Maven c1 vs Meopta Meopro 10x42

[Daddy]

Ok, I'm torn between these two binos. Need opinions to decide. I can get the Maven for $330, or I can get the Meopro for $420........ Is it worth the extra money for the meopta? Using them for sheep, mule deer, and elk hunting, Alaska and Idaho. Any info is appreciated. The Meopta claims 50 more ft in fov.....

 

[Rodéo]

I'm sure someone has had these two binos at once and can let you know how they compared to each other. I've never looked through meopro's, only meostars, so no help there. But I did own a pair of C.1 10x42's for a while and found them to be a great value for the price. Are they the best bino? No. Are they going to compete with everything up to their price point and even outclass some binos that cost $200 more (like the vortex vipers I had and tested side by side with the C.1's), yes.

The C.1's were pretty sharp in their sweet spot and the focus wheel and eyecups were solid imo, quality build. What had me sell them was the lack of clarity once I got out to the edges of the glass when glassing long distances (say 1 mile plus). They are really good binos and unless you're picky I don't think you'll regret them.

Sorry I don't have any solid info on the meopro's.

Good luck on your search!

 

[Daddy]

Thanks for the help, I'm getting alot of good stuff on the Mavens so I'm leaning towards them for being cheaper than the meoptas. Anybody else like the meopros?

 

[rickjames80]

I have never looked at the Mavens so keep that in mind. I do have the Meopro HD's in 8x42 and think they are pretty great. They compare to the Conquest and Razor and the price is better. . Check with Doug at Cameraland. I have seen some demo Meopro's in the past. I like Meopta so that would be my vote.

 

[Daddy]

And that's the dilemma haha. I couldn't find much comparison on the internet yet so I thought I could help other people out too and get this discussion going. I haven't heard of anyone looking at both to compare yet

 

[Rob5589]

Considered both, and bought the Meopro 10x42. Very sharp, very good in low light, very good edge to edge clarity. I also liked the metal (magnesium) build on the Meo vs polymer on the Maven. I find them to be better than their price point. Call Doug at Camera Land for the Rokslide hook up.

 

[Daddy]

Thanks for the replies guys, anybody else?

 

[idahohikker]

Maven C1s are awesome but I haven’t tried the Meopta. The glowing reviews for the C1 are legit. I would consider them but the Mavens are everything I need and much more. Content with the C1s forever. I hunt big semi open country in Idaho for elk and deer.

The only knocks are FOV and DOF. Not a deal breaker but that’s where you’d benefit from $1000+ binos.

 

[Newtosavage]

I've owned both and the C1's had much better image quality. The Meopro's I owned (both 8x42's and 10x42's) both went back the same day I opened the box because the distortion was just so severe. It gave me headaches within just a few minutes of viewing through them. Pity too since they were a nice size, shape and had great eyecups. The eyecups and narrow field of view are what made me send my C1's back but the image quality was excellent.

 

[idahohikker]

I've owned both and the C1's had much better image quality. The Meopro's I owned (both 8x42's and 10x42's) both went back the same day I opened the box because the distortion was just so severe. It gave me headaches within just a few minutes of viewing through them. Pity too since they were a nice size, shape and had great eyecups. The eyecups and narrow field of view are what made me send my C1's back but the image quality was excellent.

The eye cups on the Maven don’t bother me after a fair amount of use.

The narrow FOV is a downside. From the brief research I completed it seemed like it was similar to or slightly worse than most similar mid range bios and you’d have to make a big jump in price to get a good FOV. Is that accurate? The FOV in the Maven C1 doesn’t bother me though I know I’m giving up a little something with it.

 

[Tikka300wsm]

I've owned both and the C1's had much better image quality. The Meopro's I owned (both 8x42's and 10x42's) both went back the same day I opened the box because the distortion was just so severe. It gave me headaches within just a few minutes of viewing through them. Pity too since they were a nice size, shape and had great eyecups. The eyecups and narrow field of view are what made me send my C1's back but the image quality was excellent.

