Backpacking

Celestron Mini 8×21 Binoculars

$12 mini-binocs

I just bought four pair of some nifty Celestron 8x21s for an incredible $12 each! They are compact and very light weight. The eye relief is great, and while they ain’t Swarovskis, they do the job just fine. And best of all, I don’t worry about losing them or getting them scratched. My advice is to buy a bunch and keep them in every car, backpack, etc.

–Paul Saffo

I did just what Paul Saffo suggested. I got me a couple of these. They are small mini-binocs about 6 inches square — the size of your palm. They are as sharp as my other mid-price pairs, but much handier. I really like them. And for $12 (the current price is $18), they are unbeatable.

–KK

03/22/18

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This is a Cool Tools Favorite from 2003

Earlier comments from original review:

Laral
Submitted on 2008/12/29 at 9:02 pm
A couple of observations. First, the links above both lead to the same model but they both look much different from the picture above. Second, the price is now $17.90 (You Save $-2.95) at the links given. Love that negative savings. ;-) Try getting them directly from Celestron for $12.95:

http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?ProdID=124#idTab3

TJC
Submitted on 2009/04/13 at 11:33 am
These are some of the nicest mini-binoculars I’ve used. The price is right – currently $16.99 from Celestron. They are very light weight, extremely compact, with decent optics. I recommend them for the trail since they are so light.

KJC
Submitted on 2008/11/22 at 7:13 am
KK: the link isn’t working. I went to the site and could only find the Celestron “Up Close” 8×21 for a similar price……. http://www.sh0rten.com/1wg0puaopft/

Registered User
Submitted on 2008/11/22 at 10:32 am
Hi KJC,

I’ve updated the link. Thanks for letting us know!

Best,
Steven Leckart
Editor, Cool Tools

Marty
Submitted on 2010/03/22 at 5:56 pm
I bought three pair of these based on these reviews. The binoculars are fine, but I wouldn’t recommend getting them from Celestron. They use Shopatron for fulfillment; my binoculars took nearly three weeks to reach me. Celestron isn’t at all helpful; once the order is placed you see a notice saying that the order cannot be changed or canceled. Two weeks later I was unable to find anyone who was willing to take responsibility for finding out what was going on with my order (“we don’t have anything to do with fulfillment”), and it was nearly another week before it finally showed up. — editors)

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