When you’re browsing through the telescopes at Walmart it’s easy to think that there is an abundance of Black Friday deals but this isn’t really the case. A lot of the ‘discounted’ models on display are actually not discounted at all – in fact, if you compare the prices of a few telescopes available on Walmart to the brands’ own RPP, you’ll find that the models are actually more expensive than they should be.
There are fewer Black Friday space deals around in general at the moment, as the optics industry has been hard-hit by manufacturing shortages. This has meant that companies like Meade, Celestron and Sky-Watcher haven’t been able to get the parts they need, so there’s less stock available when it comes to their telescopes. Without any excess stock, companies don’t feel the need to drop prices and push sales, which is why we aren’t seeing many discounts.
The supply issues are so severe that you’ll find you can’t even buy a lot of the best telescopes, because companies don’t have the parts they need to build certain models. You can, however, find deals on some of the best beginner telescopes and the best telescopes for kids. These tend to have lower specs, so they’re easier for manufacturers to build.
As a final note, you will also see some Walmart telescope deals from small or unknown brands when you’re on the retailer’s website. We advise you to be cautious about purchasing these, as there aren’t many reviews and tests available to confirm the quality of these models – which is why we haven’t included any here.
Below, we’ve rounded up the Walmart deals we think are worth highlighting. We’ll be updating this page as new deals roll in. Be sure to check out our page of the best telescope deals too, where we have rounded up the best savings from across the internet. And if it’s just a cheap telescope you’re after, have a look at our list of budget telescopes under $500.
Telescopes at Walmart: Best deals
Buying advice
As outlined above, be careful with retailers making deals seem more significant than they really are. A lot of the time, retailers hike prices then drop them suddenly to make it look like there’s a huge discount available, when in reality it’s just matching the RRP.
Beyond that, you should also think carefully about what type of telescope you’d like to buy. There are three main types: refractors, reflectors and catadioptric telescopes.
Refractors are really popular with beginner astronomers, as they are easy to maintain and they’re often mounted to a straightforward alt-azimuth mount. These mounts are cheap to manufacture, so the price of refractors tends to be quite low because of this. They are particularly good at giving highly magnified, high-contrast images, which is why they’re best for focusing on specific targets like the moon and planets.
Reflector telescopes tend to have larger apertures and are better for low-magnification targets like nebulas and galaxies. You get two types of reflector telescope: 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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