I bought a Nova G3, and I am quite happy with it. I bought it at Woodcraft, and my store specifically had a note on the cabinet to not use Wood River inserts, to use only Nova inserts.
Just recently they had the Nova Midi, with extra set of jaws in the box, plus the mini jaw set of 4 jaws, on special for $125. I bought that mainly to get more jaws, but having an extra check is a really nice luxury. The Midi has tommy bars to tighten, but I like its compact size (the G3 is pretty heavy, maybe about 1 lb. greater than the Midi).
One of these days I may upgrade to a premium lathe like a Oneway or othe premium brand, and feel compelled to go to a higher end chuck, but for small lathes like Jet, Delta, and Rikon (what I bought), I think the Novas are pretty nice, and I am very happy with my purchase.
Next chuck for me? A collet chuck set for sure! Probably the Beale.