Celestron - Outland X 8x42 Binoculars – Ideal for Birding and Outdoors – 42mm Objective Lenses – Wide 7° Field of View – BaK-4 Prisms – Multi-Coated – Waterproof and Fogproof

I am a beginner birder. Two years ago, I bought a higher-end pair of Monarchs for my wife. When we started comparing these to hers, we were very favorably impressed. These are high quality: great lenses, easy to focus and solid. There are no problems with stability, they are easy to use. Great for birding. The attached lens covers are a plus - otherwise I'm sure I'd lose them. As many have stated in other reviews, these are surprising for their price point and compare well to binoculars costing more than two times as much.

Fantastic binoculars! The quality of the image they provide is outstanding. You can pay more than twice as much for the equivalent Nikon binoculars, and the Nikons would probably be better, but they would only be 5 or 10% better, not twice as good. The 8x42 are perfect for me for birding, sight seeing, sporting events and stuff like that. They are a good balance of magnification,wide field of view, and brightness (exit pupil). The higher magnification 10x42 would also be good for these things, but you give up some field of view with the higher magnification. The extra field of view is helpful for following birds that tend to move around. It is easier to find the birds, and keep them in view. Higher magnification also means more image shake, the 8 power is easier to hold still than 10 power. The larger exit pupil makes viewing easier, even in bright daylight, because you can see the full image circle, even if your eyes aren't perfectly lined up behind the eye peices. I where eye glasses and these binoculars work great with them, I have no trouble at all seeing the full image circle. I just fully retract the eye cups with a twist, and I'm good to go.The eye cups make viewing with out my glasses very comfortable, I just have to adjust the diopter. They are a medium to full sized binocular, but I find them light enough to cary around my neck all day. Lighter than my 7x50s ,but not quite as bright at dusk or for looking at the night sky. They are nitrogen purged and waterproof, so they won't fog up, on the inside, and you can use them in the rain with no worries. If they get dunked in the river when you are canoeing, they should be fine. All in all, I think that for the money they are excellent quality, and being nitrogen purged at this price makes them even a better buy.

These are pretty high quality binoculars, and perform quite well for the price. They come with some nice accessories as well. All of the components work fairly well, except that the eye cup distance adjustment is a little too sensitive. When placing on the rubber eyepiece cover, it will turn/adjust them. You will need them set to maximum if you rest them against your eyes, or set to minimum if you wear glasses. These are pretty good for birdwatching and low-light use. For birdwatching, you want a low magnification such as 7-8, which will allow you to focus closely and have a large field of view so you can easily track movement. For night/low light use, you want the largest objective lens possible, to let a lot of light in. 42mm is fairly large for objective lenses (7x50 would be better, but you would have to switch to a porro-prism design which results in a full sized/heavy binocular. If you want binoculars for looking at stars, I would suggest getting the 10x42 version as a minimum. A large objective lens and large zoom will help a lot. So you may want to consider a zoom binocular with a tripod. A telescope would be even better :3 These are 8x42, which is fairly uncommon, and on the large size for a BAK-4 setup. 8x is perfect for a large FOV and a close focal length (it's something like 9 feet to infinity). The large 42 objective lens is fairly large, which gives you good vision in low-light conditions, as well as further expanding the FOV. BAK-4 is going to give you the best quality, which is quite noticeable compared to other BAK prisms, or the cheaper Porro prisms. I suspect that these are from the same Chinese manufacturer as many of the generic unbranded/fakebranded 8-10x48 BAK-4 binocs floating around, that run 60$ -80$ range. The company logo is a plastic sticker on a removable nut. The "outlandx" lettering wipes right off with your finger. Even if they are from the same factory, the pricing here is fair, and generally US based companies will do their own QC to weed out any of the lower-end units that will slip through with the cheaper brands. Re-branding aside, the overall quality is quite good. The housing is completely wrapped in a thick rubber shell. It's glued down fairly well and should provide plenty of durability. The lenses are clear, and they are sealed/waterproofed, so you don't have to worry about particles/humidity ever appearing in them. You can mount it to a tripod if you wish, by unscrewing the logo cap. The objective lens covers have a ring to hold them on to the binoculars, and are tight enough that they won't fall off when flipped down. The eyepiece cover is flexible, and split on one side. You can easily tie a lanyard (like paracord) around the unsplit side, and clip that to the included neck strap, so you won't have to worry about losing it. The included neck strap is fine, and will adjust short enough to let you carry these high on your chest, or low at your waist. The included bag is is padded, and decently made. It has a clip-on strap and two D-rings. There is also a pocket where you can keep a small booklet, or the microfiber cleaning cloth.

