uh, looks like I'm a bit late
...
I used a Canon Poershot S1 IS, then "upgraded" (I'm talking years ago...) to a S3 IS, loved them, nice optical zoom, decent quality, but we're talking 6.0 Megapixel CCD, eh, quite outdated...
honestly, I think that unless you need the optical zoom nowadays some mid-high level smartphones could easily "work" almost as good as cheap cameras, so if the budget is really tight it's not that easy to find a worthy model...
Nowadays I use APS-C cameras, a Nikon D7000 reflex (had it for a few years) and lately I fell in love with Fuji's mirrorless x series (I tried an X-E1, which is quite "old" but wonderful to use even with vintage lenses, I think I'll "upgrade" soon to an X-E2s).
Sony makes great compact cameras, and great not-so-compact long-zoom cameras (RX 100 and RX 10) and great interchangable lenses mirrorless too (A6300 and their full frame models), but I'd say it's almost pointless buying cameras with sensors smaller than 1" nowadays. and the models I mentioned are quite costly... end of rant (end of my time to rant about cameras, at least), I'll be back for more when I've more time and I'm bored of real life ahahah.....