Attractive binoculars with a great feel in the hand and a very sharp, bright image. We rate them a Top Pick.
July 23, 2024
At A Glance
PROS:
- Very sharp, bright image
- Comfortable frame fits nicely in hand
- Large eyecups provide better viewing and are more comfortable than many pocket binoculars
- Stylish detailing
CONS:
- Not quite as sharp as the premium tier of pocket binoculars
- Textured metal focus wheel is not for everyone
- Double-hinge design can be fiddly to match to width of eyes
STATS:
- Price: $600 MSRP at press time. Prices often fluctuate, so check with retailers
- Close focus: Listed as 9.8 feet (300 cm). In tests, we could focus these binoculars down to about 8.6 feet (262 cm)
- Field of view: 6.8° (357 feet at 1,000 yards). More about field of view
- Weight: 12.5 oz (354 g)—that’s about 1.8 oz (52 g) heavier than the average for pocket binoculars in our review
- Eye relief: 15 mm
Viewing Experience: These are bright, sharp binoculars that produce brilliant images in normal daylight. The sharpness in particular really stands out: we enjoyed watching a Yellow-billed Cuckoo foraging in a riverside sycamore, moving its long body behind and around the large leaves. The Mavens highlighted the yellow eyering and lower mandible, and the bright rufous tinges in the primary feathers against the flat brown of the rest of the wing. A pair of Carolina Wrens prospecting for nest sites really lit up with these sharp bins, showcasing the warm brown of the upperparts, the sharply drawn eyeline, and the neat black barring in the tail. Later, as a Broad-winged Hawk circled in blue sky a half-mile away, the Mavens were sharp enough to appreciate the pale underwing and the broad bands of black and white in the tail.
Feel and Build: Maven binoculars are distinctive for their comfortable, olive-brown armoring highlighted by silver and orange rings on the eyepieces and the focus wheel. The double-hinge design—a common feature in many pocket binoculars—means they fold down to a tiny size but can make them more fiddly to adjust to your eye width than the single-hinge design that is common to larger binoculars. Still, Maven’s designers seem to have had birders in mind, adding nice touches like comfortable, large eyecups that ensure these small bins will fit neatly and comfortably up to your eyes. They’re not so narrow as to require holding them away from your eyes, as many pocket-sized binoculars are. The focus wheel is Maven’s standard metal finish with raised metal grip pattern. Some reviewers like the grip and precision this provides, while others find the feel too rough or raspy. The small diameter focus wheel has a slight, reassuring resistance but is easy to move with a single fingertip. The binoculars come with a thicker, comfier neck strap compared to most pocket binoculars; the strap is also long and attaches with quick-release clips, which is a nice touch for stowing these binoculars out of the way. When unboxing them, we appreciated seeing that Maven’s packaging is almost entirely cardboard, with virtually no plastic waste.
This article is one in a series of mini-reviews. To see how these binoculars compare to others we’ve tested, see our full review of pocket binoculars.
