Depends on how you use the camera, what you expect to get from it.
Great image quality requires large sensors, 4/3 or 1-inch at the smallest (Sony RX, Canon G, Fuji X series) up to APS-C or larger. But that only matters when you are shooting RAW and doing your own processing in something like Aperture, Lightroom or Photoshop, or the software provide by the camera manufacturers, free or extra cost.
Long zoom range needs fairly large cameras, big lenses to cover big sensor sizes. My brother in law thinks like this, shoots 35 full frame 35mm digital and travels with his equipment (about $8000 worth) in a 30 pound backpack. The RX10 is trying to package a similar capability, about 1/4 the sensor size, into a single small package. The category is superzoom. and if zoom range is what you want, there are other options with smaller sensors but more zoom rage at the long end, or smaller sensors, or similar zoom range and much more compact package (Panasonic Lumix has been really good at this).
Although my photographic package, from 35mm to digital, has always included cameras and lenses to cover the 28mm to 400 mm range, I've used the long lenses almost exclusively for sports photography, my travel photography is mostly street photography, wide angle to at most short portrait focal lengths. I also need my "ultimate" travel camera to be pocketable, which leaves out my DSLR cameras (my APS-C kit fits into a bag about the size of a six-packand camera alone needs to hangon my neck). Thus for what I do when I travel, what works for me is Sony's RX-100 (gen 3, don't need video capabilities of gen 4), backed up by a waterproof wide angle camera for rainy days.
RVing or road tripping, yes I carry more, DSLR kit and tripods, flashes, levels et al, but when I have to pavk a carry-on for an overseas trip, it will be pocketable cameras, chargers and batteries, with wide to portrait zoom range, with large enough sensors for good RAW image quality.
First caveat: if you are not going to shoot RAW and do your own image processing, then your focus should be on the quality of image processing done in camera. My experience is that Panasonic does well at this, in the medium price ranges.
Second caveat: if you are thinking Sony RX, and have no experience with Sony RX or Sony Alpha cameras, be prepared to start all over new on the user experience. I've used digital cameras from Olympus, Canon (3), Fuji and Nikon, and I found Sony RX/Alpha to be a totally new way of doing things, not always easy to relate to 50+ years of film photography with mostly manual cameras.
If you need superzoom and don't mind the bulk, Sony RX-10 is a step up in image quality from other superzooms, because of its large sensor. If you don't shoot RAW, not much is gained, in-camera processing compromises the quality gain. If you don't need superzoom, then your choices broaden to several lines of compacts from Fuji, Sony, Canon, Nikon using similar large sensors (most sourced from Sony) and quite good optics. Sony RX-10 is the most compact, and ahead on video capabilities, but lacks an optical finder (has pop-up EVF) and is more limited on accessories (no hot shoe).
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B
