A hatchet is useful for hiking and carrying when a light chopping tool is warrented. It is a definite compromise when it comes to dealing with large quantites of wood. If your intended use is for splitting wood for the fireplace, then you actually want an axe or even a splitting maul (depending on the size of wood) as these are the right tools for that job. They are heavy, but do an amazing job at splitting and due to their length are actually much more safer to use than a hatchet especially if you are just learning your swinging technique.
Gransfors Bruks makes quality axes and hatchets. They are basically the Busse's of the axe world and cost the most. However, an exepensive axe is only in the ballpark of $100so it really isn't that much to spend if quality and fit and finish are things you desire.
Whetterlings and Fiskars come to mind as tier II. The whetterlings is basically same quality materials as G&B but poorer fit and finish. They don't come as sharp and often do not have straight grinds on either side of the blade. If you buy one you will have to do a bit of work, to a larger amount of work, to get it to where the G&B comes from the factory.
Fiskars are quality little choppers with an ugly composite hollow handle. Gerber is identical to the fisker and made the same, but being all black is a little less ugly. You can even get a gerber that holds a crappy gerger knife in the hollow handle and watch it shoot out at ya as you swing the thing
Lots of people love the Fiskers and Gerbers and I think they are lighter than the equivalent sized whetterlings. Both of these cost around $30 and up to $50 for ax lengths. In this same category you can also look at Buck which has a little hatchet that is by all means equivalent to the small fiskers and Gerber camp axes.
Ranger's hatchets are bomb proof but more designed as an entry tool to rip apart cars and doors than they are for bush craft and wood working. The spike on the back is more of a crow bar and wouldn't be all that good at hammering which the back of a hatchet is often used for.
The Drew belt axe is a gorgeous looking little thing, but more of a pocket sized instrument. Much smaller than any of the above. It is even more of a compromise than the above hatchets for chopping wood but it is really designed for the hiker in mind and will chew wood better then most knives of equivalent weight.
Estwing sportsman's hatchet is a metal hatchet with a leather handle. They look pretty good and have a good following. They are better than the no-name carbon hatchets at the hardware store but I don't think they are quite as good as fiskers and whetterlings. I've never seen one sharp before, although I imagine it can be made sharp. They run about $40 dollars and I think the Fiskar's are a better buy. I've used the larger estwing axes and I tend to like them quite a bit. You can usually find these at home depot or other common buisnesses (same as fiskers) so lots of people have them.
Kershaw's probably have the same performance as the estwing but most people who comment about them on these forums don't usually have all that much good things to say.
Personally I don't like the feel and balance of all metal axes. They just don't feel right in my hand. The hickory handles feel the best to me and I like the classic looks of them. The hollow composite handles feel okay to me but I hate their looks.
