Razors vs maven B1/B2?

[skaldugwas]

Which is the better binocular? I own a set of Razors 10x42's, which I bought sight unseen and wasn't terribly impressed with them over my 15 year old set of leupold cascades. There were obviously some differences but not enough to warrent the price IMO. Maybe I just have cheap eyes?
Honestly the biggest factor in me choosing them was that blessed warranty that has so many us drinking vortex koolaid.
Anyway thinking of giving the maven bino's a try since lots of folks are raving about them.
What say you?

 

[ianpadron]

Which is the better binocular? I own a set of Razors 10x42's, which I bought sight unseen and wasn't terribly impressed with them over my 15 year old set of leupold cascades. There were obviously some differences but not enough to warrent the price IMO. Maybe I just have cheap eyes?
Honestly the biggest factor in me choosing them was that blessed warranty that has so many us drinking vortex koolaid.
Anyway thinking of giving the maven bino's a try since lots of folks are raving about them.
What say you?

Everyone I've heard claims Mavens are significantly better. I totally believe them.

In my experience and from guys I've talked to, Meopta and Maven give the big 3 a run for their money (and are arguably better than some models) while the Razors aren't even in the same conversation.

I've definitely fallen out of love with Vortex after looking through top tier glass.


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[307]

I sort of have an irrational hatred of Vortex but IMO you're comparing a Lexus (Maven) with a Hyundai (Vortex). Both are good products, but they are not comparable products.

 

[307]

When I say Maven, I'm referencing the B series of binoculars. I haven't seen or heard much about the brand new C series which I personally would still choose over Vortex.

 

[twall13]

While I haven't looked through a of razor 10x42's I've spent plenty of time behind my Dad's Razor spotting scope, a Viper Riflescope I own, and my brother's Viper binos. I personally don't think they live up to the hype. My Maven B.2's have been fantastic for me. If the warranty is important to you it's worth pointing out that Maven's warranty is pretty much identical. The difference in my eyes, is I'm more likely to need the Vortex warranty than the Maven warranty. In fact, I have used the Vortex warranty on my lone Vortex product. That's a story I've heard many times over. A great warranty is nice to have, but I'd rather have a product that never needs the warranty. The warranty won't do me any good when I'm in the field using the product.

Go listen to the latest episode of the Avery Adventures podcast where they interview one of the owners of Maven. Obviously he is selling his own product so he is a bit biased, but what he says about pricing makes a lot of sense. I personally feel like I get a lot of value out of my Maven's.

 

[skaldugwas]

While I haven't looked through a of razor 10x42's I've spent plenty of time behind my Dad's Razor spotting scope, a Viper Riflescope I own, and my brother's Viper binos. I personally don't think they live up to the hype. My Maven B.2's have been fantastic for me. If the warranty is important to you it's worth pointing out that Maven's warranty is pretty much identical. The difference in my eyes, is I'm more likely to need the Vortex warranty than the Maven warranty. In fact, I have used the Vortex warranty on my lone Vortex product. That's a story I've heard many times over. A great warranty is nice to have, but I'd rather have a product that never needs the warranty. The warranty won't do me any good when I'm in the field using the product.

Go listen to the latest episode of the Avery Adventures podcast where they interview one of the owners of Maven. Obviously he is selling his own product so he is a bit biased, but what he says about pricing makes a lot of sense. I personally feel like I get a lot of value out of my Maven's.

That pod cast was the impetus for this thread.

307 i know you said you had an irrational hatred for vortex, care to elaborate on why a little more?


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[Scott/IL]

I am in this same debate. I looked through the Razors and compared them with several different models. I thought they held their own until I hit the Swaorvski SLC. Those were hands down the best.

However for me, I would have been looking at a demo pair of Razors to begin with so the SLC were out of my budget.

I'm going to give Maven a call first, but right now I'm leaning towards a 9x45 pair from them.

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[dreamingWest]

Demo the Mavens. You've got nothing to lose. I field tested the B1 10x42s, B2 11x45s, and Razor 10x42s last year. I took lots of notes but ultimately ranked the three B2>>Razor>B1. Of course I ended up keeping SLCs...

 

[twall13]

If I was going to point out any negatives I have with my use of the Maven B.2's it would be that they are on the heavy and bulky side compared to a lot of their competitors. To me it's worth the weight/bulk for the quality/value but that may not be the case for everyone.

 

[307]

I just dislike Vortex in their marketing. Every insta-famous chick/dude hell bent on self promotion seems to be Vortex pro staff. I think a sports bra and a bow automatically qualifies for Vortex staff.

And the endless warranty comments are exhausting. As has been stated here, Maven has the same warranty, which is nice but I don't buy a product to have it repaired/replaced, I buy it for the experience of using it.

