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Mavin makes Field and Stream's BEST OF THE BEST

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Topic: Mavin makes Field and Stream's BEST OF THE BEST
Posted By: Whitefire
Subject: Mavin makes Field and Stream's BEST OF THE BEST
Date Posted: September/11/2015 at 16:44
Though the narrative is short there is no doubt,  F&S  gave high marks to the Mavin B. 2 11 x 45 binocular. I was delighted to see the endorsement for this fine optic.  

Page 68 of the September issue. 

If not for Klamath's review I may have passed over without notice.  

Wf


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May His face shine upon you and give you peace.



Replies:
Posted By: Kickboxer
Date Posted: September/11/2015 at 18:14
He did pique the interest, didn't he… Probably a Mavin optic in my future.

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Opinion,untempered by fact,is ignorance.

There are some who do not fear death... for they are more afraid of not really living


Posted By: Klamath
Date Posted: September/11/2015 at 21:21
Dudes....that's Maven, not Mavin Big Smile

The Maven B2 is one hell of a binocular.  I just finished a comparative evaluation of my 9x45 with several Swarovski models, the last one I had is the SV EL 10x50.  I have also had some time with the 11x45.  I would solidly recommend the 9x45.  The 11x is as good as I expected from my experience with the 9x, but the depth of focus suffers a little, which is to be expected from higher magnification.  The detail is likely a little better with the 11x, except for the fact that the 9x handles heat mirage a lot better when the two are side by side.  But if you think you really need the extra magnification, the 11x is also a hell of a binocular.

I'll get some of the comparative stuff up here in a day or two.  Short story is Swarovski makes nothing that will kick the B2 off the stage.  I'm not saying the B2 is better, or even as good, I'm saying the differences are nearly lab level determinations and most human eye balls don't have the acuity to pick what differences do exist.  I got gobsmacked by rolling ball about two weeks after I got the EL 10x50 SV, so Swarovisions are out the window for me.

Right now I have every confidence that my two binocular combo of the 9x45 B2 and the 8x30 B3 will handle any handheld binocular need I will ever have anywhere on the planet.  I put in my prayers to my Maven contact for a 15x56, so I have hope that will come along too.

If Kickboxer is interested in any binocular, I'm nearly speechless Big Smile.  But hey, Maven is a good place to start.


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Steve
"Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted". William Bruce Cameron



Posted By: Whitefire
Date Posted: September/12/2015 at 22:09
well excuse my negligenceCool,  I'm just glad to see Maven get some publicity...  From a not bad publication who markets to the right crowd. 
Wf


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May His face shine upon you and give you peace.


Posted By: verminator
Date Posted: April/15/2016 at 17:59
is it worth sellin my zen prime HD'S 10x42's for a pair off M 9x45's....


Posted By: Kickboxer
Date Posted: April/15/2016 at 18:07
Originally posted by Klamath Klamath wrote:

Dudes....that's Maven, not Mavin Big Smile

The Maven B2 is one hell of a binocular.  I just finished a comparative evaluation of my 9x45 with several Swarovski models, the last one I had is the SV EL 10x50.  I have also had some time with the 11x45.  I would solidly recommend the 9x45.  The 11x is as good as I expected from my experience with the 9x, but the depth of focus suffers a little, which is to be expected from higher magnification.  The detail is likely a little better with the 11x, except for the fact that the 9x handles heat mirage a lot better when the two are side by side.  But if you think you really need the extra magnification, the 11x is also a hell of a binocular.

I'll get some of the comparative stuff up here in a day or two.  Short story is Swarovski makes nothing that will kick the B2 off the stage.  I'm not saying the B2 is better, or even as good, I'm saying the differences are nearly lab level determinations and most human eye balls don't have the acuity to pick what differences do exist.  I got gobsmacked by rolling ball about two weeks after I got the EL 10x50 SV, so Swarovisions are out the window for me.

Right now I have every confidence that my two binocular combo of the 9x45 B2 and the 8x30 B3 will handle any handheld binocular need I will ever have anywhere on the planet.  I put in my prayers to my Maven contact for a 15x56, so I have hope that will come along too.

If Kickboxer is interested in any binocular, I'm nearly speechless Big Smile.  But hey, Maven is a good place to start.

Don't tell anybody… I'm buying one...


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Opinion,untempered by fact,is ignorance.

There are some who do not fear death... for they are more afraid of not really living


Posted By: Son of Ed
Date Posted: April/16/2016 at 22:02
No Pics













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Visit the Ed Show


Posted By: Son of Ed
Date Posted: April/16/2016 at 22:05







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Visit the Ed Show


Posted By: koshkin
Date Posted: April/17/2016 at 01:20
I do not think I have seen a F&S award that reflected anything other than the amount of advertising a particular brand does with them.

I have not had a chance to test any maven products, but from what I have heard they are very deserving of being chosen.  I am merely a little surprised that F&S managed to stumble onto a proper selection by some miracle.

