What better time to find the best binocular deals than on Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Black Friday, which this year falls on November 29 2024, is widely considered as the start of the holiday shopping season. Millions of consumers shop online and in stores for significant discounts on a wide range of merchandise.
Cyber Monday, the Monday after Black Friday, is the busiest day of online shopping each year. Retailers battle it out to offer the best deals to consumers, hoping to lure extra customers to their store. As we have in the past, we expect to see good binoculars deals, but also discounts on telescopes, the best cameras and camera drones too.
Sales events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Prime Day, Boxing Day sales are often highlighted in the calendar for many. Deals hunters (or those just careful with their cash) will often hang on to make purchases until such an event where they will often be able to pick up whatever is on their wishlist for less. Tech is often heavily discounted, which is excellent news for photographers, astronomers, skywatchers, and wildlife enthusiasts, who each use (often expensive) similar tools. Binoculars are no exception.
Retailers know that people will have saved their cash and will be waiting to pounce on the best deals. Retails want you in their (online) store and will want to capture as much of the attentive market with cash to spend as they can. This means you'll likely see much more attractive deals across the board during Black Friday and Cyber Monday than you would at other times of the year.
Like every other year that our team of bargain hunters has found, we're confident there are big savings to be had on telescopes, rangefinders, and night vision binoculars to cameras, lenses, power banks, camera drones, and star projectors.
Here, we have discussed the pros and cons of spending during these high-profile price-cutting events. We'll demonstrate some of the best deals we found last Black Friday/Cyber Monday and let you know of any pre-Black Friday deals, some of which are already active.
Best Pre-Black Friday deals
Why buy binoculars on Black Friday/Cyber Monday?
With so many discounts and big sales events throughout the year, timing is important to ensure you find the best, genuine deals on binoculars, including night vision binoculars and rangefinders. It's also a good time to purchase other useful accessories such as tripods and power banks. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are undoubtedly the biggest sales events of the year, with other events like Amazon Prime Day and Amazon Prime Big Deals days dotted throughout the year.
We keep all our guides like the best binoculars and best telescopes for kids updated and check stock levels at various retailers monthly. We've reviewed many of our favorite models to give you the best idea of what you're purchasing before you make the leap — this is especially handy if you're shopping online and otherwise unable to 'try before you buy.'
As we all know by now, online stores have changed our shopping habits. There is much less queuing outside shop doors, battling to grab the product you want before someone else does, or watching out for pickpockets in large crowds. You can make huge savings from your sofa or office desk during your lunch break.
It's worth highlighting that, as well as shipping costs, the costs of raw materials found in binoculars, such as magnesium, aluminum, and stainless steel, have all risen — having a knock-on effect on the price you'll pay as the end consumer. This is even more reason to buy during these sales events — though the discounts on binoculars might not be as big as you hope, and the prices may not drop as low as you may have seen them in previous years.
Why Black Friday and not Amazon Prime Day?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are major sales events embraced by most retailers in the West. While Amazon Prime Day is Amazon-specific, other retailers often offer competing deals. However, Prime Day discounts are exclusive to Amazon Prime members, so you'll need a subscription to take advantage. That said, the subscription comes at a pretty reasonable price point and will quickly pay for itself if you're a regular online shopper.
It can be tempting to try and hold out for a better discount, but it's likely that if you 'miss out' in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, January will be the best time to buy, as retailers like to clear excess stock to make way for new products. That said, binoculars are small, so easy to store (unlike telescopes) so there's also not such a rush for retailers to 'make space'. Similarly, binoculars are more of a 'year-round' product, whereas telescopes are more in demand during the darker months, and retailers know this, so they don't 'have to' offer discounts at specific times to move stock.
Should I wait for Black Friday?
If you've made it this far through the year without buying the binoculars of your dreams, it could really pay to wait; Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just over a month away. We can't guarantee that the pair you want will be discounted, but based on previous years, there's a good chance they will be.
Some retailers begin their sales the week or weeks before Black Friday and extend them throughout the holiday season to entice consumers to spend more. We urge you to regularly check the price of the product you want in the run-up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday — if it drops to a price you're comfortable with, then go for it, especially if you can resist checking back post-purchase.
How to find the best deals
Check back here! We continually seek out the best binocular deals and share the best deals with our Space.com readers, even more so during sales events, including the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday, where we will have a dedicated team of tech experts and bargain hunters working around the clock to seek out genuine deals of products we are happy to recommend, and more often than not, will have completed a hands-on review for. We will include retailers like Amazon, Adorama, B&H Photo, Walmart, Newegg and more.
There are already several enticing deals around; retailers know that consumers will already be doing their homework, researching products and making their Black Friday/Cyber Monday wishlists ahead of time; we certainly are! Check out our binocular deals page for the best deals that are live right now.
What to expect this Black Friday
Here are some binocular deals from the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sales in 2023 so you know what kind of deals to expect this year.
Celestron Nature 12x50 DX ED Binoculars: Was $338.95. Now $229.95 on Adorama and Amazon.
Olympus 8x40 S Binoculars: Was £109.99, Now £79.00 at Amazon (UK-only deal).
Celestron SkyMaster Giant 15x70 Binoculars: Was $119.95 now $105.99 at Amazon
Though, as you can see from the above, we can expect to see some genuinely good deals, you need to remember not to get caught up in the sales hype and spend unnecessarily. Take time in the lead-up to the event to research and plan exactly what you want. We have plenty of guides to help, especially our round-up of the best binoculars to help you make an informed decision. Once you've decided what you want, stick to it on the day.
It is very easy to get distracted by the discounts and big 'flash offer' banners. It's not a good buy if you didn't want it in the first place. There is no use really wanting Nikon binoculars and ending up with another brand just because the deal looked good, only to regret it later.
Take note of the price of the binoculars (or a selection of binoculars you'd be happy with) now, ahead of the event. It's no secret that retailers bump their pre-sales prices or mark up the 'before' price so the discount looks more enticing on the day. Don't feel hurried into buying something if the deal is disingenuous, even with the big clock counting away the seconds at the top of the page. Use an extension such as 'The Camelizer' that shows you fluctuations in price over time to see if you're getting a genuine saving.
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