2008 vs. 2009 Force Shifters
 

I'm slowly building up my first bike project, and I've decided to go with SRAM Force. I'm buying everything individually, and I've gotten some conflicting information on the 2008 vs. 2009 shifters. From what I can tell, the 2009 shifters incorporate much of the technology from Red, while the 2008s don't, but they look exactly the same. While my ego won't be bruised by not having those cool black-and-white checkered 2010 shifters, I would like to have all that cool technology.

So my question is, am I correct in thinking that the 2008 and 2009 shifters are different? And if they are, does anyone know how to tell the two apart? Serial numbers or something else along those lines?

Thanks.

The 09's have longer carbon levers, larger shift paddle and zero loss technology in the FD. I own various sets of SRAM shifters and the 09's are tons better than the 08's IMO. I have not tried the 2010 shifters yet though.