How do the 15x and 18x Mavens compare to the 15x Meopta Meostars? Or 15x Swaro's?
No idea. But for my field “workflow,” having a LRF in a 15x bino saves me so much eye strain and weight over a spotter/little LRF combo that my Leica is worth gold to me. And Leica makes top, top, top photo lenses. I have some. Current prices of those would make you blanch, it’s insane (I bought before that happened!).
My dad has both older Swaro 10x binos and a 65mm spotter that frankly never impressed me
at all. I realize newer models are better; the brief look I had a several years ago through a pair of Pures left me with a good vibe. Big FOV.
It seems to me, through reading various reviews of high end glass, that at this high level the bino/spotter designers are playing with preferences vs. raw image quality. For example, Swaro spotters seem to go for a flat field (so I’ve read) vs say a Zeiss Harpia that may have some fuzzy edges (not everything is crystal clear). Again, from reading reviews and impressions.
Sounds bad for the Zeiss, but then I’ve read the Zeiss’ “look” in that particular spotter gives you the ability to more easily tell what object is in front of another vs. the Swaro.
My Leica camera lenses have a Leica “look” that is hard to explain and is something some may never see. But it’s there, it’s similar to the Zeiss approach, and at this rarified level it all becomes preference. My Leica 15x LRF binos have the same “look” as my camera lenses and it’s a delight to my eye. The way near and far objects are optically separated and resolve into focus is wonderful and I prefer them to the Maven 18x (or what I remember about them).
The Mavens leaned more to the flat-field look.
My advice is don’t let retailers or others tell you want you want. Try to look through a bunch of manufacturer’s binos. If you were in MN I’d let you look through my Leicas.
Edit: I literally had one retailer tell me the 15x Leica Geovid-R I now own was about as good optically as my Vortex Fury 5000. Another said it was an old design and implied it was quite subpar.
Either I got
super lucky or these retail people have never looked through a pair or did so long ago and forgot their impression. Or they’re trying to upsell me? Or maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about, as I haven’t used the latest from other brands out in the field.
The only reason I bought the Leicas was the 15x + LRF combo, and after I opened the box I couldn’t believe the image. I was like, “WTF? Thought these were supposed to be horseshit.”
