The Maven CS.2A 26-66×85 has the highest magnification and largest objective diameter among Mavens spotting scopes. The scope appears to be made or at least assembled in China unlike the Japanese S-series scopes. But don’t let Sino-Snobbery bias you, the glass and build quality is a match to Maven’s other premium optics. This scope uses the same ED quality glass Mavens other C-series scopes. Color balance, sharpness, and brightness were on par with other quality scopes in the 1K-1.5K price tier.
Its only disappointment is it’s lack of field-grade lens caps or backpack ready carrying case or skin. While many premium scope brands also eschew accessories, Maven took the time to produce a custom branded front lens cap; yet somehow didn’t design it to have a simple lanyard loop to help keep an outdoorsman from losing it in the field.
Despite this nitpick, the CS.2A’s body design is armored and ruggedized for harsher outdoor conditions. At 60oz, the CS.2A is impressively light for an 85mm spotter. This scope has the power, features, and style that a well heeled back-country hunters or birders can appreciate.
Maven has some of the sexiest looking scopes on the market in terms of build quality, materials, and styling. But don’t let a hot body fool you. Like an exotic sports car the Maven RS.4 has serious engineering under the hood.
The RS.4 is Maven’s scope for PRS competition or long range Western hunting. It offers many features optimized for long range enthusiasts. Maven offers it in MIL or MOA with a variety of Christmas tree and specialty reticles. I got the CFR-MIL reticle which is similar to the PR2 reticle on the Leupold Mk5.
The turrets are oversized and large diameter to provide quick turns to adjust dope and fine adjustments. The turret have a hidden tool-less locking top to allow the user to reset them. Under the elevation turret you’ll find a black metal ring that can be dropped to engage a pin on the turret base to engage a precise zero-stop.
All the nobs and rings turn smoothly. The turrets offer precise tacticle clicks that are audible. The reticle illumination is powered by a CR2032 coin battery and is split between red and green settings with an off in-between brightness settings. The illumination dial layout is a little unusual with the highest settings in both red and green are on the same side of the dial. Unfortunately it’s illumination is only so-so. Only the very central cruciform of the reticle is illuminated with a faint glow on the Christmas tree. The RS.4’s brightest isn’t noon-day daylight which a liability for certain lighting conditions.
The RS.4 has ED glass which gives it excellent sharpness, clarity, and color balance. Chromatic aberration was greatly minimized in all but the highest contrast conditions. Even in those extreme cases, I noted an orange fringe rather than a purple or green one. The eyebox was a bit unforgiving, even with the magnification dialed down to 10x. At 30x it’s very tight, so it’s imperative the shooter have a firm and comfortable cheek weld on their rifle.
The RS.4 is a beautifully designed scope with long range shooters in mind. Especially the kind of shooter who step out of their custom Cybertruck wearing their ironed T.A.D. outfits and matching Canadian Goose parka.
When choosing travel binoculars there’s a trade off between power and portability. With the Maven B.3 it meets a Goldilocks spot between both. The B.3 compact size and optical performance covers a wide variety of users from hunters to sports fans, to birders, naturalists, and travelers. Most of all it appeals to those who strive for efficiency and minimalism.
The B.3 comes in 6x, 8x, and 10x models, all with 30mm objective lenses and the same body. The differences in magnification also provide differences in field of view and depth of field, inverse to its magnification power. I chose the 8x to as the best balance of both. On Maven’s website, you have the ability to custom design and order your optics; selecting the color of components, including adding commercial camouflage patterns.
The B.3 also features ED glass for clarity and color balance. It has a generous depth of field, a wide field of view, and a silky focus mechanism. Like all of Maven’s optics, it is also the most stylish and aesthetically designed sports optics on the market.
Maven sent me the target model of their excellent B.5 18×56 binoculars. This version has a MIL target range finding reticle (they also make an MOA version) in the left tube of the binos. These are a feature that make them useful for target range estimation and shot correction in long range shooting sports.
While it only offers 18x magnification, binoculars offer stereoscopic depth perception unlike single tube scopes; this allows you to easily determine the relative distances of objects to each other and that of ground splashes to the target. Its size and compact form make it easy to pack and transport compared to a 80mm spotting scope (which can’t easily be use handheld like binoculars).
The B.5 features bright and clear Fluorite glass for crisp details. This is a step up in price and quality than standard ED glass which has some fluorite in it but “Fluorite ED” is even sharper and more expensive. Looking through the B.5 there is little chromatic aberration from edge to edge.
