Not just your pocket, your arms have to be long enough too
Honestly, get to a star party/viewing night, you will get nothing more than conflicting opinion here really, and each of us will be right!
An SCT gives you big aperture in a small package, much easier to transport, move and handle than an equivalent aperture Newtonian. Great for planets, moon and those tinier galaxies.
A refractor is easy to handle, easy to use (no collimation usually) and are great for DSO photography. They have the smallest apertures for the dollars though.
A newt/dob is cheap for the amount of aperture you get, you need to learn how to collimate them, and they are l-o-n-g, but they are great bang for buck.
But really, it comes down to what you want to look at, what sort of mount you require, how transportable you need it to be, what your expectations and viewing habits are etc. etc.
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For one person an ED80 refractor and a mallincam will be the best setup ever
, watching full colour DSOs on a screen, for another it will be an 8" SCT on an EQ6, for someone else it will be a 16" dob, the list is endless, each has its pros and cons.
My first scope was a 8" SCT, and that was over 20 years ago, and it is still in use, and still gives great views.
Get to a gathering and have a play with the scopes and see what suits you. Get a look through them so your expectations match reality. Some people are blown away buy the view through a 12" scope, others are really disappointed that the objects are dim and B&W. It is all down to personal stuff really.