My new Nexus 8 hub, which I haven't built into a wheel yet, came with an integrated Revoshifter/brake lever. I have no issues with grip shifters, and have a SRAM one on my 4sp Nexus, but have read bad reviews about the Revo - flimsy, not precise, etc Would it be worth it to spend $50 on an Alfine Rapidfire shifter?

J tek bar end?

Looks nice, but $90, and for drop bars only.

Personally I'm not a fan of grip shift style shifters at all, so I'd definitely shell out the extra for the Rapidfire unit.

On the one hand, the rapid fire shifter is nice, but it only shifts one gear at a time. One thumb push, one gear. The revo is nice in that you can shift several gears at a time. I really like the J tek bar end, and they have a shim for 7/8" bars. The J tek is your only option on the thicker bars.

I haven't used any of them enough to comment on durability.

twist/revo grip for sure. you can switch 8 gears in one motion (2 secs max). rapid-fire/push-button is good for derailleur-based systems but defeats the purpose of the IGH.

i use the rapid fire style shifter with my alfine 8 and i'd highly recommend it, but i hate grip/twist shifters, so i'm profoundly biased against them.

+1 for the J-tek, have it on my BF NWT commuter - it is great

I also prefer a Shimano Rapid Fire shifter to any twist grip shifter. The shifts feel crisp and precise. Rarely overshoot the desired gear. I also prefer the more or less static hand position while riding versus having to rotate my hand/grip to select a gear. It's a personal preference/comfort thing.
My current commuter (MEC Desire) began life with a twist grip (and a Nexus 8 IGH & rim brakes. Currently sporting a Handspun Alfine wheelset & disc brakes). Bought the bike with the intention of replacing the shifter as soon as I got home. Took the beat-up silver Rapid Fire shifter off my shaft drive bike (Dynamic Crossroads 8) and installed it onto the commuter. Vast improvement. I recently replaced that shifter with a nice shiny new black Rapid Fire shifter and restored the original shifter to the shaft drive (cabling on the twist grip wasn't long enough for the shaft bike).

Certain 8/9/10 sp rapid-fire shifters can change 2 gears with one thumb press (the lever that increases/pulls the cable, which on mine switches to larger rear cogs). I can change to higher gears by pulling the smaller lever (releasing cable tension to go to smaller cogs) and run through the full range in about 2 seconds.

sweet, could you post a pic. i hate having to push a lever 4 or 5 times when coming to stop.

edit: I have a SL-M590 9-speed Shimano with an XT rear mech, what can I do with it?

I'm using the JTek bar end on my nexus 8 bike, which is a crosscheck frame built up with hub brakes for the wet seattle winters.

Ive found a used nexus trigger shifter which feels nice but is bulky.

the JTek is very excellent. zero complaints about its function. The only criticism I have is a design one: the bar end shifter goes OVER the bar end, not inside the bar end. This means the JTek nexus shifter is not compatible with VO or Paul's Tumbies. the JTek folks are working on a 22.2 thumbie mount specifically for their shifter.

I am really pleased with the jtek. I run it on 23.8 moustache bars where I couldn't use any of the standard shimano shifters.

$100 for shifters seems to me pretty standard, even baseline cost wise. Unless you are using friction shifting, I don't see many options to buy a new shifter system for less than $100. Even used 8 speed indexed barcons are $90 on ebay, and so are the non indexed silver shifter barcons.

2 thumbs up to JTek!

That's true with other rapid-fire shifters, but the one for the nexus 8/alfine 8 only does one gear at a press. I like to be able to skip gears without pumping the thumb lever repeatedly. That said, the J-tek doesn't work well if you have flat bars or bars without a significant bend in them, just like any other bar end shifter. I was biased against the revo-shifter as I don't generally like grip shift, but its ability to run through the entire range with a twist is appealing.

Thanks for your responses. Still hard to decide. As I said, nothing against the grip shift per se - I too like the ability to change 3-4 gears in a sweep - but this one doesn't look too precise.