[Wavytone]

Hemi, no I’d say you aren’t missing anything by not having a newt...

For many the reason to buy or make one is simple - they are a way to satisfy aperture fever on a low budget.

Personally I made 5 in my early years - the first two while in high school then as struggling student. At that a time a C8 was way over my budget, a 3” Unitron was hot stuff and we all lusted after the 4” Unitrons fully equipped. But a simple well-made f/7 8” newtonian was vastly superior.

Then John Dobson arrived and big cheap light-buckets were all the rage. Either that or you had an SCT, typically 8-10”. This remained the case for 20 years.

Despite the many significant changes in the last 10 years the big newtonians (dobs) remain cheap and effective if what you want is a light bucket. What the changes amount to is gear you could once only dream of now being affordable for amateurs, facilitating many other things.