To vr or not to VR?

You might already know my fancy nice shiny Nikkors the 18-135 and 70-300. Both with VR, the 70- even mark 2??

I am sorry, I never bring tripod in the field. Whenever possible I lay the camera on a rock or using my walking sticks as tripod.

I always have VR ON....

Tried to understand that long explanation on bythom.com, but that was way to elaborate, I need a more down to earth summary in fewer words

I think of it as if your support is 100% solid then no VR,if its only helping to steady the camera but its not 100% then VR most likely yes

vr off whenever not handheld. if you are on a tripod vr off, as it would introduce lens movement when steady.

On anything 200mm or less my rule is VR off unless light will not permit me to set a shutter speed of 1/(2 x focal length). I used to use VR all the time but found that shooting with it off and using this shutter speed rule my shots are consistently sharper. In suppressing movement VR also causes it, and in situations where you do not allow it to fully stabilize you are actually introducing movement into a frame that doesn't otherwise need it and this will show in cases where the shutter speed is not as stated previously.

Your D7200 is very good with ISO noise, so I would suggest you try shooting with Auto ISO and allow it to set your minimum shutter speed while setting the Slower --- Faster indicator to the fastest speed (which is usually 1/(2 x focal length)). My shots have been as sharp or sharper since I started doing that. For focal lengths of over 200mm I find that VR definitely helps regardless, if only in the framing as much as movement - particularly at 500-600mm.