Hi!
I bought a cold steel panga last summer, and I didn't regret it. Awesome machete, and to be honest, IMO you buy these machetes in the best form you could get these materials into. Handle isn't slippery, even in the rainy autumn or the humid snow and freezing rain winter we had here in quebec, Canada. Heck, I have even thrown this machete for entire winter afternoons in -20 temperature, and handle is still the same, never failed. The coating is awesome too, I abused it so much that the edge rusted many times, but it was easy to get it back razor sharp with a file and a cc diamond sharpener, the rest of the blade never rusted.
I am probably not helping you a lot here, but what I mean is that this is a one block item, a good workhorse, not an incredible performer, but it won't fail. I don't think it can be improved at all. You would be better off buying a cheaper machete with a 2mm thick blade, with screwed on empty plastic handle like the ones they sell 15$ at walt mart. Handle will be easier to break (i broke one only by regular machete use (cutting down small poplars)) but still a full tang(the handle material is just crap...). The blade is just as well heat treated as the cold steel one, but don't have any coating, and the surface isn't polished.
