There's an abundance of telescopes at Walmart, so we've searched through the expanse and highlighted the best deals below.
While there are many telescopes on offer at Walmart, you don't have to break the bank to view the stars and beyond as the retailer stocks some great budget telescopes under $500 and Celestron telescope deals. You can rely on the quality of telescope you're getting too as Walmart is a reputable retailer.
This page is updated year-round so when new telescopes at Walmart appear on sale, we'll add them below and we'll remove any expired discounts. If you're shopping around for the best bit of astronomy gear at the best price, and you don't find something suitable here, we recommend taking a look through our best telescopes, telescope deals, best binoculars and binoculars deals guides. Below the deals in this guide, you'll find some handy buying advice, in case you need a pointer or two on what to look out for.
As well as retailer-specific guides, we also have manufacturer-specific guides, so be sure to take a look at the best Sky-Watcher telescope deals, Meade telescope deals and Orion telescope deals. Of course, if you don't recognize a brand name, you can't always rely on its quality and it's worth remembering that if a deal seems too good to be true, it often is. But, for the best telescopes at Walmart and their deals, read on below.
Telescopes at Walmart in 2024
Telescopes at Walmart: Best deals July 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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