Wow, learnt quite a bit here. Can appreciate what the hell I'm looking at when looking at manufacturer's catalogs 🙂

There is quit a bit a difference when it comes to contrast between a refractor and a reflector . I had a first hand experience between an high end spotting scope with ED glass and a Dobsonian 10 inch and when it comes to contrast the spotting scope with only 80 mm aperture was so much sharper than the reflector that simply the reflector felt like a camera lens that needs to be stop down few points just to bring up the contrast. Even a 400 $ 100 mm refractor no ED was way sharper than the reflector. The reflector was able to make things bigger but details were simply not present. Also the reflector was culminated based on the owner. I do wish one day someone get to put a camera and just take a video so we can actually see real performance based on a similar sensitive of a human eye and not an edited or picture with 10 minutes exposure.