Jonas Rask’s review and example pictures helped me make the decision.
tl;dr Is it worth its price? If you’re into macro photography I’d say yes.
Unboxing
- It’s heavy!
- The sound and feeling as if something in the lens is loose is normal and disappears when you turn on the camera
Settings
- Too little haptic feedback for my taste when turning the aperture ring
- Make sure your camera‘s firmware is up to date
Macro
It took me a long time to find the best settings for macro. At the moment I think it’s around f11.
f2.8
f2.8, f9, f22
Comparing the 80mm to the 60mm macro
Finally the weather was good enough for a direct comparison outside.
Straight out of camera; the bees are handheld, the Pulsatilla with a tripod. All on the X-T10 with identical settings.
I think it’s safe to say: yes, the 80mm is the better macro lens. As it should be for that price!
Comparing the 80mm 2.8 to the 35mm 1.4
In my eyes the 80mm’s f2.8 can easily match the f1.4 from the 35mm. And you don’t have to be that close to the subject. But you carry 750 gr instead of 218 gr.
Pictures:
Fountain with fable animal by Erwin Knöll, entrance to Basel Kunstmuseum
Side door of Basel Münster
Basilisk by Ferdinand Schlöth at Wettsteinbrücke
Comparing the 80mm to the 50-230mm
It’s a draw for picture quality, and the 50-230 is more versatile and lighter.
Lego
I still like my Lego comparison photos from a while ago, so here are some more.
- 80mm
- 80mm with the XF1.4X teleconverter, which also works with the 100-400mm.
- 60mm
The 60mm without extension tube never felt like a real macro lens to me, despite its name. - 60mm with the extension tubes MCEX-11 and MCEX-16; older examples here and here.
- 80mm with the extension tubes MCEX-11 and MCEX-16 – not something I plan to do.
manu schwendener 
Thank you for this review. I found it quite useful and entertaining. I especially like your lego shot- shot wide-open the top lego looks like it is floating on a cloud of bokeh! Well done.
Thank you, John. I am glad to hear it is useful :-)
Very nice images and comparisons, sir! As a landscape and small product shooter, I place significant importance on the sharpness and detail rendition of a lens, and I must say that in my 40 years of photographic expereince using many different foramts and systems, this Fujinon XF80mm f/2.8 Macro is the sharpest lens I’ve ever used! I’d wager that it’s the sharpest Macro lens in production, though i’ve not tested that theory. It has a certain “pop” that makes post process sharpening virtually obsolete.I did also own the XF60 Macro and the XF90, and prior to this XF80 Macro, the XF90 was my sharpest lens, but the XF80 Macro edges by that one as well. It goes to the superb quality and 80 years’ experience of Fuji that this is such a remarkable macro lens !