ILya


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http://www.darklordofoptics.com - www.darklordofoptics.com
https://rumble.com/c/DLO - Rumble Video Channel


Posted By: bugsNbows
Date Posted: April/17/2016 at 12:57
Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut! 

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If we're not suppose to eat animals...how come they're made of meat?
               Anomymous


Posted By: WJC
Date Posted: May/19/2016 at 09:38
Originally posted by koshkin koshkin wrote:

I do not think I have seen a F&S award that reflected anything other than the amount of advertising a particular brand does with them.

ILya


More than once, an editor, or publisher, has wanted me to slant and article in favor of a certain product or advertiser.

 

During WWII, US binoculars were manufactured by:

 

—American Optical

—Anchor Optical

—Bell & Howell

—Hayward Lumber

—Honeywell

—Kelvinator

—Kollsman

—Nash

—Nash/Kelvinator (after the merger)

—National

—New York Film Corporation

Pioneer Instruments (A division of Bendix Aviation)

—SARD (Square D)

—Spencer Optical

—Universal Camera Corporation

—Westinghouse

—Wollensak, and

—A partridge in a pear tree ….

 

Most, if not all, of those companies, however, were under subcontract to Bausch & Lomb, or perhaps the Naval Gun Factory.

 

Thus, digging a little deeper, we might find that the Maven has identical twins in Asia. For example: The Fujinon AR is the Bushnell Navigator, is the old Swift Seahawk, is the Simmons . . . Well, you get the picture.


Cheers,


Bill



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“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Social media everywhere but not a thought to think.” — me



Posted By: JGRaider
Date Posted: May/19/2016 at 17:14
What are Maven's identical twins Bill? 


Posted By: WJC
Date Posted: May/19/2016 at 17:32
I haven't a clue. And, now away from the bench, sales counter, and my optical contacts, I probably never will.

I just remember how the game is played. An OEM will send out a catalog, listing basic products like AD-7, XP-15, or DK-9, and the importer gets to choose the model and specify the cosmetic modifications he wants.

 

After that, it’s up to him to come up with all the advertising wonderment that’s going to cause people to buy his product over the competitors. I will be deal heavily with many of the misconceptions created by advertising in my book, which is getting closer all the time. In fact, I stopped editing a 1999 interview with David Bushnell when I saw your query.

 

Finally, IF the importer has enough money to BUY the molds, and promises to order so many a month—for so many months—the binocular can be proprietary to his firm. Does Maven have that much money, yet? I’m certainly looking forward to the day, but I don’t think it has arrived.

 

Cheers




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“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Social media everywhere but not a thought to think.” — me



Posted By: WJC
Date Posted: May/19/2016 at 17:39
A good example might be Carton's Adlerblick Fernglasser, Swi

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“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Social media everywhere but not a thought to think.” — me



Posted By: WJC
Date Posted: May/19/2016 at 17:42
I just had another complete memo composed for JGRaider when this ... WHATEVER, cut me off again because I THOUGHT I would not have to go to the real word processor.


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“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Social media everywhere but not a thought to think.” — me



Posted By: WJC
Date Posted: May/19/2016 at 17:43
I think if you took all the computer geeks in the world, and laid them end to end, it would be a good thing. Especially if they were deep enough!

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“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Social media everywhere but not a thought to think.” — me



Posted By: JGRaider
Date Posted: May/19/2016 at 20:11
Thanks Bill.  As far as my question about Maven, I'm not aware of any "clone" either.  Otherwise, I have no clue WTH you're talking about.........


Posted By: supertool73
Date Posted: May/19/2016 at 21:12
Should never post when under the influence

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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own."


Posted By: WJC
Date Posted: May/20/2016 at 00:23

‘Sorry if I confused you; I thought I was being pretty straightforward. I said: “The Fujinon AR is the Bushnell Navigator, is the old Swift Seahawk, is the Simmons . . . Well, you get the picture.”

 

So, which of these leading and respected brands, is a clone of which other bino? Or, is any one a clone of anything else? They’re basically the same on the inside, just as the “Fernglaser,” the Ultralites, and the Ultimas were the same. Oh, they might have changes in cosmetics, or possibly coatings, but they’re still the same basic bino. Thus, I wouldn’t expect the Maven to LOOK like anything else!

 

Do, I know for certain that Mavens share their insides with other brands? Nope; ‘never claimed to. But knowing how the system has worked before either of us were born, I have very strong suspicions. Are the Asians going to alter the business practices they have used for decades to benefit one company? I don’t thing so. Do I doubt Maven’s business plan, or think them not a great company? Certainly not.

 

This is, of course, the main reason I get into trouble so often. Sometimes I will answer a person in a straightforward way—from firsthand experience—and find that because my thoughts differ from that of the inexpert consensus on the Internet, I have to prove what I may have known to be true for years. Then, when I prove it, I’m being “arrogant,” “condescending,” “self-serving,” or worse. It’s a hard row to hoe. But, if there is a chance I can get through to the person who truly wants to know more—it’s worth it.

 

Yesterday, I queried a representative at the home office of a company that many on BirdForum look to as a binocular MANUFACTURER.

