When reading my opinions below, keep in mind my primary console is a Digidesign/Avid SC48 and/or a Yamaha CL5.
BEHRINGER X21 / MIDAS M32
I have seen a shit ton of X32's all over the place lately. Touring groups are lugging them around sometimes as a primary console and sometimes as a backup - if you are running a band with all ears, it would be a cheap investment for your ear rig.
I finally got some hands on with the Midas M32 this past weekend and it's basically the same console with 'better' Midas pres and faders. Overall I think it's not a good move to devalue the Midas brand. These consoles have the necessary functionality but i just can't work as fast with them as i feel i need to. They do feel cheap. In a live setting, as I have mentioned before, preamp quality is usually not even considered on a gig, it's more about speed and work flow - "can this thing do what i need RIGHT NOW?".
A&H QU SERIES
I have used a QU-16 and much prefer the QU series to the Behringer/Midas, and Soundcraft options at this price point. I feel like they are faster to work on and it's a shit ton easier to use the touch screen to enter channel names etc. If you have used the AH GLD series, the QU feels pretty much the same to me.
SOUNDCRAFT EXPRESSION
I have been forced to use some of these a few times and they just feel cheap as shit. I had some issues with scenes not recalling everything i needed when doing some live broadcast stuff and it was a total clusterfuck. There are some other workflow killers and things that just don't make sense the way they are setup. I do not like these too much at all.
OTHER
There are a shit ton of cheap digital consoles hitting the market right now. Presonus is finally doing a console with motorized faders and Yamaha has the TF series hitting as well. There are also a lot of the rack based solutions where you use digital splits for I/O and then control everything with a tablet - I definitely would avoid that though.
