[Arkady]

Great - just heard from the QM that my beloved 80-200 is being replaced with the 80-400VR Nikkor.

We used these at 'a secret training camp near Ross-on-Wye that rhymes with 'ereford' and were none too impressed.

Not nearly as sharp as the 80-200 although the VR feature is very good indeed. I'll be doing my utmost to keep my stone-age optics.

Won't have it in time for this weekend on the beach though, so tough to anyone who's hoping to blag it. I have got the 300 and 600mm's though

[Matt]

I used to own the 70-200 VR when I had the fuji S2.
It was a cracking lens, but it had to go to a new home when the fuji was sold.

[Chez]

I tried both the 70-200mm VR (which I believe is optically comparable to the 80-200mm) and the 80-400mm VR when I was in Hong Kong.

Suffice to say, I came home with a 70-200mm VR! The 80-400mm was not only optically inferior, it is considerably slower.. (in terms of aperture and focus speed)