You don't need the best. When I was shopping for my first compact digital camera, I asked Art Carter, of Sporting Classics Magazine, what he liked. He said he had tried several, and the Nikon Coolpix did not fail him in damp, cold, frost, and really cold weather, as others did. I bought one and have used it all the time for work and outdoors, from the Carribean to Anchorage, Alaska.
That was a long time ago, and cameras have improved, but that is what I still look for in an outdoor camera:
* works in bad weather
* easy in and out of my pockets
* simple controls, and ideally some I can work with gloves on
* can operate it with one hand, either hand.
* batteries I can buy in any store, and rechargeable ones, too
* SD card
* Good optical zoom ( usually a bigger lense )
* good photos in bad light