At $40 (USD) for a single one-year's license, ESET's NOD32 Antivirus is one of the priciest antivirus scanners on the market. To offset the higher price, ESET advertises its competitive advantages as never having missed a VB100 test and for scoring higher in AV-Comparative proactive testing of previously unknown threats.
It's certainly true that NOD32 has never failed a VB100 test, but it's important to recognize that this is a very limited test set. While the VB100 tests do serve as an extremely valuable benchmark for ensuring the integrity and validity of an antivirus scanner, they shouldn't be interpreted as a scanner's ability to detect actively circulating malware.
Fortunately, ESET products also tend to perform well on tests by AV-Comparatives and AV-Test.org, though perhaps not as stellar as claimed. In the most recent (November 2010) AV-Comparatives' tests of proactive protection, NOD32 achieved the fifth highest score, nabbing 56% of the previously unseen malware. This 56%/5th place is actually higher than it seems - the highest score (achieved by G Data) was only 62%.
ESET NOD32 also offers a rather unique feature that may well be worth the extra price for those in need of it. The latest versions sport a new interface and keyboard shortcuts that can be a valuable assist to visually impaired users.
Other features include gaming mode, password protection to prevent unauthorized uninstalls or changes, and an energy savings mode to conserve battery life. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is also known for its low impact system performance, making it an ideal choice for older or over-extended systems.