I've now taken hundreds of shots with my Nikon D7100 to compare the A. 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G DX with B. 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G DX and C. 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G FX, chosen best of three in all categories and carefully compared them. Here's what I've observed: 1.

Impressive focal length range; handy size; saves having to change lenses in the field

Vignetting at 18mm; not super sharp; focus breathing at 300mm with close subjects; significantly overpriced

The world is full of amazing views-some right in front of us, others far in the distance. Capture all of them beautifully with a single lens, the outstanding all-in-one telephoto zoom AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR.

The Nikon AF-S DX 18-300mm f3.5-6.3 is the lens if you just want an all purpose lens especially for travel. Many customers I have spoken to don't want to keep swapping lenses over to avoid missing that special shot or simply for convenience. It has plenty of zoom, compact and not too heavy.

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Quick zoom,beautiful pictures

Heavy

Love this lens

Consistent Output; Easily Interchangeable; Fast / accurate auto-focus

NONE

Bought this lens to replace an 18-300mm lens by another manufacturer which I found slow to focus and (when there was the slightest grime on the protecting filter) inaccurate to focus.

Accurate Focusing; Great Features; Great Picture Quality; Simple Controls

Super cool lens. It's great for taking up close and personal pics from greater distances (eg. wildlife that scares easily). If you're thinking about buying this lens, it will not disappoint.

While the lens itself has great reviews I can't support buying it from Walmart or their supplier. The box came heavily damaged without any packing support to keep it from bouncing around inside the outer cardboard box.

Nobody expects a zoom with as ambitious of a range as the Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR to be an impeccable optical performer. Issues like distortion are readily removed, either in-camera or via software, but there's no fixing a lack of detail.

Long 16.7x zoom range; Optical stabilization; 1:3 macro magnification; Relatively light and compact

Distortion throughout range; Weak edge and telephoto performance; Hood not included

The Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR ($699.95) dangles the promise of an extremely long zoom range in front of photographers, making it appealing to shutterbugs looking to minimize lens changes or pack light for a vacation. Its build quality is solid, as you'd expect from Nikon, but its asking price is on the high side and image quality is very disappointing when zoomed past 200mm. It'd be a little easier to recommend at a lower price, but at $700 it's not too much of a stretch to opt for Nikon's pricier, far superior AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR instead. Design The 18-300mm follows the design paradigm of every other modern Nikkor zoom. Its barrel is black polycarbonate with gold accents, and both the zoom ring and manual focus ring have a textured finish. The lens measures 3.9 by 3.1 inches (HD), weighs 1.2 pounds, and supports 67mm front filters. It's smaller than the pricier 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G, which comes in at 4.7 by 3.3 inches, weighs 1.8 pounds, a...

The Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR lens entices buyers with a long zoom range, but image quality at the telephoto end is lacking.

Long 16.7x zoom range; Optical stabilization; 1:3 macro magnification; Relatively light and compact

Distortion throughout range; Weak edge and telephoto performance; Hood not included