Hi, Steve C. I'm new to BF. I have appreciated your reviews of binos. I posted the following in response to welcome posts and was informed I should post in sub-forums. Sorry, not sure of proper posting protocol as of yet. Anyway here's my post: My choices are narrowed down to ZEN ED3, ED4 (release mid-July) ZEN Prime HD (Tantein review 11/2014) and Maven B.2 (based on Steve C's enthusiastic review). My 2 old Monarchs 8x43 6.3 and 12x42 5 are not cutting it for migrating hawks. I just can't go thru another fall season being constantly frustrated. Any advice would be greatly appreciated ;-)
Hi, Steve C. I'm new to BF. I have appreciated your reviews of binos. I posted the following in response to welcome posts and was informed I should post in sub-forums. Sorry, not sure of proper posting protocol as of yet. Anyway here's my post: My choices are narrowed down to ZEN ED3, ED4 (release mid-July) ZEN Prime HD (Tantein review 11/2014) and Maven B.2 (based on Steve C's enthusiastic review). My 2 old Monarchs 8x43 6.3 and 12x42 5 are not cutting it for migrating hawks. I just can't go thru another fall season being constantly frustrated. Any advice would be greatly appreciated ;-)
Thanks for responding to me, Steve C, and sharing your experience with the Maven B2 n B3!Hello Susan,
Any of the binocular on your list are good choices. The ZEN ED 4 remains a mystery as of yet. I've communicated some with Charles some about it and it should be pretty good.
Your choices do bring up some questions. All are large binoculars, certainly larger than the Monarch 8x. From my observations of women and binoculars they seem to prefer smaller over larger. How you fit there I of course have no idea . Women usually have a narrower pupil distance and that might run you squarely afoul of the ZEN Prime HD and its very large in diameter eye cups. For example my brother and nephew are both pretty large people, but have narrow IPD's and don't go for the ZEN Prime HD at all. Measure your IPD from your other binoculars and if it is much narrower than 58 mm you may well have some trouble. Eye glasses will change that approach as the presence of glasses removes that.
I continue to be seriously impressed with the Maven B2. Time has solidified my opinion of this glass. Just this morning I was hawk and eagle watching while I was waiting for the water trough to fill up. I used the Maven to Bag a bunch of Red Tailed Hawks, six Bald eagles, a Golden Eagle, a couple of Ravens, a few Turkey Vultures, and too many to count mostly Ring Billed Gulls (they were too far away to really identify, but that is what 95% of the Gulls around here are). Two of the Bald eagles were well over 3 miles off. That binocular will certainly do the trick for raptors. But it is BIG. If you like smaller I am really impressed with the Maven B3.
I don't think you will easily find any ZEN ED 3's. I think most have been sold out of inventory in anticipation of the ED-4.
I used to have a Monarch and your choices will pretty well smoke it. I've never been much impressed with any of the Monarch series save the Monarch 7 which is a LOT better than the 5.
I'd love to be included on the list for any variety of ED4's & would happily write up a summary!
Thanks for considering!
I usually find:
I can assume nothing.
I can assume too little.
I can assume too much.
I can find I am almost always wrong
At any rate good luck in your search.
EDIT: Another good choice for raptors is the new Leupold Mojave Pro Guide HD 10x42. Not quite a bright as the Maven, but pretty nice optics. A review will be up today sometime.
David, we are getting really close to finish the pilot run. From the past experience, we decided to hold off the product release information until the new product has passed all of our specification and requirements. I cannot wait to take some to the field in the next few weeks. Actually, I may want to offer a couple of pairs for BF members to try out before general release. Anybody?