We've scoped out the best telescopes at Walmart and the early Black Friday deals you can get on them too.
You don't have to break the bank in order to get a good view of the cosmos and beyond as we're seeing plenty of worthwhile early Black Friday telescope deals at Walmart. The retailer stocks some great budget telescopes under $500 and Celestron telescope deals and there are several worthwhile deals to be had ahead of Black Friday, on November 29.
When searching for telescopes at Walmart and telescope deals generally, we recommend sticking to names you know and trust as you can't vouch for lesser-known manufacturers. Also, if a deal seems too good to be true, it often is. But, if there is a manufacturer you trust, our guides to the best Sky-Watcher telescope deals, Meade telescope deals and Orion telescope deals could be worth checking out. If you don't find something suitable below, we also have guides to deals for telescopes on Amazon and Best Buy.
This page is updated throughout the year and that includes in the run-up to and during Black Friday. So, when new telescope deals are available, you'll find them below and we'll remove any expired discounts. If you want to discover more offers, we recommend taking a look through our best telescopes, telescope deals, best binoculars and binoculars deals guides. We've tried to include something for every level of astronomer, regardless of budget and experience. So, for the best telescopes at Walmart and the early Black Friday deals to match, scroll down below.
Telescopes at Walmart in 2024
Telescopes at Walmart: Best deals November 2024
Buying advice
When buying a telescope you need to consider two main factors: Your budget and what you want to view. There are three main types of telescopes out there, and figuring out what you want to view will help you decide what type of telescope you will need. There are refractors, reflectors and catadioptric telescopes.
For beginners, refractor telescopes are often a popular choice due to their easy-to-maintain and use style. They're often mounted to alt-azimuth mounts so they're straightforward to use and the mounts themselves are easy to manufacture so the price tends to be cost-effective too. They're best used for focussing on specific targets like moons and planets due to the fact that they're good for showing high-magnified and high-contrast images.
Reflector telescopes tend to have larger apertures and are better for low-magnification targets like nebulas and galaxies. You get two types of reflector telescopes: Dobsonians and Newtonians, although there's some crossover between these. In brief, though, Dobsonians are easier to maintain and often found attached to the alt-azimuth mount. Newtonians are more commonly affixed to equatorial mounts, which allow you to follow the rotation of the night sky more accurately, but they require more upkeep.
Finally, catadioptric telescopes fix issues found in both of the above types of scope – such as chromatic aberration and the coma effect – and they are typically equipped with a GoTo system. These systems are essentially mini-computers that align your telescope to particular night sky objects. You get two types of catadioptrics, the Schmidt-Cassegrain and the Maksutov-Cassegrain. As a general rule, the Maksutov-Cassegrain is better for viewing planets, while the Schmidt-Cassegrain models are a little more versatile and feature bigger apertures, so they’re preferred by astrophotographers.
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