Has any one had the opportunity to play with this new lens? It look like it could be a good addition to my lens lineup. Any comments?

Thanks

Joe

i'd like to know too - had the 18-200 (stolen) and am not enjoying 17-50 + 70-300 switching lenses on holidays

one thing i noticed is that it's same size as 18-200 (i think) but nearly twice as heavy!

still i'd like to get back to one lens for walkaround

The best review I could find for the Nikkor 18-300mm, f3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX VR is at SLRGear.

Basically this is a consumer grade, convenience, 16.7:1 ultra-zoom. If you want a single lens for snapshots, this is a contender. If you are looking for image quality, this lens makes some serious compromises on image quality for the sake of the extreme lens range. While center sharpness can be pretty good, away from the center image quality degrades, and at many focal lengths the image degradation off-center is pretty dramatic.

Compared to the Nikkor 18-200mm, f3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX VR II, the 18-200mm is higher image quality and weighs more than 1/2 pound less. The 18-200mm is also more likely to find used, making it much more affordable.

well over on dpreview there is a thread about it - ok i know not the best of sources - seems that one guy returned it after a week but his account is of dubious origin... however quite a few have it and are liking it a lot

Moose Peterson also tested it on his wife's D7000 and reported back it was sharp and allround a good lens - not scientific I know

I do agree it's not going to beat any primes but as an all-in-one walkaround/holiday lens it looks pretty good

If it even comes close to the 28-300mm it will be a popular lens