Telescopes on Amazon: Best Black Friday deals
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The number of telescopes on Amazon is a little overwhelming. There are numerous brands and price points to consider – and in the run up to Black Friday, plenty of companies are slashing prices on their models. We’ve combed through all of these offers to find the ones which represent good value for money, so you don’t have to spend ages trawling through the lists yourself.
As a quick explainer, most of the Black Friday telescope deals this year are focused on low-spec units. This is because the industry is suffering from ongoing shortages, which are creating manufacturing difficulties. You’ll find that some of the very best telescopes aren’t even in stock, because the brands simply can’t get the parts they need to make these models. There are, however, plenty of excellent beginner telescopes and some of the best telescopes for kids available at discounted prices.
Below, we’ve rounded up our favorite deals from Amazon. We’ve only recommended deals from manufacturers that we know and trust. We haven’t included deals from smaller brands, as we haven’t been able to test and verify the quality of their optics. Also, we’ve only included deals where there’s a significant price drop – sometimes retailers hike prices, then push them down suddenly, to make it look like there are huge savings available.
Before you take the plunge and buy one of the below, it might be worth looking through our round-up of the best Black Friday binoculars deals. While telescope deals are few and far between, there are excellent discounts available on binos from brands like Bushnell and Vortex. They can’t match telescopes for magnification power, but they do offer portability and a lower price point.
Telescopes on Amazon: Today’s best deals
Buying advice
There are three main types of telescope: refractors, reflectors and catadioptric. Below, we’ve gone into the benefits and drawbacks of each design. If you want a full breakdown, have a look through the guidance in our article on the best telescopes.
Refractors
These telescopes are usually best for providing high-magnification views of targets like planets and the moon. They’re also very easy to set up and to maintain. Combine this with the fact that they usually retail for a lower price point and you can see why this is a popular option with beginners. They do tend to suffer from a visual problem called ‘chromatic aberration’, where bright objects in the sky appear to be surrounded by a halo. However, this shouldn’t dampen the experience for any viewers.
Reflectors
With wider apertures, these types of telescope are able to take in more light and therefore better suited for spotting fainter objects. They tend to be useful for views of low-magnification targets like galaxies and nebulas. Unfortunately, these types of telescopes can suffer from something called the ‘coma’ effect, where objects appear elongated instead of spherical/ circular. Again, though, this is a minor issue – and probably something you can get used to at this low price point.
Catadioptric
There are two main catadioptric designs: the Maksutov-Cassegrain and Schmidt-Cassegrain. Both types often come with a computerized GoTo system, which can work out your position and location – and align with night sky targets that you program into the device. They also usually fix the problems mentioned above (coma and chromatic aberration.) As such, they’re also usually more expensive. Typically, you’ll find that the Schmidt-Cassegrain designs have bigger apertures, and the Maksutov-Cassegrain sport smaller apertures, so the former is better for fainter deep sky targets and the latter will offer high magnification views.
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