I had a Nexus 7-speed hub for a couple years. It was great. I traded it to a co-worker and it's still running strong. Only had a grip shifter option though. Alfine comes in 8 and 11-speed, has a rapid fire shifter, and is supposedly made with more durable internals, plus a disc option if your frame has disc tabs. We have modern Sturmey Archer 5-speed hubs on some of the new bikes on the floor. They are nowhere near as nice as Shimano's IGH offerings. Nuvinci is interesting if you want an infinitely variable gear range. Rohloff if you're a ******!