Whew... that's a diverse set of answers... let's see if I can distill this down a bit...
If I like to view DSO's with my very own set of eyeballs, then I need as much light as possible and I should get the biggest reflector my money can buy. If I were to pay the same amount of money for a refractor, it would probably be significantly smaller, so there'd be less light, so the DSO would appear much fainter.
But if I was interested mainly in planetary and moonetary(?) viewing, then a refractor would provide me with a better image because of the better contrast.
And if I were into imaging, the lower light level of the refractor doesn't really matter as I would rarley be looking through the eyepiece.
Now assuming what I've said is roughly true... one last question... If I were imaging and therefore the photon collection capability of the scope was not a major factor... would the image typically be better from a refractor? Is it a case of optics quality? In other words, if I wanted the same image quality from a reflector I would end up spending the same amount of money to get similar quality optics (mirrors)?
I know there's no such thing as a dumb question, but I must really be pushing the envelope here...
thanks everyone -- randall