The weather is mostly cloudy and the light is terrible here today. I took the Tamzooka out and was impressed by how quickly it focused in the dark, flat light. I don't have much to show for my outing today, but the moon popped out in a small patch of blue sky. This is uncropped on my D7100.
The vibration control works fairly well. It's a little hit or miss, like every VR Nikon I've ever had is, but here's a bunny shot at 460mm f/8 and 1/200. Remember that 460mm on the D7100 is equal to about 690mm on an FX or 35mm camera. The first shot is the full frame, the second is 100% crop. There is a fair amount of noise since it was pretty dark and 1600 ISO. THE VC worked pretty well.
I did have one episode where the lens just refused to autofocus and shut down. I had to take the lens off and put it back on to get the AF running again. I know others have reported this, as well. This happens very occasionally with my Nikkor 300mm f/4, and I just have to turn the camera off and back on. Whether this is an issue with my camera or the lenses, I can't say at this point.
The lens doesn't really feel heavy to me. It's only a little heavier than what I'm used to carrying around.
I'm hoping for some better weather on a day that I can get out and really give this lens a complete test at more reasonable ISO levels. So far, though, I'm liking the lens.