This small but mighty smart telescope impressed our astronomy expert and now it’s $50 cheaper for Black Friday

This Black Friday deal sees $50 shaved off the ZWO Seestar S30, a lightweight, portable smart telescope capable of amazing astrophotography. ZWO is a brand well-known for its dedicated astrophotography cameras, and they have brought that expertise through into their range of smart telescopes.

You can get the ZWO Seestar S30 on sale for $349 from Amazon.

Our astronomy expert, Gemma Lavender, gave it four stars when she reviewed the ZWO Seestar S30 for us, and praised the easy setup, quiet operation and quick imaging of deep-sky objects. This early Black Friday deal from Amazon is offering $50 off this small but mighty smart telescope, and we are expecting lots more deals to fly in throughout the day.

Works for European Space Agency (ESA)

Works for European Space Agency (ESA)

Gemma Lavender

Gemma currently works for the European Space Agency on content, communications and outreach, and was formerly the content director of Space.com, Live Science, science and space magazines How It Works and All About Space, history magazines All About History and History of War, as well as Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) kids education brand Future Genius. She is the author of several books, including “Quantum Physics in Minutes”, “Haynes Owners’ Workshop Manual to the Large Hadron Collider” and “Haynes Owners’ Workshop Manual to the Milky Way”. She holds a degree in physical sciences, a Master’s in astrophysics and a PhD in computational astrophysics. She was elected as a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2011. She has covered stories and features for publications such as Physics World, Astronomy Now and Astrobiology Magazine.

The ZWO Seestar S30 is one of the smallest smart telescopes available on the market right now and it delivers staggering results. It has a 1.2-inch (30 mm) aperture and while some may call that pathetic, it is able to image a huge range of celestial objects regardless. It has a dual-band filter built into the lens and this makes it capable of imaging nebulas within minutes. This little telescope can handle much more than nebulas, though and is able to image stars, galaxies and much more with over 4,000 objects available in the Seestar app database.

The small aperture helps keep the compact body easily under 4 lbs, and is actually grateful for it. It is the perfect size and weight for a beginner observer who wants to take a telescope to a dark sky site and capture some memories that will last forever.

The sweetest thing about smart telescopes is that they require no manual alignment at all from the user. The ZWO Seestar S30 is no different and is able to quietly locate your chosen night sky object. You can even image the sun with the included solar filter and get a glimpse at some sunspots through your smartphone screen. An included solar filter is a rarity in the smart telescope world, so this is a huge bonus for solar observers!

Key features: Apochromatic triplet refractor optical design, extra-low dispersion (ED) glass, 1.2-inch (30 mm) aperture, 5.9-inch (150 mm), f/5 focal ratio, alt-azimuth go-to mount, 3.6 lb (1.65 kg), 2.1MP Sony IMX662 sensor, 4,000+ celestial objects available to observe and image (via smartphone app)

Product launched: November 2024

Price history: The ZWO Seestar S30 usually retails for $399 but this Black Friday deal brings it down to $349, saving you $50.

Price comparison: Amazon: $349 | BHPhotoVideo: $349 | Adorama: $399

Reviews consensus: We gave it four stars in our ZWO Seestar S30 smart telescope review, and we really liked how easy it was to set up and start using straight away. The user interface on the Seestar app was very intuitive and simple to operate.

Space: ★★★★ | Digital Camera World: ★★★★

✅ Buy it if: You are a beginner stargazer or if you are watching the night sky with children. The Seestar S30 is easy to operate and use, allowing you to capture wondrous images of the celestial wonders you are observing.

❌ Don’t buy it if: You need a smart telescope that has more expert features and has a higher resolution sensor. The Unistellar eVscope 2 (7.7 MP) and Vaonis Vespera Pro (12.5 MP) might suit you better, and they are also on sale for Black Friday!

Check out our other guides to the best telescopes, binoculars, cameras, star projectors, drones, lego and much more.