Mountain Biking - 9 speed XTR vs. XT hub, worth the extra $?

I'm having a wheel built up for my touring bike, which takes a 135 mm MTB hub, and am looking at the XTR available at performance at the moment (8/9 speed, non-disc). It's about twice the price of the XT rear hub, and I was wondering how much difference there was in the quality of the bearings and seals, and whether the upcharge is worth considering.

Sorry if this has been asked a billion times, tried searching but got about five thousand times the hit count one could reasonably sort through.

I'm having a wheel built up for my touring bike, which takes a 135 mm MTB hub, and am looking at the XTR available at performance at the moment (8/9 speed, non-disc). It's about twice the price of the XT rear hub, and I was wondering how much difference there was in the quality of the bearings and seals, and whether the upcharge is worth considering.

Sorry if this has been asked a billion times, tried searching but got about five thousand times the hit count one could reasonably sort through.

For a touring bike? I'd go with XT. XTR is lightweight stuff but I don't think it's worth twice the price of XT and the XT is still pretty nice. Now, if you could get the XTR at a good price then it might be worth it. I'd save the cash and put it elsewhere.

If you have some time, look for NOS XTR hubs. I got some for my wife's bike last winter. They don't match, but no one notices and they are very sweet hubs.
I paid about $150 for both including shipping.

How much is he asking?

http://www.qbike.com/product/s/Shimano-XTR-Hub-Front-M970.shtml

http://www.bikesomewhere.com/bikesomewhere.cfm/productLarge/18/86/1174

http://www.bikeworld.com/products/501/107/Shimano-XTR-M-960-Rear-Hub-32-Hole.html

Yeah, that's a good point. Look for some 960 XTR stuff as it will be excellent quality and will definitely be cheaper.

Try searching with: http://www.bestwebbuys.com/bikes/index.html and http://froogle.com

Thanks for the advice... I got the last old stock XTR hub performance had in their warehouse (at least I hope so, based on a phone conversation I had earlier today.) It came to $109 (not counting the ten percent back), then there was a fifteen percent discount off that, and some performance points got applied plus shipping was free. I got the hub and an Open Pro rim for $132 shipped. I think it might be a single generation earlier than the current version.

It is on a touring bike, but it's additional to a set of heavy-duty wheels I have already. The heavier wheels are now going to get touring/cross tires on them, and this lighter slimmer set is getting 32 spokes, and sportier rubber. I'm kind of trying to keep this a jack-of-all-trades multitrack/rain/snow/road/touring rig. A spare set of wheels and tires will definitely work in that direction, I figure.

Edit: Yes, it is the 960 you are mentioning above...