Amazon offers an impressive selection of telescopes, along with plenty of deals to explore this holiday season.
With so many options available, it's no surprise that Amazon features some of the best telescopes on the market, including great picks under $500. Shopping for telescopes on Amazon is a fantastic way to find a bargain on your next piece of stargazing equipment. In this guide, we've included deals for every astronomer, whether you're a beginner or an experienced skywatcher.
We'll keep this page updated throughout the holidays, so you can trust the quality and pricing of the deals featured here. If you don't find the right option, check out our guides to Celestron telescope deals, Sky-Watcher telescope deals, or general telescope deals for more recommendations. For the best telescope deals on Amazon, keep scrolling and find the perfect addition to your astronomy setup!
Telescopes on Amazon: Today's best deals December 2024
Buying advice
When purchasing one of the telescopes on Amazon, or any telescope for that matter, you need to consider your budget and what you want to achieve from your stargazing experience. It can be worthwhile to wait for annual sales events like Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday, but you can still bag a bargain through the year. There are three main types of telescope and each has different advantages, so we've explained each one below - so you know what to look out for in your next scope. Alternatively, you can check out our best telescopes guide for more information.
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 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 telescopes 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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