Maven B.5 18X56

[Blue72]

I like to see you guys review these binoculars on objects 1.5 to 2 miles away

See what the limits are

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Got mine in 18x56, spent a quick 20min glassing open space with those and 15x56 SLC, initially prefer the SLC in terms of more forgiving focus and eye placement. Need to get them out glassing some critters.

 

[sportsmans challenge]

For those of you with the 18's have any of you hooked up the doubler to it and if so how does it look

 

[robby denning]

Under cloud cover, glassing is a bit harder as animals don’t stand out IMO. But the glass is doing well today


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They don’t come with the padded case like Swaro’s so less protection, but the fit in my pack better. I don’t install the neck strap FYI so they fit well in bag/pack

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

The B4 case fits them, it clunks though so one would need some padding in it if carrying in your pack.

I spent a bit more time on mine, still having a preference for the 15x56 SLC. Please keep in mind I'm not trying to justify cost value of one vs the other or anything, just trying to pick the one that I think will fit me best. I'm more used to the B5 18x56 eye placement but it takes more mindfulness to get the inter pupil distance correct since the "sweet spot" is smaller on them in my opinion (probably that smaller exit pupil figure?), I can get behind the SLC easier and they tolerate more head movement w/o black edging showing up. The 18x glass is certainly nice and in center view shows a bit more than the SLC but its depth of focus is less so stuff closer and in the distance isn't as crisp as the SLC. The focus on the 18x is fast so you need to make sure to make small adjustments to get it just right (I end up pinching the wheel with a finger and thumb vs just rolling with a finger), the SLC have a slower focus so its easier to get a crisp image a bit slower with less mindfulness about moving the wheel just enough but not too far. So depth of view combined with that fast focus makes me think it could get frustrating to me (again in comparison to the SLC so its all relative).

If I wasn't comparing head to head against the SLC these might not stand out to me as much but my goal is get what fits me best. Currently favoring the user experience of the SLC and leaning toward giving up the extra 3x. But need to spend a bit more time this weekend trying to glass critters.

 

[Brit]

Do they come with the tripod adapter as shown in the pictures? And how do they compare to the swarovski btx?
Thanks

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

No adapter included, most folk appear to be installing an outdoorsmans stud to use with their adapter.

On my end, unfortunately a hectic weekend didn't allow for much more useful time behind them but the return window is closing up so I'm going with my initial impressions and stick with the SLC for my needs.

 

[jp0212]

Been a little bit since the last post, so I was hoping to bring this back to life. I’m struggling hard trying to decide between the Swaro SLC 15x56’s and the Maven B.5 18x56’s. Anyone have more information now that a couple more months have passed?

 

[GFMThunter]

does anyone know if the Maven or any other decent doubler will fit the newer SLC 15x56?

 

[AkMtnRunner]

I've had a chance to look through a new-to-me pair of B5 18's that I bought from a member here. I've never looked through the SLC 15's so I can't comment on how they might compare to those. However, I did recently own a pair of Cabela's Euro HD (Meopta Meostar) 15's, which I returned to Cabela's. I did compare both of these to my Kowa 553 spotter as some sort of a standard.

In a nutshell, the B5 18's are an exceptionally powerful tool. Being a pair of binoculars, the effect of the high magnification is remarkable. It leads me to think of these as a super compact version of the Swaro BTX. On paper they're almost twice the magnification as a 10x binocular and they really do feel like it when I look through them. The image is sharp almost all the way to the edge, better than my Nikon Monarch Hg's, I'd say 90-95% of the way to the edge, this is similar to the Meopta's. The depth of focus, which I was worried about, is actually quite forgiving in my opinion. The focus adjustment is a bit quick but it turns very smooth and has just enough stiffness to not easily overrun the sweet spot. The interpupillary distance is great as others have attested to. The limited exit pupil doesn't seem to be a problem to me. It looks plenty bright enough. Testing it against my Kowa with a similar size objective, it really highlighted how dark the Kowa gets passed 25-30x. Another way to think of it, if we crunch the numbers against the BTX, these have greater objective glass area per magnification, so it really shouldn’t be an issue. The only negative I have found with it is my sample definitely has some chromatic aberration issues with the sharp white edges. It's not bad, similar to the amount of my Nikon HG's have, but noticeable. I may be a bit harsh on that characteristic as that was one characteristic that the Meopta's were stellar at. I looked real hard through the Meopta's to find any and I couldn't. Again, the Maven's CA control is as good as the Monarch HG's which are highly regarded.

To me, and for my purpose, I find a better value in the additional 3x magnification of the Maven's than the better chromatic aberration control of the Meopta's.

The little Kowa sent the Meopta 15's back to Cabela's as their magnification couldn't compete with the Kowa but I think there's very little that the Maven's can't see that the Kowa does. So with the pleasant two-eye viewing experience and far greater field of view, I think these will probably end up sending the Kowa down the road.

 

[zeroforhire]

Mine sent my kowa 553 packing. The 18s are that good.

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[Blake C]

How would these match up against Kaibabs ?

Kaibab is no match. A better comparison would be the razor uhd

 

[The Fish Box]

I know this thread is a little old but figured it would be good to keep questions in this thread.
now that some of you guys have had these binoculars for almost a year how are you liking them? I am debating between the 18x56 mavens and 15x56 slc.

 

[Hatchet Jack]

I know this thread is a little old but figured it would be good to keep questions in this thread.
now that some of you guys have had these binoculars for almost a year how are you liking them? I am debating between the 18x56 mavens and 15x56 slc.

SLCs no question. I looked through the maven 18s a little on a hunt last year and I was not that impressed. The sweet spot was small and they had a ton of edge distortion. I felt like i was more effective glassing at a long distance with my swaro 12s than with the maven 18s.

 

[AkMtnRunner]

After owning the Maven's for about a year I was still impressed with their capability for the price. If someone is wanting high magnification with good quality and doesn't want to drop $2k on Swaro, they are a good solution. In that class, it would be a tough decision between them and the Meopta 15's.

My only criticisms of the Maven's were a little chromatic aberration on white or light colors, and they would struggle a little in dim light. I am one that really likes the brightness of a high pupil diamter.

 

[alaska_bou]

I bought the Maven 18x56 last fall and compared them with my Swaro 15x56 HD slc. At the end of the fall I sold the Maven and kept the swaros. The maven B.5 are very good for the money (especially considering I paid $775 for mine which was half of retail purchased through a pro site) but the depth of field was poor and the biggest draw back. I found myself constantly refocusing based on changing distances, much more so than the swaros. CA was more noticeable in the mavens as well, especially when looking at high contract objects. Resolution and brightness was excellent. As far as magnification, with my swaros and mavens side by side on two different tripods the 18's showed very little difference viewing long distance objects over the 15x swaros. I would recommend the mavens at the price point I paid but if cost is no factor I would stay with the swaros if someone wants the best available as of today.

 

[seananigans]

Weight of those beasts?

45 ounces is what ive seen

 

[RoseAllen]

Depth of field is my only complaint

 

[seananigans]

Depth of field is my only complaint

Meaning you must continue to focus to keep ground in focus? Could you describe a bit more?

 

[morzboss]

Very excited for these.

How would you go about deciding between a 15x56 or an 18x56?

I’m asking the same question