Greetings @
xzap042
Lg V30 is indeed a great phoned
LG gets a lot of hate here in Pakistan along with often Moto etc its mainly because of refurbished market and LG phones with Snapdragon 808 and 810 devices ruined brand name
poorly built Refurbished V or G series phones like Moto Z's out there having display gaps bad IP rating etc,aside from that most of phones out there even from famous vendors have flaws e.g Apple,Samsung,Xiaomi etc etc
Personally In my experience LG phones just like Sony phone's are under rated & In todays world whats in hand of any youtuber gets the attention
V30 is great for Audio and Video features it offers ,POLED may get burn-in's sooner thn SMOLED after all its their POLED offering on a flagship(along Pixel2XL) in Android realm in quite awhile ever since FLEX but with care and better use it can be avoided
I have used many Snapdragon 835 phones its a sweet spot from gaming and budget point
if you get a non refurb PTA verified V30 ill say go for it think of it as a S8+ on budget but with better video and audio capabilities sure Sammy's display is something else but honestly you wont notice much sometimes even compared side by side ,I moved from S8+ to Pixel 2XL its stock color profile was very toned down when I switched it to saturated even next to Note 8 felt they are quite the same
Just make sure with brands like LG,Moto there are lots of refurbs out there and unlike Samsung a Lg phone even being international variant at times can be a refurb, Although Highly unlikely that you may spot one with box but if could opt for that if you have used a non refurb g6 it would be easier for you to spot a refurb one ,if its carrier branded one with carrier logo might be better although I have only seen verizon,at&t and sprint logo glass sandwiched LG phones
As for Pixel 2XL vs Note 8 or even over LG V30 I have used these phones honestly if depends on what you need Pixel 2XL most expensive of bunch
Note 8
If you want Spen good cam,display and all around package Note 8 is a good phone to go for
Pixel 2XL
if you want best camera of the bunch Pixel came does wonders no doubt
dont even think of considering stereo speakers on 2XL they do sound good but rattle on some,most users reported after dunk in water,for some out of box
But Pixel 2XL on the other hand no doubt the price bump is worth pixel experience ,Unlimited Google Photo's ,GCAM of course and Night Sight superb!!
There are other phones in 835 realm in your budget that I have personally used
Xperia XZ1
Amazing phone despite of having a smaller battery dont know what magic sony pulled there it lasts as long as S8+ and other phones with bigger batteries that IPS panel is one of a kind honestly at times I couldn't tell if its an OLED milky whites inky blacks Sony sure as come a long way if you dont mind bezels and okay camera thats a phone to go for not to forget Sony experience PS remote play DS4 support etc and the fingerprint placement is just perfect
Nokia 8
Pixel Experience on a 835 phone on cheap with a headphone jack,dual sim & Microsd support,every thing is same as it is on Pixel minus bezels & the gesture bar since it has Navigation Keys ,good build,battery & Gcam mod with Night Sight works great,quick updates
S8+
I honestly dont think Note 8 is worth the price bump where you can get cheaper S8+ minus spen and telephone of course its totally same besides you'll only notice more RAM when you run out of it more Ram doesnt always mean speed
with sammy phones Exynos is often best with battery,thermal management,kernel although its a lot better on 835 devices compared to older ones but the downside with Exynos is GPU where people with SD835 users enjoy PUBG on HDR settings one's with Exynos devices are prompted(coming soon)
Good Luck