Zeiss SFL 10x30 vs Maven B3 10x30

[ChrisAU]

Looking to acquire a nice 10x30, must be 1/4-20 adaptable and in the 15-17oz range. If I wanted a heavier one I'd just get SFL 10x40's to compliment my 8x40's that I love.

Pretty set on SFL's, but I'm wondering if I'd be missing anything by just going with the Mavens?

 

[Venom One]

These comparisons are always tough choices. I bought a pair of Kowa Genesis 10x33's because they're so highly rated as a replacement for my Nikon M7's. The Kowa's were double the price, and they're much heavier and bulkier than the M7's. Optically, I see little difference between the two and prefer the M7's for the size and weight. I only carry the Kowa's because the price tells me they're better.

Keep in mind, I'm not sitting behind these little guys for great lengths of time to test eye strain, color, clarity, etc. They're typically used for seconds to verify something. I'm guessing you're going to use them in a similar manner, and for that purpose, I'm not sure top-of-the-line optics are necessary.

Seems like something in the B.3 range would be sufficient. If you wanted something a better, the Nikon HG's might fit the bill. Although if you're set on the Zeiss', you might never be satisfied with anything less....

 

[ChrisAU]

These comparisons are always tough choices. I bought a pair of Kowa Genesis 10x33's because they're so highly rated as a replacement for my Nikon M7's. The Kowa's were double the price, and they're much heavier and bulkier than the M7's. Optically, I see little difference between the two and prefer the M7's for the size and weight. I only carry the Kowa's because the price tells me they're better.

Keep in mind, I'm not sitting behind these little guys for great lengths of time to test eye strain, color, clarity, etc. They're typically used for seconds to verify something. I'm guessing you're going to use them in a similar manner, and for that purpose, I'm not sure top-of-the-line optics are necessary.

Seems like something in the B.3 range would be sufficient. If you wanted something a better, the Nikon HG's might fit the bill. Although if you're set on the Zeiss', you might never be satisfied with anything less....

All good points. I will use these on a tripod. The idea is a nice light pair of 10's for the couple weeks a year I get to hunt out west. I use 8x40 SFLs for months out of the year hunting here in the east.

 

[ChrisAU]

Alright, so I compared them myself tonight.



I adore my SFL 8x40’s that I use for whitetail here in Alabama/Georgia and took on a mule deer hunt in Wyoming last year. When the SFL 30mm’s came out and I read @robby denning ’s review of the 8x30’s here I got to thinking that a 10x30 would be sweet for backpack hunting where ounces matter. I wanted the SFLs but talked myself into the very similarly spec’ed but much lower priced Maven B3’s for the task. I was planning on tagging along with a buddy for a 1st rifle elk hunt this year without a tag myself so I figured it’d be a good time to play with gear.

Then week before last, I somehow snagged a tag for myself off the reissue list, prompting a lot of last minute changes to my gear. Knowing this could be my only elk tag for a few years and being faced with the prospect of packing not one but two elk out I decided to go ahead and do some gear upgrades I had been wanting to do.

While this was not at all necessary, I just had a bug that wanted to know how good the little Zeiss binos were. I should know by now to just buy what I want the first time instead of losing money later, oh well.

Let me say this - the Mavens are fantastic for the price. They are super little binos that have changed what I thought 30mm binos were capable of. I was actually able to compare the Mavens to my Zeiss SFL 8x40’s and the SFL 10x40’s while studying Bryant Denney Stadium in Tuscaloosa AL from the Woods & Water parking lot - 3.7 miles away. After that comparison I decided the bonuses of the SFLs optically were not enough to overcome the weight difference for my intended use.

But I couldn’t get those small optical differences out of my head, so I ordered the SFL 10x30’s and got them in today.

The biggest standout difference is the friendliness of the eyebox. The Zeiss just come up to your face and you don’t think about the confines of a small exit pupil from a 10x30, while the Mavens can be thought of as a bit finicky until you get used to them. In that regard the Mavens also seem a good bit more sensitive to the perfect IPD setting than the Zeiss. I’m not sure what optical formula difference can cause that in binos so similar but it is obvious when handling both.

In the same vein the Zeiss also has a thinner ring around the view that makes them seem less tunnel like than the Maven but the Mavens weren’t bad to begin with in that regard.

The eyecups are another big difference. The Mavens click adjust but don’t take much pressure to move. The Zeiss firmly seats into each click and will be much more friendly going in and out of a bino harness. The Zeiss eyecups are also much more comfortable to me, the sharp hard edges of the Mavens contribute to the finicky eye placement IMO.

The placement of the focus wheel on the Zeiss is a bit easier to use with big hands on such small binos IMO, and while both binos’ focus wheels are smooth, the Maven took a little more force and I found myself hunting for the sweet spot more often than with the Zeiss.

On to optics. So I couldn’t look at 3.7 miles today, but I did take them out after sunset to look at trees and various things at distances of 5 yards to 650ish. Before you read further, know that the Zeiss is a $1500 bino and the Mavens $600. The results are as expected,

Brightness - The Zeiss are a touch better, mainly because they maintain their color rendition better. The Mavens got noticeably grayer in tint in really low light than the Zeiss did.

