Are sram mavens really this hard to get working.

Please point out the actual insult and/or demonization? Buddy had a flippant, incredulous tone, and suggested I don't know what I'm talking about so buddy got a wee bit of sarcasm and hyperbole in response. 

It's clear from this thread (and about a million others) across the internet, that people are struggling to get a good bleed on Mavens. This struggle is even noted on some of the professional reviews as well. Objectively, the Maven bleed process is finicky, annoying, and messy relative to most other brakes in the market. 

P.s. you're high if you think a bleed cup makes for a messier bleed vs the Sram "splooge"

Man, I wish I was high but weeds not legal in my state…

As far as the bleed process, let’s just agree to disagree. I used to be the biggest SRAM brake hater, having been unable to get along with their DOT offerings for years, and I’ve had to eat a lot of crow admitting that they’ve done a pretty good job with the mavens. So much so I’m swapping my entire bike fleet to sram mineral oil brakes. Lucky for you, you’re not at all impacted by that choice so you can spare me your opinions. 

My goal was to highlight how I’ve come to bleed Mavens and through a bunch of trial and error share what I’ve discovered. And guess what? It’s exactly as they recommend. No secret “mechanic tricks” needed.

As far as bleed cups go. They can die in a fire as far as I am concerned. Sure, they’re not that bad getting off the actual lever itself, but it’s the issues of trying to make sure that the cup don’t spill during the rest of the bleed process that makes them suck. Heaven forbid you don’t have a level surface to put them down on. Having spent a lot of time wrenching out of the back of a van I enjoy the fact that syringes keep the fluid inside them no matter if I drop them or do anything stupid. They are so much nicer to deal with when trying to eke out a bleed in the middle of a trip/race. 

All I know is that I did a bleed on one of my Mavens yesterday while replacing pads in 30 min, start to finish, using a bleed cup.  That included recentering caliper, returning lever to correct angle, and putting away all my tools.  The only oil that spilled on the floor was when I removed the MC bleed plug screw.  I usually dump out the cup full of old oil after a bleed regardless.  Pinner makes a little plastic donut you can set the cup on now, but I'm sure you could do the same thing with a piece of 1.5" PVC or a $0.10 steel nut.

Uhhh am I the only one with an accompanying bleed cup holder?! 

Which Maven bleed kit does everyone recommend? Is it worth springing for the Pro kit?

Yes, mandatory if you want good bleeds since you need to pull a vacuum on the caliper to get optimal bleed. 

FYI some of the Pro kits do not come with the "Bleeding Edge" fitting, which is required for bleeding mavens. Make sure to pick up that fitting separately (mineral oil version) if your pro kit doesn't have it. 

all my sets of mavens came with the bleeding edge in the box with the brakes.

if you are getting the SRAM pro bleed kit, you want V3. Maybe V1 didn't come with bleeding edge as that was before Mavens came out, V2 had bleeding edge, and V3 has updated syringes.

I've never bled Mavens, but I did a bleed with 3 sets of TRP's using the Maxima fluid (its what I had and they said it was compatible).  Had nothing but problems getting consistent lever feel (NEVER had that problem with TRP's before) and if the lever was pulled while vertical on bike rack or shuttle trailer they would pull to the bar.

Found my bottle of old Shimano fluid and did a full swap out.  Not one problem with them after.  I really think the Maxima fluid is just problematic.