Gentoo said:
I can't stand it! I just tracked my package again and it says it's in San Diego on a vehicle for delivery. They need to get here already!

Thats the hard part—the waiting. When my 80-200 was delivered nobody was at home so they had to take it back! That was so annoying, and my dad and I had to race to the post office before it closed. We just got there in the nick of time, plus we heard NPR's Platon's Portraits of Power on the radio :^)

I can't stand it! I just tracked my package again and it says it's in San Diego on a vehicle for delivery. They need to get here already!

Makes me want to have a spare $3 grand for a good telephoto. I have yet to check out my $165 new in box Tamron 70-300mm zoom. I know, I know; apples and oranges. Have fun Gentoo with the new glass.
Nick V

Alpha, yeah I think that's it

Congrats Gentoo! Have fun with it and share some shots with us!

Was it this one?

Yeah I got the non VR AF-S for just under $3000

so which one You got - 300/2.8 AFS? how much You paid for it?

So, my non VR version of this lens should get to me by Monday. It's still AF-S of course. I can't wait to see the difference between this and my current AF-D300mmF4

adamz said:
gentoo - all of the 300/2.8 from nikon are great lenses, so if You happen to find a 300/2.8 AF-S with a good price - around $2-$3k than I'll go for it, for $2k I would even fly to US to get it :)

Adamz I did see a non VR version for around 3000. This is why I was asking as it's very very tempting but didn't want to jump the gun so I wanted some good Nikon user advice first. My AF-D 300mmF4 can take some amazing shots as well as you've all seen. I do want the faster aperture and ability to use Nikon TC's. I know the optics in this lens have to be better than my current F4 (I am right in assuming that right?). I just wanted to know if there was any huge difference in IQ between the current AF-S 2.8 ones and it doesn't seem like it.

gentoo - all of the 300/2.8 from nikon are great lenses, so if You happen to find a 300/2.8 AF-S with a good price - around $2-$3k than I'll go for it, for $2k I would even fly to US to get it :)

How could he know what he's talking about since it hasn't been released?

To quote Ken Rockwell:

To quote Nikon: "The lens optics and Nano Crystal Coat so well received with previous lenses have been adopted without modification," which is marketing-speak saying "it's 99.9% the same lens as before, but we raised the price $600."

That is, if you want to listen to him ;^) Here's the rest of his review.

If you can manage without VR, then you could probably manage with only VRI. Otherwise, you might as well as go for the non-VR version. The only thing that actually may be improving is AF speed as the motors get better in these AF-S lenses. Otherwise, I don't really know.

There are three of these now days; The AF-S version with no VR. The VRI version and now the VRII version. I've seen some used non VR ones on sale here and there. I've managed to get along pretty well without VR these days. I guess what I'm wondering is, have Nikon improved IQ at all in the VR versions? If not then would the cheaper non VR version be a good choice? If IQ is the same that is. If IQ is different between these three, how?