new binos

[dotman]

Maven, no doubts at all. They have 3rd party data that puts them right with the Swaro, Leica, Zeiss, $2k models at half the price. Their glass is amazing. $900 for B1's (8 or 10x42), brand new, full warranty. Plus, you can customize the look.

The reason you can get the highest quality for 1/2 the price is the direct to consumer business model, ala, KUIU. There's no retail store to take their big chunk of the purchase price.

http://mavenbuilt.com/

A buddy and I compared his Swaro's (7 years old) with my new B1's, in the field, at dusk. The difference in brightness between his and mine was shocking to both of us. Swaro didn't win the field test.

How do the Mavens do with resale? Problem is the old Brunton's you pretty much had to give away and that is all the Maven is. I would stick with Zeiss, Meopta, Vortex or Minox if you don't want to lose a ton if you decide to resell. Also 7 year old binos have a few generations of lesser quality coatings on the lenses then what you can get today, have to compare to what is offered today. That said I'd still pick 7 year old swaros over an unknow when spending that kind of money for now. Maybe in 10 years Maven will have a name like Vortex but Vortex didn't just pop up, took them awhile.

The Brunton binos never took off and I'm not sure if renaming then and creating a new company will change that or not. Maven is ran by the old Brunton optics guys.

 

[ckleeves]

I agree with Dotman on this one 100%. When you lay down a grand you want to make sure that the binos aren't gonna be worth 200.00 in 2 years and it's comforting if the company has been around awhile to show they have some longevity so when you need warranty work they are still in business.

Having said that I have not looked through Mavens and they very well might be amazing.

 

[JNDEER]

this was my 2 cents on a review I did a while ago.

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/showthread.php?7225-My-quest-for-quot-the-one-quot&highlight=JNDEER

 

[untouchable]

thanks everyone for the info i have some decisons to make