Sloany, the 5.4v (or 4.8v or whatever) cutoff is the amount it cuts out at under load - not when it's just sitting there. Try putting a multimeter across the battery when it's discharging and see what the readout is just before it cuts off.
As for chargers, CDC 6.0 is the go. Probably the best bang for buck out there. Well, best that I know of anyhow.
-Scott