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Well, being a refractor nut, I would stick to a few brands.
Tak - goes without saying. Just bought 2 myself. Only downside is the cost of accessories, and the bewildering number of them required (hence I get them all custom made, so that ONE adapter takes over the role of 4 Tak joined together ones)
Vixen - IF you can find an old Vixen fluorite, you will have an instrument as good as Tak (seeing the SAME company that made Tak's objectives also made Vixen's back then). The newer ED ones are fine as well, so long as Japanese made - the Chinese ones are merely rebadged Synta products
AP - nice, really nice, but rocking horse poo to find in the wild. Expensive, but worth it.
Stellarvue - a LOT of bang for the buck! Finally they have gone back to R&P focusers now the crazy Crayford fad is slowly waning, and the results are worth it. Their handmade scopes are WAY up there with the top 4 brands. Their Chinese/Taiwanese optic versions are damned good too.
Televue - well, I find them odd. Good optics, ugly as mud (weird retro-60's look about them to me), can have issues with internal flocking. Some say the optics are mostly made by Vixen - I am sure someone knows for sure.
Skywatcher - good, to a point. Their focusers are garbage. Their newer Esprit series - copies of Takahashi - are reporting in well. The ED80 and ED100 are good performers, especially if you change out the focuser and can live with the gawdy bling paint.
Saxon is just Synta/SW. Not much, if any difference.
William Optics - really not bad optics, but some interferometry could suggest issues with some of them. The focuser tends to slip (well, the older ones did) and the focuser rotator seems to occasionally need adjustment as it loses orthogonality - apparently a simple tweak. Surprisingly heavy for their size. A nice package usually - Hugh's fluorite in the trader is a bargain!
Officina Stellare - tough one. VERY over priced but nice optics (Russian made). Debate abounds as to the merit, or more the detriment of carbon fibre tubes on refractors, so take that how you like. I used a Viper once - nice, but no better than a good TV or Tak. Sexy looking, but beauty is as beauty does...
APM - Russian optics as well, and USUALLY well made, though there was a run of flawed tubes sent out, with gaps in the baffles etc. Expensive, but those LZOS elements are "sublime" (to paraphrase someone)
TMB - great, if you can get one, or afford one.
I just bought a Tak FSQ85 Baby-Q - eagerly awaiting it's arrival. Smallish aperture, that makes up for it with jaw-dropping sharpness and contrast, and small/light enough not to need a large mount to push it.
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