I JUST received a pair of Maven 6x30s in the mail. Overall I think they're lovely, but there are some caveats that may or may not bother you.
The positives
1. Magnification. My biggest concern (and the reason I ordered these for an elder family member and not myself) is that 6x seems pretty low mag for birding. I was incorrect. I tried them side by side with Zeiss 7x and Swaro 8x (NL32 and CL-B) and the difference is noticeable but not enough to impact bird ID from moderate range (think, “backyard birding”)
2. Eye placement. I find the eye placement is easy and comfortable, which I expected based on the 5mm exit pupil but I think the relatively large ocular diameter is also part of this (similar to swarovski NL 8x32, wider than CL-B 8x30).
3. View. The view it clear and sharp, though I don't have a resolution chart and don't care to strain myself to nitpick on this, i.e., the edge of the field appears sharp to me but some would probably want to know if it's AS SHARP as the center, and I am not going to try to figure that out - it should be enough to say that I don't see notable differences when comparing to the alphas I have on hand. I do find the colors rich and the contrast stark. Glare, which has come to annoy me a lot in the NL, is present if I try to look near the sun in the Maven, but I have to try and so I would rank this as normal (and the NLs as bad).
4. Focus wheel. The focuser is among smoothest I've felt and it's nice and fast. More consistent than my nearly perfect FL 7x32, no grain like I can sometimes feel in the NL, overall about the same as the CL-B (which is my favorite in this regard).
The negatives
There are three things I don't like, but haven't yet stopped me from playing with the custom builder (while its still all free + discount) to order my own...
1. Eye relief. Eye relief is a little longer than the eyecups. I hate that this ever happens, and I have let go of otherwise awesome binoculars for this, notably the zeiss VP 8x25 and Nikon HG 8x30. Compared to the zeiss VP and Nikon HG, the 'float factor' in the maven 6x30 is very minor - I don't have to find a particular place to always place the eyecup, or use a finger to stabilize the floating binocular (as I do with my Swaro curio), but I can't just plow my eyes into the eyecups like the NL or CL-B. It's slightly worse than my Zeiss FL 7x42, which I have only now discovered I do have a way of holding.
2. Finish. The rubber armor isn't my favorite, but it's fine, good grip but no give. The finish detail that actually bothers me is that many metal edges are quite sharp to the touch. This is especially noticeable on the branding on the tripod cap, when my fingers touch when wrapped around the barrel. I had this same experience with many nikons (M5, M7, HG) and so I would take the cap off, and it was fine. This is more annoying because I chose a nice color for this cap on the Mavens to make them look "fun" for the new owner, and now, if it bothers them too, they will remove the fun colorful accent (pic below shows the cap removed, and then jt feels fine). I also feel that the focus wheel, which is textured for grip, is textured too harshly by the cuts in the metal, so that it feels more like course sand pager or a metal file, and not a touch-friendly surface.
3. Branding. "Maven" is spelled out SEVEN times on this compact binocular - 1) Name plate on the side of the left barrel, 2) etched on the left ocular ring, 3,4,5) etched three time on one of the focus wheel rings, 6) embossed on the tripod cap, 7) embossed on the focus wheel cap. Then there is the logo too. These are all present in the product images, but some are not noticeable unless you zoom in, and only the logo and two "Mavens" are shown in the custom builder. This likely won't bother most people, but it cheapens the look to me.
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