In our Nikon Stabilized 12×25 S Binocular review, our expert tester Jase Parnell-Brookes awarded them a perfect 5 out of 5-star score. The image stabilization provided stable views for stargazing and they are at a decent price point for IS binoculars, even before this deal.
Get the Nikon 12×25 S Binoculars, on sale right now for $626.95 at Amazon.
They hold a much-coveted spot in our best binoculars guide as the best compact image-stabilized (IS) binoculars. As you’d expect, these also feature in our best IS binoculars guide and right now, Amazon has dropped the Nikon 12×25 S binoculars by $70, which is the lowest price we’ve seen this year. It takes them down to just $626.95 from the usual $696.95 retail price.
This binocular deal at Amazon is a rarely seen discount and is likely to be popular with budding stargazers and anyone upgrading from the best budget binoculars. There’s no indication of when it actually ends, and going by previous deals, it could be anytime. However, Adorama is price-matching the Amazon deal and also has free shipping.
Paul Brett is a deals writer at Space, Live Science, and across the Sports and Knowledge titles at Future. Paul is an award-winning photographer, having won the Mountain Photographer of the Year title at Trail Magazine. A huge fan of photography and cameras, he can be found on top of Scotland’s mountains, wild camping, waiting to capture the Northern Lights or a cloud inversion.
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Jase ranked these Nikon binoculars as an incredible compact binocular and loved the image stabilization (IS), which was one addition to the previous model that transformed them into one of the best binoculars they have ever tested.
Jase felt the image stabilization was so significant that it made the performance of these compact Nikon binoculars comparable with regular binoculars many times their size. Additionally, they noted that these are not without their limitations and the 25mm objective lenses (25mm) made views quite dark when compared to binoculars with larger objective lenses. However, these direct comparisons shouldn’t be made as the appeal of the Nikon stabilized 12×25 binoculars are in their ultra-portability and their weight, giving stargazers on the go a small and lightweight tool for observing constellations adn asterisms. Jase even managed to observe the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the Orion nebula (M42) but anything fainter than these couldn’t be seen in a light-polluted area.
Although the IS gives them a hefty price tag, Jase felt it was a worthy investment and still awarded them that perfect score, so at $70 off, they offer even more value for the beginner stargazer.
Key features: 12x magnification, 25mm objective lens diameter, 4.5-degree angular field-of-view, 12.3mm eye of relief, 13.9 oz (395 g) weight.
Launched: November 2024
Price history: Before today’s binocular deal, the best price we’ve seen on the Nikon Stabilized 12×25 binoculars was $635 during the Black Friday sales last year. The MSRP is $696.95, which makes the current on-sale price of $626.95 a significant saving on a seldom-discounted model.
Price comparison: Amazon: $626.95 | Adorama: $626.95 | Nikon: $629
Reviews consensus: There is no doubt that the Nikon Stabilised 12×25 S Binoculars are an impressive compact binocular, and they tick all the boxes for sky watching and more. Lightweight, pocketable, and they provide a reasonably affordable price point for IS binos. We scored them with a 5-star rating, and there wasnt much our expert tester didn’t love in these.
Space: ★★★★★ | Digital Camera World: ★★★★
Featured in guides: Best binoculars, Best compact binoculars, Best IS binoculars
✅ Buy it if: You want what is arguably the best compact binocular on the market that offers an affordable way into image-stabilized binoculars, that is lightweight and can easily slip into your pocket.
❌ Don’t buy it if: You need really high magnification or bigger objective lenses. For more powerful image-stabilized binoculars, we recommend the Canon IS 15×50 binoculars.
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