It looks like a nice lathe for a midi lathe but for an everyday bowl lathe, I'd question the longevity of its design. It seems there is limited length in the spindle shaft for enough bearing support for heavy bowl roughing. The tailstock also looks a little lightweight to me. I'd consider this for a 2nd lathe for lighter finish work. I think it's still in the beta stage.
The design of this lathe is so well proportioned that it looks lighter than it is. If you require a larger lathe and desire the Nova direct drive then the Orion on Nebula may be a better fit for you.
We have not found any downsides, all the permanent lathes at South Auckland Woodturners are Nova DVR direct drive, this is also what most of our members are using in their own workshops as well. Nova DVR is smoother and quieter, with excellent power delivery and torque, ideal for the training programs we run at the club.
Yes it does have detents, but for accurate realignment with the tailstock we have found better results using the acruline (double ended morse taper) with all lathes that have a swiveling head.