 

I got my answer, this morning:

 

“Dear Sir,

As with most optics companies our optics are manufactured in China (low end) and Japan (high end). This is fairly consistent with most companies.

 

Kind regards

XXXXXXXX”

 

Cheers,

 

Bill

 

 



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“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Social media everywhere but not a thought to think.” — me



Posted By: supertool73
Date Posted: May/20/2016 at 01:57
I don't think it was confusion or a need to get through to us. I think many of us here already know and realize that very few companies actually make anything. Heck even Zeiss and Leupold farm out many of their lines to japan, phillipines, china, chec republic, and wherever else optics factories are present. We also realize that often times these optic factories sell the same basic design to multiple optic companies. But also some of these optic companies work with these factories and have very specific design customizations done. Its all about how much money they want to spend and the level of optical expertise they can provide. Certain factories are more capable than others with their engineering and assembly abilities.

None of this is news to us, Its how the industry works. Often times its the customer service we are buying as much as the final product itself. I don't care if my product says sightron or vortex or swift. I care that it meets my requirements and i care that if i have a problem with my product that it will be replaced or fixed quickly.

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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own."


Posted By: WJC
Date Posted: May/20/2016 at 17:38

You seem to have the realities well in hand. And, yes, as more and more people share those realities on the Internet, more and more onlookers will will be apprised. But, it has been my experience that the vast majority of folks are unaware.

 

Finally, I see you are from Utah. My eldest son’s family lives in Draper; what area do you call home?

 

Bill



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“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Social media everywhere but not a thought to think.” — me



Posted By: supertool73
Date Posted: May/20/2016 at 21:23
I am 2 hours south of draper. In sevier county. Sister used to have a house in draper. Ofher sis lives in Lehi and wife is from riverton which borders draper.

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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own."


Posted By: WJC
Date Posted: May/20/2016 at 21:48
Thanks:

Sometimes, genealogy can be like fishing in a rock quarry. But, three years ago, while still living in western Washington, my wife stumbled onto a cousin. And, with a whole large nation to choose from, where did he live? Sandy, the next town over from Draper. So, on our next trip down, we arranged to meet him at the Sandy public library. It turned out that they were both teachers. Ah, the world is getting smaller … but certainly not cheaper.




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“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Social media everywhere but not a thought to think.” — me



Posted By: Klamath
Date Posted: June/29/2016 at 23:20
The Maven binoculars are made in Japan by Kamakura.  That is a company that Bill is well acquainted with and it seems he personally knows a couple of people with the last name of Kamakura.  So the inference that there is a Chinese link, while certainly true in many cases, does not apply to any of the Maven line of optics.  Well maybe as Kamakura likely, even certainly, has some Chinese facilities.  All of the major players have some Chinese link somewhere.  Germanic ones likely use that somewhat less.  But care to guess where the Zeiss Terra comes from?

Maven service work is done at Kamakura's Kama-tech facility in San Diego.

There are very few, if any "manufacturers" that do the whole binocular more or less in house.  Zeiss may be the only one as Schott Glass is an owned subsidiary of Zeiss.  So is a Swarovski binocular, which uses Schott glass really a Swarovski, or should Zeiss get the credit?  To the best of my knowledge most glass used in any binocular gets to the place where it underwent final assembly from somewhere else.  Schott has factories on all of the continents.  Even China (OK I know China is not a continent but Schott has a factory there anyway).

The only Maven clone that comes to mind for now is the Sig Sauer Zulu 9.  Looks like a Maven B2 with different armor.  My bet is that in spite of the bold marketing of Sig Sauer making that sound like the Zulu 9 is totally theirs, my bet it is a Kamakura binocular and Sig did just what Maven did.

Taking the clone concept a bit further, Kamakura functions as an OEM for lots of companies selling binoculars.  Since they make lots of binoculars for lots of companies, it is logical to assume that many will bear some superficial resemblance.  One will see very strong if not nearly identical exterior resemblance with the Maven B3, the Swarovski CL, the Nikon Monarch 7 8x30, the Kite Lynx, the Leupold Mojave 8x32, and the Zeiss Terra 8x32.  Kamakura likely makes more than one of the above, there are likely others I did not list.  maybe Kamakura sells the basic casing to who know who, so there are going to be some lookalikes.


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Steve
"Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted". William Bruce Cameron



Posted By: WJC
Date Posted: June/30/2016 at 22:15
And, if YOU pay for the casting, and promise to buy so many a month, you can "own" the rights to the bino.

Bill


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“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Social media everywhere but not a thought to think.” — me



Posted By: Klamath
Date Posted: July/02/2016 at 17:02
Originally posted by WJC WJC wrote:

And, if YOU pay for the casting, and promise to buy so many a month, you can "own" the rights to the bino.

Bill


Which is very likely why so many binoculars have so many similarities.  I have been told by a couple of sources how much a new casting for a unique to the brand housing costs.  Don't think I'd like to pay for that.


-------------
Steve
"Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted". William Bruce Cameron




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