I was under the impression it had a ceramic element like the 988 iron. The older iron my unit has certainly does. Hmm.
This page claims it has a ceramic element. Odd.
First, that's the LF
8000, which is a $390 station, and, second, that page claims it is ceramic in one place and nichrome in another. Oddly, Xytronic's
LF8000 page also claims it's ceramic, while their
LF1000 page claims it has the same iron, but this time is nichrome. It's this sort of thing that makes me uncomfortable about Xytronic.
Also, here's the thread on the
handles getting hot.