I had the PL8 V2 and now have the Dual PL8. They are the same charger despite the PL8's "V2". The V2 simply means it's the upgraded version of the original PL8. The PL8 went V2 maybe 5-7 years ago. The DPL8 came out about a year or so after that. Since the DPL8 came along after the PL8 V2, it simply contains two, V2 PL8's in the same case. Neither one are "new" by any stretch. I believe the only difference between the original V1 PL8 and the V2 Pl8 was a firmware upgrade allowing more charge power. The FMA chargers do allow operation via a PC which I always use. If you don't have the PC interface running, the 2-line display makes operating the charger kind of clunky, lots of button pushes, in my humble opinion. You also get "graphing" with the FMA chargers. I don't think I'd call it diagnostics, though. Your mileage may vary on this.
FMA has just started delivering their "New" touchscreen PL6's, PL8's and DPL8's. A "Bump Controller" is built into them. A bump controller reads RFID tags attached to battery packs and automatically initiates a charge based on what data you programmed the RFID tag with. It tracks data attached to that tag so you know all kinds of info about the battery pack.
I also have an iCharger 4010. Progressive RC also sells this brand. If you're always going to be charging packs with balance harnesses, then the PL8/DPL8 is a good choice. If you want to charge packs that are not balance harness equipped, then the FMA chargers are very restrictive in what you can do charge power-wise. They take a VERY conservative safety approach with their chargers. You can charge 1 and 2S packs unbalanced at very low power levels. You cannot charge any 3S and larger non-balance harness equipped Series'd packs-period, end of story. I find myself using my iCharger probably 8 times out of 10 vs my DPL8. If you will be doing a lot of high power discharging, then the iCharger is a better choice. If you are using a battery as your power supply for the charger, both chargers do regenerative discharging back into the source battery pack. Icharger can discharge the battery on channel 1 back into a resistive load you have attached to channel 2. The FMA charger will not do this. Both brands can discharge internal to the charger but at only about 100 to 120 Watts per channel. The FMA chargers use up to an Amp in balancing current whereas the iCharger is 1.2 Amps. With the iCharger, you can combine channels for a 2.4 Amp balance current. And of course the FMA chargers can charge up to 8S packs whereas the iCharger can charge 10S packs. The iCharger can combine channels 1 and two for a 70 Amp max charger current. The FMA cannot do this and is max'd at 40 Amps per channel. Go to Progressive RC's web site and open up two tabs. Bring up the DPL8 and the 4010 and click on the "specifications" tab on each. Compare features and power levels. The iChargers Synchronous mode provides significantly higher charge and discharge capabilities.
If you are doing only balanced charging and you can get the DPL8 for near the PL8 cost, and you're set on an FMA, then I'd go with the DPL8. If you'll need to do unbalanced charging, I'd look into the iCharger 4010. I think the PL8 will do Node Only charging whereas the DPL8 will not. Meaning you can charge thru the balance harness only at small currents.
To sum it up, if I could have only 1 charger, it would definitely be the iCharger 4010. The FMA's are just to restrictive if you have only one charger.
Hope this helps you.
FMA has just started delivering their "New" touchscreen PL6's, PL8's and DPL8's. A "Bump Controller" is built into them. A bump controller reads RFID tags attached to battery packs and automatically initiates a charge based on what data you programmed the RFID tag with. It tracks data attached to that tag so you know all kinds of info about the battery pack.
I also have an iCharger 4010. Progressive RC also sells this brand. If you're always going to be charging packs with balance harnesses, then the PL8/DPL8 is a good choice. If you want to charge packs that are not balance harness equipped, then the FMA chargers are very restrictive in what you can do charge power-wise. They take a VERY conservative safety approach with their chargers. You can charge 1 and 2S packs unbalanced at very low power levels. You cannot charge any 3S and larger non-balance harness equipped Series'd packs-period, end of story. I find myself using my iCharger probably 8 times out of 10 vs my DPL8. If you will be doing a lot of high power discharging, then the iCharger is a better choice. If you are using a battery as your power supply for the charger, both chargers do regenerative discharging back into the source battery pack. Icharger can discharge the battery on channel 1 back into a resistive load you have attached to channel 2. The FMA charger will not do this. Both brands can discharge internal to the charger but at only about 100 to 120 Watts per channel. The FMA chargers use up to an Amp in balancing current whereas the iCharger is 1.2 Amps. With the iCharger, you can combine channels for a 2.4 Amp balance current. And of course the FMA chargers can charge up to 8S packs whereas the iCharger can charge 10S packs. The iCharger can combine channels 1 and two for a 70 Amp max charger current. The FMA cannot do this and is max'd at 40 Amps per channel. Go to Progressive RC's web site and open up two tabs. Bring up the DPL8 and the 4010 and click on the "specifications" tab on each. Compare features and power levels. The iChargers Synchronous mode provides significantly higher charge and discharge capabilities.
If you are doing only balanced charging and you can get the DPL8 for near the PL8 cost, and you're set on an FMA, then I'd go with the DPL8. If you'll need to do unbalanced charging, I'd look into the iCharger 4010. I think the PL8 will do Node Only charging whereas the DPL8 will not. Meaning you can charge thru the balance harness only at small currents.
To sum it up, if I could have only 1 charger, it would definitely be the iCharger 4010. The FMA's are just to restrictive if you have only one charger.
Hope this helps you.