By: touristguy87 (18-Feb-08)      Experience with product: 1 Days

Strengths:	According to SLRgear this lens is "tack-sharp" even wide-open across the zoom range. Hard to beat the price, $550 even at the local camera store.
Weaknesses:	...it's about 75% longer than the 18-200 even folded-up. Not a shorty. For the length they might as well have gone ahead and made it a flat F4.

Full User Summary
...and today I said "F it" and picked up a Nikon 70-300 VR from Ritz Camera for $550. I just got through shooting my a700 and SAL18-250 at the Baltimore Inner Harbor and fighting DxO pro 5 standard for a week, which they *still* have not gotten to be stable, in my opinion. It would crash every 200 or so images that I tried to process...and it got worse and worse and worse until yesterday it just would not run at all without crashing. I've been trying to use DxO5 to process 3500 raw and jpeg files from the D300 and the Nikon 18-200 VRII for almost 2 months now. I finally just removed it and downloaded it and reinstalled it, for like the 3rd time, which is what you have to do now since the "update checker" is broken, now I have v 5.04 which is supposed to be stable and truly it has only crashed on me once. Plus I've deleted the old app database. So so far it seems to be ok. But I have the new lens on my d300 right now anyway. Slrgear says that it is sooo sharp...I am not 100% sure that I need it (oh, no doubt I don't "need" it) but it's just a damm shame to have a good camera with a lens that is only good for subjects of medium complexity. But don't get me wrong. Having 18-200mm of range is great. Just not for precision photographs of long-range subjects. So, let me see how much I swap them around. By the way, don't waste time with Quanteray UV filters.

By: sgtdisturbed47 (27-Oct-07)      Experience with product: 3

Strengths:	70-300mm range, sharp, little to no color fringing, VR makes the shots rock-steady, VR II so it also has Active VR, compact and light compared to pro lenses, price is great
Weaknesses:	VR sometimes takes a second or two to kick in and really stop the shake, but most of the time it stops camera shake instantly.

Full User Summary
I am using this on my D80. It was bought refurbished, as was my camera, from Adorama. Although is was refurbished, I swear it looks and operates like a brand-new lens. Awesome. The VR is spectacular. I have taken shots of the moon, hand-held, at 300mm (450mm on a digital SLR), with sharp-as-a-tack results. Granted I have to use the camera's menu to increase sharpness a little, it still gives great results. At 300mm it is as sharp as the 18-200mm at 200mm, and at 200mm it is way sharper than the 18-200. Your best bet for sharp pictures with great contract and color, with minimal distortion, is get an 18-70mm and a 70-300mm VR. At close to the same price as the 18-200mm, these 2 lenses together will give you better pictures, guaranteed. Plus, the extra 100mm does go a long way.Do NOT compare this lens to the old 70-300mm. This one is built better and gives far better image results.

By: dblga (06-May-07)      Experience with product: 3 Weeks

Strengths:	Magnification, with vibration reduction
Weaknesses:	None

Full User Summary
This lens is the perfect "mate" for Nikon's 18-70 non-VR lens, with which it shares filters. I've taken some truly long distance shots and the image quality is terrific. The lens was a bit hard to come by and I did better, both time and dollar amount, by ordering it via the Internet.

By: porthos (28-Apr-07)      Experience with product: 8 Days

Strengths:	VR works great. Excellent lens for the money.
Weaknesses:	Slow lens F/4.5

Full User Summary
An excellent value. VR works well, no help on moving objects. I think its more usefull than the 18-200. A fun lens,sumwhat limited by its aperture (F4.5). A F/2.8 lens is great, but wow what a price jump.

By: araess (24-Apr-07)      Experience with product: Not specified

Strengths:	Solid build. Ultra fast focusing.
Weaknesses:	Zoom a bit tight

Full User Summary
As with all Nikon lenses this is built well. It is a bit on the heavy end compared to my non VR 100-300 but that is to be expected with more glass and the VR component. The focus is fast and accurate. A tripod collar would be nice but more importantly I wish Nikon would begin making their lens hood with access for adjusting polarizing filters as Tokina has done. Because of this I find myself often foregoing the benefit and safety added by utilizing a lens hood.