A few reasons quickly come to mind why I would use the rpm readout. It seems a little silly to suggest that the readout is more for newbies.
Drilling metal which is often done on wood lathes, you can't tell the correct rpm by feeling vibration. A rule of thumb I use is less than 1000 rpm with a 3/8" drill in mild steel (scale the rpm less or more for other sizes, like 500 rpm for a 3/4" drill and so on).
Maintaining safe rpm for chucks and rotating fixtures. Those large 8" pie jaws have relatively low maximum rpm's marked on their faces. Again, not something vibration can tell you. They could be vibration free while losing grip. This is the same issue with metal turning lathes, it's surprising how much grip is lost with too high rpm (but a little more dangerous when a piece of metal flies out of a chuck or collet than a piece of wood).
Sometimes I've made radial patterns with paint dripped on a spinning object. Once you dial in the ideal rpm by experimenting the effect is very rpm dependent.
Drilling metal which is often done on wood lathes, you can't tell the correct rpm by feeling vibration. A rule of thumb I use is less than 1000 rpm with a 3/8" drill in mild steel (scale the rpm less or more for other sizes, like 500 rpm for a 3/4" drill and so on).
Maintaining safe rpm for chucks and rotating fixtures. Those large 8" pie jaws have relatively low maximum rpm's marked on their faces. Again, not something vibration can tell you. They could be vibration free while losing grip. This is the same issue with metal turning lathes, it's surprising how much grip is lost with too high rpm (but a little more dangerous when a piece of metal flies out of a chuck or collet than a piece of wood).
Sometimes I've made radial patterns with paint dripped on a spinning object. Once you dial in the ideal rpm by experimenting the effect is very rpm dependent.
) seem to make their own metal things for wood turning on occasion.