I'm in the Nova G3 camp. So far I have 3 of them along with Pin Jaws, 35mm Spigot Jaws, 50mm Jaws, and their Pens Plus Jaws. I got started down the Nova path with my first Nova G3 back in 2017 because it was the brand that was on the shelf in my local WoodCraft retail store. Then, a couple of years ago, I bought a second and then a third because I almost always had the Pens Plus Jaws installed and I got too lazy to change them in and out when I needed something else. Swapping chucks rather than jaws sounds like an expensive indulgence, but it has worked well for me.
The last G3 I received had some obvious differences from the first one. First of all, the jaw slides were no longer numbered to match up with the numbered jaws. I am pretty sure that it is because of a newer fabrication method that eliminated the need. Jaws used to be made as more of a single unit then was sliced into 4 pieces. Numbering the pieces permitted the best fit by allowing them to be kept in the same order as they were when they were being fabricated as a whole.
The other obvious change was that the T-Bar handles looks and feels a lot cheaper than the handle that came with my first (older) chuck. It looks like it is nickel plated and feels kind of clunky-like because of a loose fitting, sliding, T-Bar. My older one didn't have a sliding T-bar and just feels a lot more solid.
I use the adapter version so if I should get a different lathe in the future that has something other than 8tpi-1 threads all I will need to buy are new adapters.
All in all, I remain very satisfied with the Nova G3's. That being said, I don't really have anything else to compare them to as Nova is all I have ever used.
Regards,
Dave
PS If you do go down the Nova path, except for the first one, I bought the rest from
Woodworker Specialties in BC, Canada. They cost me about $130 excluding the jaws.