Alex, to be frank a refractor will generally outperform a reflector of similar aperture. However I refer to instruments of similar quality. The refractor you speak of at 4 inch aperture could not possibly retail at a few hundred dollars. You could expect to pay 10 times that easily for a good instrument. It may be in the low end 'department store' catagory though I haven't come across those at this size. Reflectors are generally the amateurs instrument of choice due to aperture. It's common to see 8 inch reflectors for example but 8 inch refractors would be extremely expensive.