Summary: well balanced and versatile

Comment: I've had this lens for a couple of years, now, and have used it as a walkabout/travel lens on my D-80 for many thousands of pictures. It's not as sharp as the 70-300 VR, and much less sharp and accurate than the 1.8 50 mm. At the same time, it's taken a lot of really good pictures, and has made it down the Grand Canyon on a raft (with a dry bag), and memorialized the trip very well. I keep looking at the new 16-85 VR, but for the money, this is a really good lens. Outdoors, it has excellent sharpness, color rendition, and speed. I've also used it for interiors, where zoom framing is valuable, although it loses a bit in speed and aharpness without flash. Even there, it's way better than point-and-shoot quality.
Still thinking about the 16-85..

Summary: Nice lens for the price, too big

Comment: I have had this lens for about 6 months now. It's a good lens, I paid $400 and I see it is $300 now (wish I had gotten that price). I wear my camera around my neck a lot, on a long strap so it hangs down by my hip. This lens is so long it's a pain not to knock it into things. I wanted one lens to do all the work vs having to have a lot of lens's and I have learned I don't like a super long and heavy lens.

My toddler recently pulled on my strap when it was sitting on a table and then entire camera fell. Shockingly enough I can still take pictures and everything seems okay accept trying to Auto Focus (AF) when I zoom way in. I'm going to have to go test it outside on butterflies to see if it is indeed broken but I was very suprised the lens and camera didn't stop working, or the lens didn't crack (fell onto lenolium which is on top of cement with no padding).

For $300 if you can't afford to buy a bunch of lens's it's a good deal but if weight and size will frustrate you, then you may want to just settle on less range and plan to buy more lens's over time.

Summary: mediocre

Comment: I wanted a versatile lens for travel, I guess this will do, but I'm not impressed so far...

Summary: Auto Focus Grinds to a Halt

Comment: I purchased a Nikon D80 kit with the 18-135 lens thinking it would be a good overall lens for my pedestrian photographic needs. I'm not a professional, but I like to know when I buy something that it is going to work well. That is, after all, why I chose Nikon in the first place. The lens worked great for the first 700 pictures. It endured no trauma or other abuse and at a party just the other night it started grinding and sputtering and stopped working in autofocus mode. Dead as a doornail. My wife was all over me. "I told you so! Why didn't you just stick with the little camera I already bought????" A little time on the internet and now I find out that this lens is plagued with this very problem. I'm sending the lens in tomorrow to be fixed since it is under warranty. But I am buying the 18-200 mm lens tonight so I can continuing taking pictures this summer. This is a real let down for me. It's the same reason I would choose a Lexus over a Mercedes ... great names are earned ... but they can also be lost through neglect! Get your act together Nikon.

Summary: I like it.

Comment: Even know alot say they dont like this lens I DO. It is real sharp. Its just at 135mm it can tend to get a little blurry without a tripod or the VR. So you might want to look into getting the 18-200mm VR instead. But if your on a budget this is still a great lens. I shot a graduation party with it and My candids of other people came out like magazine advertisments. They were that sharp and clear.