Do you wear eyeglasses? I do and have been searching for a pair of light birding glasses in this class for a while, with limited success. To cut to the chase: I'm currently using Cabela's Guide 8x32, which are within a whisker of the Nikon M7 8x30 in quality but have an extra mm or so of extra eye relief. But I don't think they're available new, anymore.
The Cabela's replaced a pair of Nikon M7 8x30. The Nikon offers a very nice combination of light weight, wide field, sharp sweet spot and good contrast. They felt a little plasticky to me, but that's a subjective complaint as they worked fine, and are very light. The "veiling glare" issue you'll read about in the threads on this bino is real, but minor.....you will have a hard time finding anything at this weight and especially near this price that's perfect in every way. I used mine for several months before deciding the eye relief was just a little too tight for me. If you don't wear eyeglasses, and don't need something that's truly pocket-sized, the M7 is a great choice.
I tried the Opticron Discovery 8x32 in a shop and thought it had noticeably lower contrast that some other binos in the $200-300 range. It is wonderfully light for an 8x32 though, with comfortable eye positioning. I also tried the old model Traveller 8x32, which was sharper and snappier but had funky handling and a field that felt a little constricted. I'm curious about the new (2017) Traveller, which is a completely different bino, but haven't had a chance to try a pair. If you wear eyeglasses be advised that Opticron's quoted eye relief specification seems a little more "optimistic" than some other makers, by 4-5mm on the binos I tried.
Zeiss Terra 8x32 (2016 model). These were really nice. I hear mixed reviews and suspect that quality control might not be great, but apparently I got a good pair, very sharp and contrasty. They have a more substantial feel than the Nikon but are still quite light. Better control of glare and stray light than the Nikon. Just a little short on eye relief for me, otherwise great handling. At current sale prices they seem like a good value. Not pocket binos, though.
The Vortex Diamondback 8x28 has good specs on paper, but the one I tried had low contrast and a small sweet spot, with poor edge sharpness. The much more expensive Viper 8x28 was a disappointment, with a narrow field and a view that, while sharp and contrasty, was dimmer than I expected for the small difference in objective size vs the 30 and 32mm models.
I haven't found any roof prism binos smaller than 30mm that I really like. Haven't tried the 8x25s from Kowa, Zeiss, or Swarovski yet; I'm sure they're a step up in quality from what I've experienced but the specced eye relief on all of them is a little short for me. After trying a few cheaper roofs, all of which were plagued by low contrast, narrow field, brutally short eye relief, poor handling or all of the above, I've stopped searching for now. One more brand you might want to look at is Pentax. They have a 9x28 that some people like, though I haven't tried it myself.
When the ~18oz Cabela's Guide 8x32 feel too heavy I have an old pair of Bushnell Custom Elite 7x26 porros that are brighter, more contrasty, and have better eye relief than any of the cheaper roof binos I tried - they're fine with eyeglasses . But being porros they're a little clunky in handling, being almost as bulky and heavy as the 8x30 roofs, so I don't carry the Bushnells much.
Hope that helps, and good luck searching!