Modern Defense vs. Owen's Defense?

Do you have any thoughts or recommendations about the modern defense versus e6-b6 setups?

I'm aiming for 2000 in bullet, and I'm looking for another weapon with the black pieces. I currently play the Caro-Kann, which is obviously okay, but I want something that leads to interesting positions and is easier to blitz out. For these reasons, I've been debating whether to pick up e6-b6 setups or the modern defense. Any information is welcome; I'm curious to hear people's opinions.

Since you're asking in the context of bullet, and you want something you can blitz out quickly, I'd say g6. Those lines progress predictably, and transpose to some fun and aggressive Benoni and Kings Indian type positions. b6 is rarer, I don't know much about it, feel like the bishop is less good against e4 already being played, but if you can book up and punish early inaccuracies, I'm sure it's playable.

i find that it is often much easier to know what to do in the owen's than it is in the modern. In the owen's unless you play for one of the funky set ups like the early nc6 e5 lines ,you usually know the core of yourcounterplay will be either d5 or c5, possibly both and you learn the 3-4 main tabiyas of counterplay depending on how white plays. In the modern, you get an extreme open ended flexibility which may be good for throwing off people's preparation but often makes finding the objectively best move trickier. 
then of course is the gateway drug that is the hippo which is actually the easiest when it comes to what to play mostly, but the hippo has its own disadvantages too.
honestly, try both out and figure out your preferred way to play both defenses, esp the modern where they are so many interesting sidelines. I remember being shocked not that long ago to find out that 1.e4 g6 2.d4 bg7 3.nc3 d5!? is completely playable!

Really? I find that in the Owen’s it’s rather hard to know what to do if White knows what’s happening. Yes, you play for d5/c5/both but your position after the break in many variations is… uninspiring and unintuitive. With the Modern, you do have extreme flexibility but you can eschew that, stick to rigid lines which will function against any variation, and have a better, easier position than in the Owen’s. Of course chess will be played in the middlegame due to how uncommon and unintuitive the counterplay to both the Modern and Owen’s is for White, but if I recall correctly, Black is very close to losing by force in some main lines in the Owen’s (~+0.7) while the best lines in the Modern are still playable, if only for two results (~+0.5).

???????

0.7 is close to losing XD. Come on,

even an opening advantage eval at +1 to the top engines rated 3600+ only amounts to like a 50% winning chance for win agaisnt itself. And they are as close to perfect chess as we can get.

i coudnt disagree more, i find the counterplay in the owen's very straightforward. For example in early d5 lines which are my preference, almost all forms of counterplay can be divided into one of 4 main tabiyas. 1. to swamp white with a queenside pawnstorm 2. to properly land ba6, 3. to get nb4 in the right time 4. to play g5!? and do a kingside pawnstorm while castling queenside, often even sacking a pawn for ideal rook placement. Rarely do i need to consider any other plan. The decent lines which black needs to consider other variables because it doesnt lead to a french like structure all tend to be relatively harmless eval wise.

as a general rule, if evals are within reason, (Below 1.2, preferably below 1 for most positions but some very rare positions as high as 1.5 can be the occasional good weapon), then the capacity to execute an ideal plan is far more important than the objective eval because the odds the eval of your position will tilt out of control agaisnt you are low.
an extreme example to highlight my point. This year in one of my OTB tournament games, i play a young talented 2300 FM . i play my owen, he prob did a little bit of research on me at least half an hour before and throws at me like a good 12 moves of theory, but plays within book for even longer by taking his time, well, i played the first 25 moves perfectly using less than 5 minutes of my time and by move 30 his position was functionally lost. I didnt matter one iota how long my position was in the 0.8-1 range because i knew EXACTLY what to do and he had to constantly figure it out to even pretend to keep his vaunted advantage. (as fate has it, i lost this game hilariously in the endgame from a winning position in a complex rook and queen ending but thats a story for another day XD) .

The modern is completely fine of course, but the very flexibility which can keep white uncertain on what your formation may be is the same ambiguity which may let you mix lines in which formation is ideal vs the specific white structure he employs. Nothing extra preparation wont fix but this is something you have to consider when choosing a repertoire. IF you like the kingside fianchetto but would something without this "Feature" you can play the pirc defense instead.
here is another feature which is why i prefer the owen's to the modern which relates to what i said above.. in the modern, white's center is not immediately attacked so he has extreme flexibility in what formation he can choose and retain his modest advantage. He can go for two different types of 3 pawn centers. (in the owen's going for the 3 pawn center by white almost certainly means he is playing sub optimally unless black has already gone astray) and he can go for either pushing the pawn, trade it, or keep the tension with c3. In the owen's almost all the lines which are critical involve white seizing a space advantage earlier, which makes preparation much easier.

You can fairly much play the Owen or a minor variation of it against anything that black plays. Less study, there is not much theory and it will never give you less than an even game out of the opening, only thing I play as black now.