Others say...

"18-55VR lens is very versatile"
This is a great all-around lens and a perfect complement to the D60. The D60 flash completely covers the frame at the lens' widest setting for well-lit indoor photos that can encompass an entire room. It captures great detail and accurate color when used outdoors. I especially like the way it captures front-to-back detail in wide-angle shots such as this one taken at 18mm http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100495/104734/BrickStreet852_M.jpg and for comparison, this one was taken at 55mm, the other extreme of the lens http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100495/104734/WoodedSidewalk5707_M.jpg taken at the same time.

"kind of cheap"
A little more plastic and cheap feeling than I expected. Pictures are nice and brilliant. I haven't noticed too much difference with the VR.

"Very nice consumer glass"
This certainly is not the 70-200 f/2.8. Another poster commented that you should go for that instead. If you have a couple grand to spare and are using this professionally, he's absolutely right. In fact with $500 I would go for the (also consumer) 70-300 f/4-5.6 VR which has VR-2 and a decent focus motor (though I haven't tested one so I can't comment on anything else about it). For a mere $200, though, this is a fantastic piece of glass.

The focus motor is so slow they would have been better off using a normal AF mount and having the camera do the focus work, but then they couldn't sell this for use with the D40/60. It has acceptable sharpness in all focal lengths at most apertures. It has slight vignetting at all lengths, but not enough to be noticeable unless you like shooting plain walls. Also it has slight barrelling at 55 and cushion at 200, but not enough to be a problem unless you're using it for architectural shots (why would you want a telephoto for that?)

The biggest plus on the lens is the VR. Despite some negative comments about it having cheapo VR, it preformed beautifully for me. I tested it shooting 8, 4, and 2 pixel separated lines at 12 feet and 200mm and I could tell no noticeable movement distortion with VR on in about two thirds of the shots down to 1/8s. At 1/6s I got no usable shots, but without VR I'd get maybe 10% at 1/30s so this is a 2.5ish EV gain on no VR. If you're going to use the lens at all without a tripod I would highly recommend springing the extra $50 to get this lens instead of the VR-less version.


"Great Lens for the Dollars"
This is a great lens for the average photographer who is looking to get some up close shots and not have to spend a lot of money. I definately recommend going with the VR. I primarily use it outdoors and for sports/athletics. Good picture quality but needs good light. I haven't taken many pictures indoors but don't expect it to provide as good of pictures as outdoors.

"Nice!"
Very sharp lens, smooth zoom, light, a great lens that goes with nikon's d40, d40x, and d60 :)