Out of curiosity, why would you suggest choosing from the default schemes? I picked my scheme from a downloaded bundle and then installed a plugin to make it work on a 256 colour terminal.
Because that minimizes futzing around. Certainly if the colorscheme makes a difference to you, and you can't find one that satisfies you in the defaults, then you should try to find a better one, but I think you should try the defaults first. Trying to use what's already there is in keeping with minimizing the urge to "install all the things!"
Fair enough. I'm currently using Freya since I have a love of low contrast dark schemes with muted colours.