I use Swar 8x30, for obvious reasons. Quality and light gathering in low light conditions.

If you are lanning on compacts I would go with the better quality glass just for these reasons. I'd recommend Leica, Swar, Zeiss. Their compacts are better than most full sized Japanese models.

If you go looking to compare don't look through them in a well lit store. They all look good in good light. Try to compare them in low light like you might for hunting. This is where quality shines.