Which is the better band?
Perhaps the obvious answer is Maroon 5, mainly because of one of the best albums of all time, Songs About Jane, and It Won't Be Soon Before Long, but it's hard to ignore the gems produced by Kara's Flowers. Stagg Street Recordings is an amazing collection of songs that seriously rivals Songs About Jane, and there are also a number of gems on Fourth World, as well as some of their live recordings.
I suppose I would still give my vote to Maroon 5 though, even though their quality has been on a serious decline since SAJ. Overexposed has bops but the fact that it was released by the same band that released SAJ
And V is a pretty good album, definitely a step up from OE and more in line with classic Maroon 5, but it still brings down their overall "score," imo.