Anyway, just my own feelings on Vortex, since you asked. I'm sure Vortex is a fine company and they sure as hell sell a TON of optics and I"m sure make a bunch of $$$ and I don't fault them for what is so obviously working. But it doesn't work for me.

 

[ianpadron]

I just dislike Vortex in their marketing. Every insta-famous chick/dude hell bent on self promotion seems to be Vortex pro staff. I think a sports bra and a bow automatically qualifies for Vortex staff.

And the endless warranty comments are exhausting. As has been stated here, Maven has the same warranty, which is nice but I don't buy a product to have it repaired/replaced, I buy it for the experience of using it.

Anyway, just my own feelings on Vortex, since you asked. I'm sure Vortex is a fine company and they sure as hell sell a TON of optics and I"m sure make a bunch of $$$ and I don't fault them for what is so obviously working. But it doesn't work for me.

Well said, the endless peddling of Vortex by "celebrity" hunters is cringe worthy.

I had a Viper spotter that did it's job but there are a lot of better products for the money than Vortex. Didn't take me long to realize that I liked their marketing more than their products.

Contrary to common belief you CAN get into better glass than Vortex Razor grade stuff without dropping Swaro, Leica, Zeiss type coin.

My Meopta Meostar 12x50s will run circles around anything made by Vortex, and they cost damn near the same price. Not a doubt in my mind that the Maven 11x45 would be equally impressive!

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[307]

If I was going to point out any negatives I have with my use of the Maven B.2's it would be that they are on the heavy and bulky side compared to a lot of their competitors. To me it's worth the weight/bulk for the quality/value but that may not be the case for everyone.

I think this is a valid criticism when it comes to the 9x or 7x B2's. When you get to the 11x45, it's a good size compared to the 12x50 Euro's that I just sold. Those were big, heavy, and blocky even though the optical quality was superb.

The Abbe Koenig prism that Maven uses in the B2 and B4 is bigger physically, than the Schmidt Pechan prism so naturally those bino's are going to have a relatively larger physical form. The light transmission improvements in AK over SP seems to be a good tradeoff to me.

My thought is that I can gather as much light to my eye with a 45 mm objective AK prism optic (Maven B2 11x45) than I could with the 50 mm objective SP prism (Euro 12x50). I'll also get a lighter optic by about 4 oz, better balance on a tripod (the Euro's are blocky and very rear end heavy), and a much wider field of view (about 50' at 1000 yds) all while only giving up 1x magnification which I can't differentiate anyway.

Oh, and since we're discussing some pathetically nit picky details, the focus wheel on Maven is outstanding in every way. I never thought in a million years that I would care about such a dumb thing, but evidently I do. The plastic focus knob with poorly painted white reference mark on on a $1k optic irritated me just about every time I looked at it.

 

[twall13]

Good points 307. For reference, I have the 9x45 B.2s so they are heavy for their class but I don't care cause I've found that I can free hand them in a pinch but don't do as well with a 10x + optic freehand. My preference is still to use them on a tripod but sometimes you just need a quick look and I can do that with 9x's whereas I'm so wobbly with larger magnifications that it didn't help me much. The light gathering is more than I need with the 9x's but the field of view is awesome.

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[pointer26]

I just finish a demo of b2 9x45 and b2 11x45. I was using vortex vipers 10x42. The b2 9x45 made the vipers seem like a kids toy.The edge to edge clarity,brightness,field of view is very good I could not get the 11x45 to focus cleanly. I do not know if it was my eyes or the glass. I will tell you that, I really like the field of view of 9x45. You could tell the difference from 9x from the 11x. The field of view shrank on the 11x. I originally wanted the 11x. After comparing 9 vs 11 my mind was change.
I did not miss the magnification of the 11x. The 9x was brighter and the field of view was great. The only thing I did not like about the binos was the rubber armor (black) it got scuff up pretty easy. You do have to get use to the weight and size. Once you look trough them you forget about the weight and size. I was able to compare them to swarovski el 10x42. My first impression was the field of view. The field of view of the maven stood out. When I looked with the swaros it felt like looking trough a tunnel. My eyes could not tell a difference from the mavens vs swaros in the glass. To be fair I only looked at the swaros and mavens for about 5 minutes in bright day light. I am sure given enough time I would have seen the difference. I Think you should try their demo program and see for your self. I just order a custom 9x45. If you have any questions let me know.
Thank you
p

 

[skaldugwas]

Which is the better binocular? [\QUOTE]

Well i managed to sell my Razors and pick up a set of 11x42 maven B2's on the same day here on the classifieds.
Like i said was pretty underwhelmed bordering on disappointed with the razors, its the opposite with these maven binos.
I wish I had the vocabulary and experience to give a proper comparison but let me just say im a happy camper now.


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