Discover the biggest deals on telescopes at Walmart in our comprehensive round-up in time for the holidays.
Walmart has some top budget-friendly telescopes under $500 which is handy if you're looking for your next bit of astronomy gear ahead of the holiday season. This page is updated throughout the year so you can rely on the quality as well as the price you see. But, if you don't find something suitable below, we've also got specific guides for telescopes on Amazon and Best Buy telescopes. worth checking out.
We've tried to include something suitable for everyone regardless of experience and budget. If you want to check out more quality astronomy equipment and discounts ahead of the holidays, our guides to the best telescopes, telescope deals, best binoculars, and binocular deals will point you in the right direction. So, scroll down for the best telescopes at Walmart and the offers available.
Telescopes at Walmart in 2024
Telescopes at Walmart: Best deals December 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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