Bought these back in March for bird watching at $20 more and they were still worth every penny. Glad I didn't listen to the shitty reviews. You have to be some kinda binocular snob if you don't like these, because they are NICE. Great for squirrel watching, gator watching, whatever else too. The bag doubles as a water bottle holder when you're walking around with the binoculars on your neck. Easy to focus just using the little knob at the top of the binoculars. Also adjustable for different size heads/faces. Even take pictures through them! Not sure how waterproof they are, but I like them too much to test that part out. Anyway, very satisfied!

Nice set of binoculars. My main pair are Swift 8.5 x 44 Audubons with porro prisms. Obviously the Swifts have much better and brighter optics, but the cost is also much higher. I have a heavily wooded lot and often sit with my wife in the garage(no porch) and got tired of running inside to get the Swifts if I see an unusual bird so needed a set for the garage. I have spotted 81 different birds around my house in the last 30 years, but every once in a while see a new one. These have very good optics, only problem were the eyepieces collapsed every time I looked thru them. As pictured, I used a couple of Zip ties on each lens and problem solved. Overall, they feel fairly cheap, focusing a little slow, and I found out I like porro prisms better for better depth of field(more 3D effect). That may not sound like a 5 star, but the price was right and they will do the job I wanted.

This review is for the Celestron 8X42 Outland X. (I say this to clarify because so many Amazon reviews are getting “hijacked” for other products these days! I hope this helps shoppers make a desicion in a world of conflicting reviews and highjacked ratings). These are, for my $100 max budget, exactly what I was looking for. These binoculars rock! I am not a “binocular pro” - just an amature enthusiast who often kayaks Florida’s spring fed rivers. But, I understand optics from former professional experience. I did my homework before settling on this pair in this magnification power 8X42 (more power is NOT always better). I tried other “name brands” at various retails stores — I am glad I gave the Celestrons a shot. Resolving power, magnification light gathering, color fidelity and many other objective and subjective assessments can be made about optics. Right out of the box, my perception was that these lenses where fantastic considering the under $90, I payed for them. I wanted waterproof / fog proof binoculars that I could reliably point and focus from close to far while in a moving/ bobbing kayak. I wanted an offset I could use with prescription glasses. I wanted eye cups that did not collapse easily once set to my liking. I wanted to be able to “close focus” to around 14 feet. I wanted the larger optics for light gathering and better contrast for the shade and bright sunny days on a Florida river. But I didn’t want something bulky and heavy. They have a better build and finish than I expected. The rubberized waterproof finish feels and looks really good. I messed around with them indoors in low light when I unboxed them and I could read lables on food items 30 feet away. They are sharp. The focusing knob and right eye diopter adjustment feel just right—not too stiff, not to loose. The inter pupil distance holds comfortable tight. I hope this helps someone!

These are not exactly state-of-the-art binoculars but for basic travel, sports, and bird watching they are pretty good. Sometimes I even take them to the beach wink wink nudge nudge know what I mean?

These binoculars feel sturdy, not light and not too heavy – they satisfy my "holding test" of signifying a well-built product. The optics are very clear and the rendition is more than I need: at 25 yards I can read the nutrition facts on a yogurt container, meaning that the clarity is enough to produce sharp, crisp lettering. Contrast is good and I honestly cannot find much complaint at all in the reproduction of what I'm seeing though the lenses. I'm glad I did not spend more. I was looking for a decent pair of binoculars that I could take hunting, fishing, scouting/animal watching, etc. but felt amiss in spending over $100. I've been into photography for a long time so I can appreciate good optics and know what they can do for an image; however, since I felt like I was not taking pictures through a pair of binoculars – in other words not reproducing the image I see in real life for preservation into another medium – I felt like I could compromise a bit since the best possible optics were not necessarily needed for purposes of observation, rather than image reproduction. I almost bought the $178 Nikon Prostaff glass but feel great about this purchase overall and better that I didn't spend three times the amount. This is not to say that the Prostaff glass would not have been better, i'm sure it would; however, there is a point of diminishing returns and I think I hit that cusp perfectly with this purchase.