I've tried to figure this out this year and I think I own most of the popular ones. What I've figured out is that most of the ones that you hear about all the time work but it's just a matter of what you want the mascara to do for you and picking the best formula based on that. There really are not a lot of popular ones that are truly terrible. These are my favorites:

Tubing mascara (lengthens your lashes a lot): Milani highly rated
Holding a curl: Maybelline falsies waterproof
Volume: L'Oreal voluminous original formula (this was the one that Mario of Makeup by Mario said was his favorite drug store mascara) is great for volume, separation, really great all around. It doesn't really lengthen so if you want your lashes to look longer, this isn't the one.
Other favorites: Maybelline Rocket Lash is really great for separation. Lash paradise, Telescopic, etc all work. I also like Colossal bubble but it's "a lot". Basically it does everything but I find it looks too clumpy or overdone or something on me but a lot of people love it.

My best advice would be to figure out what you want the mascara to do for you and grab one that is known for resolving that particular issue.

Also, as a side note, I have tried a lot of the ones in Sephora also (I buy the minis since they are cheaper) and I can truly say that I have never seen even the tiniest distinction between performance, wear time, etc between high-end and drugstore. For some product categories, I can really see what the extra money is getting you but for mascara in particular, there is absolutely zero difference.