Can’t offer any thoughts on chargers myself. All I have is my hobby charger.
By the way, if you get the 980L, just be aware that you’re going to be seriously overdriving it with quality cells hot off the charger. It seems to be a pretty robust light, but it might not take it forever. I used to think that was a cool, fun thing to be doing, but I’ve changed my mind now. I much prefer the increased efficiency of regulated lights.
Totally up to you of course.
I would take 980L for:
-A tad smaller size
-IMO more pleasing form
-Power & balanced beam
-Ultrafire, yes, but very reliable.
-(BTW I did run mine with about 4-5 FULL batteries to about -> 3.8V each and change. After hot, dunked it and it still survived the flooding of the body. Far from being able to touch it, still runs.)
XinTD:
-You can have it “like you want it”
-Did it have faster PWM?
-Might throw a bit further.
I will say that when my 980L from Manafont arrived, I couldn’t stop picking it up and looking at it. The finish is really nice, as is the overall design. And yeah, it is indeed a powerhouse. It seems brighter than it should be, if that makes any sense.
My only complaint is that it doesn’t tail stand by default, and PWM is very noticeable on both low settings.
Yeah, I must say it had better finish than large majority of my previous C8 based lights.
I believe the UF 980L is direct drive ONLY in Turbo…not the lower modes…so yes ,there is a trade off.
Well, it would be a bad light to get if you were going to use the lower modes a lot, because the PWM is terribly low. As such, my comments were made in the context of using it on high (which, let’s face it, is what the popularity of this light is primarily based on).
You know, kidintraffic, there’s a really easy way to settle this. Buy both. The 980L is a CW XM-L, so get it and a NW XinTD C8. Two great lights, and your first foray into an exploration of tints.
You know you’re gonna end up with multiple lights anyway (well, we do) so don’t fight it 
haha, I think I am going to end up with both lights…eventually. Just wanted to try to not buy both at the same time.
Buy the Xin Td
Sanyo 2600 cells and XTAR WP2 II charger ordered. Now to order a light…
Here is what I ended up ordering:
XinTD C8 V3 - http://www.intl-outdoor.com/xintd-c8-v3-xml-u2-xml-u3-flashlight-p-308:a2ae32ef8b93985f52952998f28d8149.html
-Neutral White-T6 3C
3 Modes: High (100) - Medium (30) Low (5%)
-Budget C8 flashlight holster
2x - Sanyo UR18650FM 2600 Keeppower Protected cells
2x - DLG 14500 Keeppower Protected cells for my SK68 clones.
XTAR WP2 II charger
I’m sure this will be the first of many lights that I order. I’ll probably end up order a UF-980L very soon just because it was a tough decision between the two.
Just to cause you more issues, ubehebe is reporting the keygos ke-5’s are now back on song, they had a patch of bad lights through the summer but its another strong contender.
I can’t possibly imagine you won’t be happy with this setup!