Colors - in full light they seemed pretty evenly matched though whites were just a bit brighter and blacks just a bit blacker in the Zeiss. As noted above in very low light the Zeiss maintained color better.

Resolution - Another small win for the Zeiss. Leaves in distant trees remained distinguishable longer in the Zeiss than the Mavens. This was something I noticed when comparing the 40mm SFLs to the Mavens as well.

Glare - I noticed while panning that the Mavens would be susceptible to small amounts of glare when passing light sources that the Zeiss had none of. This would occur when the light was not in the sight picture. I was not able to compare them while glassing into a setting sun but I can gather that would be a notable difference.

Overall the Zeiss are a better bino, but optically I’d say you’d never be mad at the Mavens. The ergonomic advantages and most notably the eye box are what makes the separation IMO, not the quality of the glass.

On a 1-10 scale to compare just these two I’d give the ergonomics of the Zeiss a 10/10 and the Mavens a 7/10, while optically the Zeiss gets a 10/10 and the Maven an 8/10.

Are those differences worth the price difference? For most probably not. But as a gear ho that obsesses over every little thing, for me they are and they’ll be going to Colorado with me next week. Some lucky chap will get the Mavens for a steal!

 

[robby denning]

Alright, so I compared them myself tonight.

View attachment 609203

I adore my SFL 8x40’s that I use for whitetail here in Alabama/Georgia and took on a mule deer hunt in Wyoming last year. When the SFL 30mm’s came out and I read @robby denning ’s review of the 8x30’s here I got to thinking that a 10x30 would be sweet for backpack hunting where ounces matter. I wanted the SFLs but talked myself into the very similarly spec’ed but much lower priced Maven B3’s for the task. I was planning on tagging along with a buddy for a 1st rifle elk hunt this year without a tag myself so I figured it’d be a good time to play with gear.

Then week before last, I somehow snagged a tag for myself off the reissue list, prompting a lot of last minute changes to my gear. Knowing this could be my only elk tag for a few years and being faced with the prospect of packing not one but two elk out I decided to go ahead and do some gear upgrades I had been wanting to do.

While this was not at all necessary, I just had a bug that wanted to know how good the little Zeiss binos were. I should know by now to just buy what I want the first time instead of losing money later, oh well.

Let me say this - the Mavens are fantastic for the price. They are super little binos that have changed what I thought 30mm binos were capable of. I was actually able to compare the Mavens to my Zeiss SFL 8x40’s and the SFL 10x40’s while studying Bryant Denney Stadium in Tuscaloosa AL from the Woods & Water parking lot - 3.7 miles away. After that comparison I decided the bonuses of the SFLs optically were not enough to overcome the weight difference for my intended use.

But I couldn’t get those small optical differences out of my head, so I ordered the SFL 10x30’s and got them in today.

The biggest standout difference is the friendliness of the eyebox. The Zeiss just come up to your face and you don’t think about the confines of a small exit pupil from a 10x30, while the Mavens can be thought of as a bit finicky until you get used to them. In that regard the Mavens also seem a good bit more sensitive to the perfect IPD setting than the Zeiss. I’m not sure what optical formula difference can cause that in binos so similar but it is obvious when handling both.

In the same vein the Zeiss also has a thinner ring around the view that makes them seem less tunnel like than the Maven but the Mavens weren’t bad to begin with in that regard.

The eyecups are another big difference. The Mavens click adjust but don’t take much pressure to move. The Zeiss firmly seats into each click and will be much more friendly going in and out of a bino harness. The Zeiss eyecups are also much more comfortable to me, the sharp hard edges of the Mavens contribute to the finicky eye placement IMO.

The placement of the focus wheel on the Zeiss is a bit easier to use with big hands on such small binos IMO, and while both binos’ focus wheels are smooth, the Maven took a little more force and I found myself hunting for the sweet spot more often than with the Zeiss.

On to optics. So I couldn’t look at 3.7 miles today, but I did take them out after sunset to look at trees and various things at distances of 5 yards to 650ish. Before you read further, know that the Zeiss is a $1500 bino and the Mavens $600. The results are as expected,

Brightness - The Zeiss are a touch better, mainly because they maintain their color rendition better. The Mavens got noticeably grayer in tint in really low light than the Zeiss did.

Colors - in full light they seemed pretty evenly matched though whites were just a bit brighter and blacks just a bit blacker in the Zeiss. As noted above in very low light the Zeiss maintained color better.

Resolution - Another small win for the Zeiss. Leaves in distant trees remained distinguishable longer in the Zeiss than the Mavens. This was something I noticed when comparing the 40mm SFLs to the Mavens as well.

Glare - I noticed while panning that the Mavens would be susceptible to small amounts of glare when passing light sources that the Zeiss had none of. This would occur when the light was not in the sight picture. I was not able to compare them while glassing into a setting sun but I can gather that would be a notable difference.

