Hi Lewis
You are quite right and I certainly understand some folks also like the looks of refractors - this is what I meant by the broad church with different tastes comment.
I am, personally, not entirely in that camp although, of course, I do prefer any telescope in good well kept condition as opposed to one that has been a dogs breakfast.
The thrust of my point is simply 'why' we do have expensive top tier refractors is more than simply their cosmetic appearance - they do perform as well otherwise we would all have Skywatcher ED120s and there would be no FL102S anymore
