Maven S.2 Thoughts?

[Rodéo]

Just got an email from maven about the new S.2 spotting scope! It's a compact 12-27x56mm model that comes in straight only (interesting).

Looking forward to the review from the admins here. Also looking forward to what you guys think. At $950 new, (or $750 pre-sale) it's at a GREAT price-point for what would appear to be a high end optic from Maven.

Kind of disappointed in the 12-27 mag range but it could come it handy when weight it the primary concern, it's only 11 inches long and 34.4 oz!

Here's the link the the pre-sale for your enjoyment: https://shop.mavenbuilt.com/collections/stock-optics/products/s2-gray-orange

Would love to hear your guy's thoughts.

Cheers,

Rod

 

[Bones]

Interesting. I like the stuff Maven has put out, and was interested in this. Love the thought of a spotter that is better than the vortex, but not $1,400 like my Kowa. Was a bit disappointed to see it come in at 32oz, but I guess I am a sissy.

 

[Rodéo]

Interesting. I like the stuff Maven has put out, and was interested in this. Love the thought of a spotter that is better than the vortex, but not $1,400 like my Kowa. Was a bit disappointed to see it come in at 32oz, but I guess I am a sissy.

Edited the post. Looks like it's 34.4 oz after a closer look. Still lighter than my 65 razor by almost a pound.
Definitely looks like a contender.

 

[WyoBowhunter21]

I am really excited about it. I agree about the weight. I was hoping for sub 25 oz but like mentioned it is lighter than my 85 mm spotter.

 

[fnf01]

Not crazy on mag range or straight body, weight in email says 34oz webpage says 32oz. Wondering about FOV. Overall seems like it could check boxes for some but me I’d hold out for the little Kowa. Magnification is definitely the biggest deal breaker for me

 

[wannakillabigbull]

Excited to see it finally, but I’m disappointed in the combination of weight and magnification range. I bet Doug could get me a new Kowa 55 within a few hundred of the full priced Maven S2. Much more appealing features in the Kowa, on paper at least.

 

[kylem]

I was pretty excited to see it too, but the 12-27 was kinda disappointing to me.

 

[Bones]

Yeah, I would have liked to see a higher mag range and less weight. The pre-sale price is what makes it a contender compared to the Kowa. I won’t be selling my 55, that is for sure.

 

[Bones]

May be a step above the Vortex, but would like to see the mag range be higher than the Razor. The little Nikon had 40x with the one eyepiece, but the quality wasn’t near the Razor when I compared them.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Got the email as well, I'm sure the imagine is a bit better than the opticron mm4 50mm I have but that one is 12-36x on zoom (15-45x on the 60mm body) and the eyepiece is swapable to use with fixed power wide angle as well so the draw wasn't as strong on this after reading through it all. Maybe the lower magnification results in very forgiving eye placement? I am very interested in those B5s to show up though...

 

[Rodéo]

Got the email as well, I'm sure the imagine is a bit better than the opticron mm4 50mm I have but that one is 12-36x on zoom (15-45x on the 60mm body) and the eyepiece is swapable to use with fixed power wide angle as well so the draw wasn't as strong on this after reading through it all. Maybe the lower magnification results in very forgiving eye placement? I am very interested in those B5s to show up though...

I'm looking forward to the B5's as well but the exit pupil will be very small on those binos (3.7 on 15x and 3.1 on 18x). The eye relief on the S.2 is 18-19mm from what I understand which is really top notch for a spotter. Hoping this will make up for the limited mag range.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I'm looking forward to the B5's as well but the exit pupil will be very small on those binos (3.7 on 15x and 3.1 on 18x). The eye relief on the S.2 is 18-19mm from what I understand which is really top notch for a spotter. Hoping this will make up for the limited mag range.

The 15x won't be any different in that respect than other 15x56 already out there (I already run some 15x56), I plan to try the 18x, if they are finicky but I otherwise like the glass I can always switch to the 15x. But considering folks are able to use 10x32 binos reasonably I'm not particularly worried about it at the moment other than maybe first/last light dilated pupils.

 

[Schaaf]

I’ve got a demo right now I’m looking at. Seems like a nice little spotter.

 

[tdhanses]

Pretty week zoom range at 12-27x. For the price spend a little more and get a Kowa with 45x zoom. I think the price and low zoom will hold it back, just my opinion. Now if it had at least 40x zoom it could be a contender with the Kowa.

 

[ianpadron]

Pretty week zoom range at 12-27x. For the price spend a little more and get a Kowa with 45x zoom. I think the price and low zoom will hold it back, just my opinion. Now if it had at least 40x zoom it could be a contender with the Kowa.

I agree 100%

Got all excited at first, then looked at the specs...12-27x wtf?

12-40x or even 12-36x and I'd be all over it for $750...but like you said, I might as well just keep saving for the Kowa

 

[MuleyFever]

Like most others I am not impressed with the specs. I will keep my Kowa 601 20-60x at 33oz until I can get the 551.

 

[willfrye027]

Should have a nice FOV with a 2x ish mag range

 

[Bones]

Should have a nice FOV with a 2x ish mag range

Agreed, but I think that misses what most of us would use a “backpack” spotter for.

We aren’t going to glass all day with it to glass up an animal. We are going to use it to take a better look at something we found with our wide FOV, lower powered than the spotter, binos.

For a real light option, my feeling is that Max usable magnification is much more useful than FOV.

 

[Bones]

Like most others I am not impressed with the specs. I will keep my Kowa 601 20-60x at 33oz until I can get the 551.

I agree with this for sure with the weight the Maven is coming in at.

I really like Maven, just not excited about these specs.

 

[PantherCity]

I pre-ordered one, I’ll let y’all know what I think when it comes in. I have a Leica 77mm if I need it, this will get carried a lot more that’s for sure. I can also get away with a lighter tripod.


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