Our interest in binoculars here at Space.com is mainly for use in skywatching, but we thought the current bargain $98.22 Black Friday/Cyber Monday price of the Celestron 8x42 Nature DX binocular deal was too good not to share, and Celestron is one of our favorite optics manufacturers, after all.
Binoculars are the perfect alternative to telescopes for stargazing, but they also double up as useful wildlife, hunting, birdwatching and general observing instruments, too. If you're looking for a good pair of binoculars, but don't want to fork out loads of cash on a pair of the best binoculars, the Celestron Nature DX 8x42 could be the perfect compromise.
They aren't the best-built binoculars in the world, and the optics won't win any awards, but they are — especially at this price — a good pair of binoculars for getting started in bird watching or wildlife watching. You can dabble in some skywatching too. The 8x magnification and 7.4-degree field of view give you the ideal combination for searching for birds and other small wildlife.
You will find the Celestron Nature DX 8x32 (not 8x42) binoculars in our best binoculars for kids buying guide, obviously, the difference here is the objective lens diameter is smaller than the pair on offer for $99.99 at Amazon.
Everything else is largely the same. The magnification is 8x, with a minimum focusing distance of 6.5ft/1.98m, so you could easily use these for nature spotting in your back garden, not all binoculars will let you focus this close, and are more suited to observing things at a greater distance away.
These binoculars are waterproof, so they can be used in inclement weather, and you don't have to worry about dew getting into the optics on those cold nature spotting mornings, similarly, greater peace of mind if observing nature from a boat at sea. The body is also reinforced with rubber, so it can withstand small bumps and knocks when out and about.
The Celestron Nature DX 8x32 are also nitrogen-filled, which means they won't fog up when moving from one temperature to another, allowing you to observe as soon as you whip them out of your warm bag or car.
As we mentioned, our main interest here at Space.com is skywatching, so we've picked out plenty of binoculars to serve that purpose here on our binocular deals page.
Be sure to check out Space.com's Black Friday deals page, or our guide to the Best Binoculars.
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