The meopro gave me headaches as well. The C1s have been great for the price. They were a step up from my leupold bx3s if that tells you anything. And as good or better than vortex vipers to my eyes.

 

[Newtosavage]

The eye cups on the Maven don’t bother me after a fair amount of use.

The narrow FOV is a downside. From the brief research I completed it seemed like it was similar to or slightly worse than most similar mid range bios and you’d have to make a big jump in price to get a good FOV. Is that accurate? The FOV in the Maven C1 doesn’t bother me though I know I’m giving up a little something with it.

I think that's accurate.

The problem I had with the Maven eyecups is they wouldn't hold their position. Darn smooth though - just too smooth. I contacted Maven to see if anything could be done, and they said if they changed their design they would run into copyright infringement or something along those lines, so I said okay, you can have them back then. Between the too easily-moved eyecups and the narrow FOV, I felt I had better options. But I'll never knock the IQ. It was very good.

 

[Txhunter85]

Thanks for the replies guys, anybody else?

No in the field experience but tested out the meopta’s at cabelas. I liked them more than the vortex razors and lot of others prices higher than them. No experience with the mavens. The meopta is what I will be going with this year.

 

[maverick2]

If you're interested in considering a new option, consider a Maven B3. For not much more $$ than the MeoPros you are looking at you can get a pair of Maven's Demo B3 8x30s ($470) or 10x30s ($490). Glass is a significant upgrade over both Maven C1s and the MeoPros (I think it's on par or better than Meopta's MeoStar binos as well) and the FOV for the little 10x30s is within 10 ft of the Meopros, and the FOV for the 8x30s has an additional 80 ft compared to the Meopros. The last 2 times I've bought binos it's come down to the Meoptas or the Mavens and we've ended up with the Mavens both times (a pair of C2s for my daughter and a pair of B3s for me). In that $400 - $500 range for binos, I don't think you can beat the Maven's B3s. (If staying in the $300-$400 range is important and you're not in a hurry, it seems like every couple months a pair of B3s show up here for sale and can be had for $350-$400.)

(By the way, if you live in N Idaho and want to look thru some Mavens let me know -- I can probably get my daughter's C2s and my B3s in front of you pretty easily...)

 

[dreamingWest]

The Meopro HDs are a better buy than the C1s. Better build quality (housing, armor, focuser, etc).

Doug was running a sale on GPO EDs about a month ago. I talked a friend into trying those for his big Alaskan vacation. At the $100 off sale, I think that is my new pic at this price point.

I agree with the poster above about the Maven B3. If you're okay with the smaller size and a little more money, the 8x30s are a gem.

 

[Daddy]

I now have a pair of vortex diamondbacks, Maven c1, and meopta meopros in the 10x42 and will do a thorough comparison, review and post it up here. Thanks guys for the replies

 

[cangurob]

I now have a pair of vortex diamondbacks, Maven c1, and meopta meopros in the 10x42 and will do a thorough comparison, review and post it up here. Thanks guys for the replies

I'd love to read this comparison! I was just about to pull the trigger on a pair of diamondbacks, when I saw people comparing the Maven C1 (which is a similar price to diamondbacks here in Australia) to the Vortex Vipers (which AFAIK are a step up from diamondbacks), which made me pause and re consider. Looking forward to the comparison with anticipation! (I registered for the forum just to encourage you to post it )

 

[Gear-Reviewer]

I have 4 Meopta products and they’re always the best bang for the buck IMO

 

[TNsavageman86]

I’m also a fan of the Meopta products. I have the Meopta Meopro 10x and they haven’t let me down yet.

 

[Daddy]

After working on my review for a couple weeks to really get a good feel for all of the binos, the meoptas started to give me a headache so I'm sending them to meopta with suspicions of collimation problems. Once I get them back I'll post my final review. Sorry for the wait, I really like those meoptas though so I want to give them the full chance in case I just got a dud.