Maven B1 Binocular Article by Matt Cashell

Ryan Avery · Feb 28, 2015

http://www.rokslide.com/2012-01-09-05-09-42/optics/329-maven-b1-10x42-binoculars

luke moffat · Feb 28, 2015

Excellent write up by Matt!!! You sir truly make what could be boring subject that would otherwise go way above my head into something even I can understand!! Thanks for that!

ssliger · Feb 28, 2015

Thanks Matt!

mtswampfox · Feb 28, 2015

you know what has to follow is a review of several head to head, especially since my recent purchase of vortex viper hd's. Matt, what say you????

Josh Wright · Feb 28, 2015

Matt, what other company model do they compare to?

Do they beat the Razor HD's?

How far away are they from the big 3?

WyoBowhunter21 · Feb 28, 2015

I talked with these guys at the western expo and looked through some glass. I thought they were pretty nice. Maybe I am bias due to the wyoming name. Good review.

SHTF · Feb 28, 2015

Man thats amazing the photos you where able to capture like the bending power pole. Really shows deficiency there Good stuff.

Slim Jim · Feb 28, 2015

Very nice write up Matt! As always you keep myself educated on each of your optics write ups.

Matt Cashell · Feb 28, 2015

Thanks for all the kind words!

SHTF said:
Man thats amazing the photos you where able to capture like the bending power pole. Really shows deficiency there Good stuff.

SHTF, pincushion distortion is not necessarily a deficiency. It is a design choice made to prevent the "globe effect."

Ryan Avery · Feb 28, 2015

Josh Wright said:
Matt, what other company model do they compare to?

Do they beat the Razor HD's?

How far away are they from the big 3?

I have the 11x45 and have looked through all three. IMO I would put them ahead of the Razors and Conquests. To me they compare best with the Meopta HDs which is a VERY fine set of binos.

Becca · Feb 28, 2015

Thanks for yet another great article Matt! As usual your description was easy to follow, and you make optics comparison engaging

Exciting to hear about other companies offering quality optics at reasonable prices.

SHTF · Feb 28, 2015

Bitterroot Bulls said:
Thanks for all the kind words!

SHTF, pincushion distortion is not necessarily a deficiency. It is a design choice made to prevent the "globe effect."

Gotcha. Thanks for the explaination. So Pincuchion Distortion counters the globe affect? Thanks for enlightening me still learning all the lingo when it comes to Optics. I got out my Swaro's after reading your article and lined up on a straight line like you did with the pole and I dont see the distortion where it curves the straight line of what IM looking at. So is that good or bad? Im a newb to high end optics always used what I could afford. Just recently scored on some Swarovski CL Companions. Super happy with them. As I learn more about the terminology and the different affects I try to compare mine and look for what Im learning. Guess you could say Im trying to equate what I read to what I can visually see through my own binos.

Thanks again.

troutdreamer · Feb 28, 2015

Would you say the B3 is similar in quality and performance?

Matt Cashell · Feb 28, 2015

SHTF,

Here are a couple articles that might help:

http://www.rokslide.com/2012-01-09-05-09-42/optics/209-what-we-look-for

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/show...r-Hunting-Part-2-What-We-AREN%92T-Looking-For

BUT,

This might tell you what you really need to know about your binocular:

SHTF said:
Super happy with them.

Matt Cashell · Feb 28, 2015

mtswampfox said:
you know what has to follow is a review of several head to head, especially since my recent purchase of vortex viper hd's. Matt, what say you????

I generally try to stay away from the "Beauty Contest" type reviews, and prefer to compare against a known benchmark reference standard. In this case the benchmark is the Meopta Meostar HD which compares to the most expensive binoculars available.

Matt Cashell · Feb 28, 2015

Josh Wright said:
Matt, what other company model do they compare to?

Do they beat the Razor HD's?

How far away are they from the big 3?

The Meostar HD is strong in every category and weak in none. I have long held it compares to flagship binoculars from the "Big 3."

The Maven B1 holds its own pretty well compared to the Meostar HD, and I would be happy to use it as my only hunting binocular.

I didn't have them side by side, but from my memory of the Razor HD, the Maven B1 overall performs a little better optically than the Razor HD.

Still, the Razor HD is pretty special in its own right, given that it still performs very highly while being significantly lighter than its competition, which is pretty important to many backcountry hunters. Plus, much of the Razor HD's criticism is deals with the edge performance, but critics fail to mention that its FOV is much wider than most of the competition. Some companies choose to mask edge defects by covering them with a field stop, giving excellent edge performance, but a reduced FOV.

So what "beats" what, and "how far away" determinations are really variable depending on the users preferences.

SHTF · Feb 28, 2015

Bitterroot Bulls said:
SHTF,

Here are a couple articles that might help:

http://www.rokslide.com/2012-01-09-05-09-42/optics/209-what-we-look-for

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/show...r-Hunting-Part-2-What-We-AREN%92T-Looking-For

BUT,

This might tell you what you really need to know about your binocular:

Matt,

So reading your articles You said

Another common aberration is distortion. Distortion occurs primarily in two forms, pincushion distortion and barrel distortion. Pincushion distortion occurs when the edge of the field is magnified more than the center, while barrel distortion occurs when the center is magnified more than the edge(see diagram). An optic perfectly corrected for distortion will maintain line straightness right to the edge of the field.

So in reference to that statement you say

An optic perfectly corrected for distortion will maintain line straightness right to the edge of the field.

So in the case of what we discussed above the bending power pole would be a case of Barrel distortion?

Thanks for schooling me. Digging the knowledge =-) These are things Id of never thought about.

Matt Cashell · Feb 28, 2015

SHTF,

If the bend went the other way, it would be barrel distortion. Since it bends as it does in the photo, it is pincushion.

Your CLs show distortion, but you might not find it as noticeable due to the narrow FOV of the CLs.

Matt Cashell · Feb 28, 2015

troutdreamer said:
Would you say the B3 is similar in quality and performance?

I haven't seen the B3, but I would like to. The B2 is also really interesting, since the B1 performed so well in low light, I would be excited to see what the B2s do with the Abbe-Koenig prisms!

It is really apparent that Maven is serious about providing a quality product.

troutdreamer · Feb 28, 2015

Thanks. Ryan mentioned all three so I was hoping the B3 was one of the three he referred.

Maven B1 Binocular Article by Matt Cashell

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