BePrepared,
This is a canned way to start but, you never really mentioned what you were going to use the kukri for. With so many different companies and models out there defining what it will be used for is a must. That aside, here is my take.
Do yourself a huge favor and get the Cold Steel SK5 Gurkha Kukri. It is by far, I'll say again, by far, the best modern production kukri made. I personally love the traditional Nepalese kukri but since you asked about modern models this is really a no brainer. If you really want to spend some money you can opt for the San Mai III model but you can get the SK5 version "and" a Nepalese kukri for the same price.
There are some trade-offs with the modern machine perfect kukri models. The perfect blade is a little sticky in certain types of wood. It is not a huge issue and doing things like spraying WD-40 (or any lube) on the blade will correct this. Another trade-off is that with the Nepalese models you can buy the one designed to do the job you have in mind. Heavy choppers have more weight in the belly; fighters are light, long and fast; all arounders like the M43 do "most things" well, etc etc. With the modern production kukri you get one shape, one size and one weight. Luckily, the Cold Steel kukri is designed very much like the M43 in size shape and weight and it really is an all-arounder.
On the plus side you get a very good steel, a comfortable handle made from modern materials and a stock sheath that is second to none. In all fairness there is really only one choice here because few of these modern companies offer a real kukri, most offer machetes labeled "kukri/machete" and some like Ka-Bar that offer a hybrid, a very good one in my opinion but still a hybrid.
Hope this helps.