Overall the Zeiss are a better bino, but optically I’d say you’d never be mad at the Mavens. The ergonomic advantages and most notably the eye box are what makes the separation IMO, not the quality of the glass.

On a 1-10 scale to compare just these two I’d give the ergonomics of the Zeiss a 10/10 and the Mavens a 7/10, while optically the Zeiss gets a 10/10 and the Maven an 8/10.

Are those differences worth the price difference? For most probably not. But as a gear ho that obsesses over every little thing, for me they are and they’ll be going to Colorado with me next week. Some lucky chap will get the Mavens for a steal!

bravo!

Great review man!

 

[nnmarcher]

Alright, so I compared them myself tonight.

View attachment 609203

I adore my SFL 8x40’s that I use for whitetail here in Alabama/Georgia and took on a mule deer hunt in Wyoming last year. When the SFL 30mm’s came out and I read @robby denning ’s review of the 8x30’s here I got to thinking that a 10x30 would be sweet for backpack hunting where ounces matter. I wanted the SFLs but talked myself into the very similarly spec’ed but much lower priced Maven B3’s for the task. I was planning on tagging along with a buddy for a 1st rifle elk hunt this year without a tag myself so I figured it’d be a good time to play with gear.

Then week before last, I somehow snagged a tag for myself off the reissue list, prompting a lot of last minute changes to my gear. Knowing this could be my only elk tag for a few years and being faced with the prospect of packing not one but two elk out I decided to go ahead and do some gear upgrades I had been wanting to do.

While this was not at all necessary, I just had a bug that wanted to know how good the little Zeiss binos were. I should know by now to just buy what I want the first time instead of losing money later, oh well.

Let me say this - the Mavens are fantastic for the price. They are super little binos that have changed what I thought 30mm binos were capable of. I was actually able to compare the Mavens to my Zeiss SFL 8x40’s and the SFL 10x40’s while studying Bryant Denney Stadium in Tuscaloosa AL from the Woods & Water parking lot - 3.7 miles away. After that comparison I decided the bonuses of the SFLs optically were not enough to overcome the weight difference for my intended use.

But I couldn’t get those small optical differences out of my head, so I ordered the SFL 10x30’s and got them in today.

The biggest standout difference is the friendliness of the eyebox. The Zeiss just come up to your face and you don’t think about the confines of a small exit pupil from a 10x30, while the Mavens can be thought of as a bit finicky until you get used to them. In that regard the Mavens also seem a good bit more sensitive to the perfect IPD setting than the Zeiss. I’m not sure what optical formula difference can cause that in binos so similar but it is obvious when handling both.

In the same vein the Zeiss also has a thinner ring around the view that makes them seem less tunnel like than the Maven but the Mavens weren’t bad to begin with in that regard.

The eyecups are another big difference. The Mavens click adjust but don’t take much pressure to move. The Zeiss firmly seats into each click and will be much more friendly going in and out of a bino harness. The Zeiss eyecups are also much more comfortable to me, the sharp hard edges of the Mavens contribute to the finicky eye placement IMO.

The placement of the focus wheel on the Zeiss is a bit easier to use with big hands on such small binos IMO, and while both binos’ focus wheels are smooth, the Maven took a little more force and I found myself hunting for the sweet spot more often than with the Zeiss.

On to optics. So I couldn’t look at 3.7 miles today, but I did take them out after sunset to look at trees and various things at distances of 5 yards to 650ish. Before you read further, know that the Zeiss is a $1500 bino and the Mavens $600. The results are as expected,

Brightness - The Zeiss are a touch better, mainly because they maintain their color rendition better. The Mavens got noticeably grayer in tint in really low light than the Zeiss did.

Colors - in full light they seemed pretty evenly matched though whites were just a bit brighter and blacks just a bit blacker in the Zeiss. As noted above in very low light the Zeiss maintained color better.

Resolution - Another small win for the Zeiss. Leaves in distant trees remained distinguishable longer in the Zeiss than the Mavens. This was something I noticed when comparing the 40mm SFLs to the Mavens as well.

Glare - I noticed while panning that the Mavens would be susceptible to small amounts of glare when passing light sources that the Zeiss had none of. This would occur when the light was not in the sight picture. I was not able to compare them while glassing into a setting sun but I can gather that would be a notable difference.

Overall the Zeiss are a better bino, but optically I’d say you’d never be mad at the Mavens. The ergonomic advantages and most notably the eye box are what makes the separation IMO, not the quality of the glass.

On a 1-10 scale to compare just these two I’d give the ergonomics of the Zeiss a 10/10 and the Mavens a 7/10, while optically the Zeiss gets a 10/10 and the Maven an 8/10.

Are those differences worth the price difference? For most probably not. But as a gear ho that obsesses over every little thing, for me they are and they’ll be going to Colorado with me next week. Some lucky chap will get the Mavens for a steal!

Thank you for the review! I'm personally trying to decide between the 8x formats of the B.3 and SFL 30 and this was a helpful read