Looking at my reference targets at 100yrds I was able to see far clearer than in my phone camera test footage. Something about the eye and the brain when looking through binoculars allows you to see in greater zoomed detail. I was easily able to see the .22cal holes on paper even at 100yrds.
The B.5 has dark grey silicone rubber armored body tubes and striking metallic orange accents on its reticle leveling ring and washer sections. These colored accents and the body can be customized when ordering a build-your-own model of your optic on the Maven website. No other optics company offers such a wide range of custom style options on their products.
The B.5’s does not come cheap. This and all of Maven’s optics come in at a premium price tier. But its optical performance and customizable style make it look like a winner.
Maven sent me their new B.6 binoculars which comes in 10×25 and 12×50 sizes. These feature ED glass which reduces chromatic aberration to provide clearer, sharper images. These 10x field binoculars are small enough to pack in a range bag or luggage for a trip, while offering brighter images and a wider field of view than pocked sized 10x binos.
Despite only being 10x these optics surprised me when I was clearly able to see a pair of .22cal holes on my paper target at 100yrds. Typically these would be faint or hard to see with a 12x rifle scope. While not easily seen in my video footage, they were as clear as day with my naked eye.
The B.5 has dark grey silicone rubber armored body tubes and striking metallic orange accents on its reticle leveling ring and washer sections. These colored accents and the body can be customized when ordering a build-your-own model of your optic on the Maven website. No other optics company offers such a wide range of custom style options on their products.
The B.6 do not come cheap. This and all of Maven’s optics come in at a premium price tier between Zeiss and Leupold. Is it worth it? It certainly looks like a million bucks both outside and looking through it.
Maven is a new optics company that is arguably makes the most stylish premium sporting optics available. They sent me their top of the line spotting scope to test. The S.1A is an angled 25-50×80 spotting scope with a removable 5x eyepiece. The checkerboard texture pattern on its focus and power rings, look like the fine workmanship of vintage European photographic lenses from the 1950’s.
In my testing this scope checked all of the boxes for a premium higher end spotting scope. It was clear and bright and exhibited only a moderate amount of chromatic aberration. On the USAF-1951 chart the S.1 was able to resolve details comparable to a 60x scope. Its large eyepiece provided a generous eyebox for a spotter. It can be swapped out for either an MOA or MIL reticle tactical eyepiece for spotting in long range precision shooting.
The standard model comes with a grey rubberized armored body with black or orange metal accent rings that form the joins of its body sections. The body armor and accent rings can be individually customized on the Maven website to allow the buyer the widest possible aesthetic selection. No other optics company or sporting good maker comes close, not even Nike.
While this customization may seem like a gimmick, if you’re going to spend around $2000 for a scope, why shouldn’t you have a say on how it looks? Given that most major brand scopes in this price tier perform remarkably similar (eg. Vortex, Leupold, Nikon, Kowa, etc.) aesthetics may be the most significant differentiator.
Maven is a new company in the Premium Optics world, founded in 2013 in Wyoming by three veterans of the outdoor industry. Their goal was create quality sporting optics without the big box store mark-up by selling direct to consumer through their website. This business model is not new (Arken, Tract, and Discover are some examples) but what does make Maven unique is the level of customization they allow on their products. Maven was the first optics company to offer customers a choice of different color accents, camo patterns, and custom engraving on different parts of their optics.
Perhaps more than most, this scope looked “premium priced”. The price of the RS.5 starts at $1400 and depending on level of customization can run up to $1510. They also offer accessory bundles which include scope rings. The base model arrives in a compressed paper clamshell package, that opens like a high end egg crate; but those fancy ‘cruelty free’ eggs they sell at Organic Markets.
Surface appearances aside, my testing their RS.5 precision hunting scope showed excellent optical and tracking performance. This Japanese made scope has ED glass and an well designed SFP reticle that offered useful elevation and wind hold stadia and a super fine .1 MOA floating center dot for precise long range shooting. Despite its svelt 30mm tube and low profile turret, it offered 100 MOA or vertical travel and precise tracking.
I was especially impressed with the scope’s stylish industrial design. The turrets are resettable but instead of visible hex or slot screws, the top of the turret is seamless hidden locking hut which twists off (though mine was really on tight and required some rubber bands and a pliers to loosen). The control surfaces were nicely checkered and had nice pewter grey accent coloring making the whole scope feel more like a fine timepiece than a typical scope.
I’m looking forward to trying out their other scopes and binoculars. The Maven RS.5 may look boojie but it performs like a badass.
