These are the most common of all scopes. Stay away from the inexpensive department store models. Forget scopes advertised as 600 power - 150 to 200 is all you need. Refractors are renowned for their exquisite image quality. These scopes will bring in the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter and look into the crators on the moon.
Double stars are a delight through a good refractor.
These scopes are especially good in light polluted areas. Using a 2X Barlow and 9MM lens it showed perfect star points, focused well on moon craters, and was able to get great close ups of sun spots at a recent outing. If only they would have had such a scope years ago when I first started, I would have been a happy camper. Optically, reflectors can provide outstanding performance. This type makes a great first scope.