell Maven products outside Australia and New Zealand. So, the only choice was to order from Maven USA. This was very easy and the sales team were very helpful and friendly. The binoculars were sent by UPS and arrived in 5 days. One issue though is that UPS did not want to deliver them until import fees (Duty and VAT) had been paid, but this wasn't obvious as they didn't request the fee by email. I ended up phoning their UK Customer Services and paying the fee, and they delivered them the same day. The total cost of the binoculars in GBP was £1135 (£922 payment to Maven + £213 for import fees to UPS). If I had purchased them from the UK distributor the cost would have been c. £1100 (£1050 + c. £50 (extra cost for the black/grey version + duty)). Incidentally, I don't know why people complain about Maven's packaging. Yes, it is very simple (an egg box type carton inside a printed sleeve), but surely the contents are the important part, not the box!

 

[Megaloblatta]

I found another Maven dealer in the UK (unless it is another website run by the company I already mentioned): Maven - Binoculars

 

[Elpha8888]

Some people like to have a quality unboxing experience with high end goods, its adds to the excitement I guess but is forgotten after 5 minutes. How's the Mavens? They were on amazon a few months back, orange ones though. I've heard they are a poor man's sfl.

 

[Megaloblatta]

Some people like to have a quality unboxing experience with high end goods, its adds to the excitement I guess but is forgotten after 5 minutes. How's the Mavens? They were on amazon a few months back, orange ones though. I've heard they are a poor man's sfl.

Yes, I guess. So many videos on YouTube of people unboxing things. I personally don't get excited by it at all LOL! The Maven B1.2 10x42 I bought are excellent IMHO. I can not see any difference in terms of sharpness, colour rendition, brightness or CA between them and my Zeiss Victory 10x42 T* FL. They are a bit brighter and sharper than my Maven C1s, as you would expect. I tested my C1s against a new pair of Leica Ultravid 10x42 HD Plus and I found zero differences in optical quality between them - except that purple colour fringing was seen in the Leicas around twigs against the sky near the sun, but not with the C1s.

 

[Mono]

There are so many optics available in the Maven price bracket that I don't think the risk of buying from the USA with distant warranty support is worth the risk. Neither of the "UK" suppliers have much in the way of contact details, both sites resolve to the same Canadian e-commerce platform so they could be in the UK or Mongolia or anywhere else.

Their one USP, the customization service, isn't available from the UK suppliers.

 

[Megaloblatta]

There are so many optics available in the Maven price bracket that I don't think the risk of buying from the USA with distant warranty support is worth the risk. Neither of the "UK" suppliers have much in the way of contact details, both sites resolve to the same Canadian e-commerce platform so they could be in the UK or Mongolia or anywhere else.

Their one USP, the customization service, isn't available from the UK suppliers.

Yes, but firstly, the Maven B1.2 are probably the best in their price bracket (see the many reviews on the Web), and second, the Maven warranty is one of the very best that exists. It is a lifetime, transferable, no-fault guarantee - so if your binoculars were run over by a car they would repair or replace them. I have checked and Maven honours the warrantee worldwide. It is very easy and no more expensive to order Maven products from the USA, than it is to buy them in the UK.

 

[Cest]

I have the Maven B series 7x45. It's the best in my collection.

 

[Elpha8888]

Would like to try a Maven one day as I have generally only heard good things about them, fairly impressed with the Vortex razor but have a feeling the Mavens are above them in all areas.

 

[AlphaFan]

Mavens are a very good value, offering very good optics and build quality for the $. Their biggest challenge, along with many other companies, is they are in one of the most competitive segments of the binocular market. Many fine choices here -- Conquest HD, Monarch HG, .......

I've owned the B1.2, B2 and B6. Still have the B6 and they are one of my favorites. Very crisp, very bright, detailed, and relaxed view. 2x very minor snivels - in general, I find the color saturation a smidge less than I prefer; and the eyecups collapse a bit too easily. I brought the eyecup issue up with the Maven folks at a national outdoor show. They mentioned they'd heard that enough that they are instituting some changes, and also sent me a new set of eyecups.

With respect to the brand -- noticed quite a few new optics companies popping up over the past decade trying to compete in the mid-grade market. Maven is a bit of a standout that appears to be doing rather well. Their product line has been steadily broadening with simultaneous upgrades in quality. They have a presence at almost all major regional trade shows, and also established a growing following in the USA hunting community.

A service they offer here that works quite well is their demo program. Maven sets aside a few optics to use exclusively as units for customers to try for two weeks and decide if they want to keep that unit, get a fresh one, or return for refund. For something that sells primarily via mail order, it's simple genius. It also shows they aren't shy about their products being compared with the competition.

DEMO OPTICS

Try before you buy: it makes sense to us. Find out more about the Maven demo program and select the demo optics you want to test out in the field.

mavenbuilt.com

 

[Ignatius]

Looking at the prices for the B.5 10x56 vs the Conquest HD 10x56 at optics-trade.eu I can see no reason whatsoever to prefer an American import to a European product. (This from someone who loves his B.5 12x56 brought back from a USA trip because it is the only 12x56 afaik, trying to maximize EP AND magnification for dawn/dusk wildlife observation.)

 

[Upland]

You can buy Mavens through Amazon. I imagine they’d ship them to the UK or maybe they are even on the Amazon UK website?

 

[Upland]

Just checked and they’re not on the UK site

 

[StephenHampshire]

Just checked and they’re not on the UK site

Maven have their own UK site now - www.mavenbuilt.co.uk
I was looking as I'm interested in the C2 7X28, but looks like all the Maven range is there, although a lot of models are shown as out of stock.