Maven C1 8×42 Binoculars: Our Review

At A Glance

PROS:

• Great image, bright and detailed
• Image is sharp from edge to edge
• Excellent close focus

CONS:

• Rather narrow field of view
• Metal focus wheel is not for everyone

STATS:

• Price: $400 MSRP at press time. Prices often fluctuate, so check with retailers
• Close focus: Listed at 5.9 feet (180 cm). In tests, we could focus even closer, down to about 4.9 feet (150 cm)
• Field of view: 6.5° (341 feet at 1,000 yards). More about field of view 
• Weight: 26.1 oz (741 g)—that’s about 0.4 oz (12 g) heavier than the average for 8×42 binoculars in our review
• Eye relief: 19.5 mm

Viewing Experience: The Maven C1 offers a bright, colorful, and edge-to-edge sharp image. We enjoyed watching robins plucking wild grapes in a sunlit treetop, and easily picked out the dark spots and buffy fringes of an immature among the adults. In a dim forest understory the dark face of a Black-throated Blue Warbler had plenty of detail, down to a sparkle of catchlight in the dark eye. Given such a beautiful image, the narrow 6.5° field of view left us wishing we could see more through them. The close focus is among the best of any binoculars we tested, able to focus on the ground in front of our feet and good enough for almost any bird- or insect-watching application.

Feel and Build: These binoculars seem well built, with a bit of flair to the styling including a metallic orange diopter ring and the word “MAVEN” molded into the sides of the barrels. The focus wheel is metal and features narrow ridges for grip: to some reviewers it felt precise and sure in its movement, but others disliked the feel and found it slow to focus. The eyecups are firm and click securely into place. The padded strap is comfortable but we found it a bit short. It attaches to the binoculars with easy-to-use plastic buckles instead of the standard, fiddly friction locks; however the buckles can get in the way of the lens cover.   

Comments From Testers: 

• Crisp and bright, solid feel, good focus wheel, sharp eyecups, narrow field of view though crisp image, nice solid feel in hand
• Very crisp image and comfortable feel
• Good sharpness even at edges of view
• Bright image, good fit for my wide face
• Don’t like metal focus wheel
• Didn’t like the thumb grips
• Didn’t close narrow enough for eyes but good image
• Very clear picture  

This article is one in a series of mini-reviews. To see how these binoculars compare to others we’ve tested, see our full review of affordable 8×42 binoculars.