Is the AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR a good lens?

I'm an amateur photographer and I'm interested in buying this lens. I have a Nikon D5100, and I want to upgrade from the 18-55mm lens that the camera came with. Does anyone have this lens? How well does it perform? Is it compatible with my D5100? I'm interested in taking more portraits, sports, and nature/landscape, is this a good lens for these subjects? Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks

Its a slow lens, its no use for landscapes to long for portraits I would look at having two or three prime lenses rather than one cover all lens

What you are looking at is a companion to the 18-55 you already have, not a replacement. There's no overlap between the two lenses, so if you want to shoot wider than 55mm, you need the lens you already have.

As for quality, eh.

Look, the term 'dog toy' gets tossed around a bit for these lower cost lenses. This certainly is not a dog toy, but would get lumped in there. It is slow, first off. It is f/4.5 at the widest end. I have a series of zoom lenses that are all a constant f/2.8. So at your lens' best, it is still 1 1/3 stops slower than my lens. So if I want to shoot at f/2.8 and 1/30, you need to shoot at f/4.5 and 1/10 or so. Your VR may let you do it, but the subjects may not. When you zoom out to 200+ for sports, you are shooting a full 2 stops slower. Again, VR helps keep the image steady, but any action will be way too blurry because VR does not slow down the moving elements of the image.

The same goes if you want to get a shallow depth of field. You can do it, but it is not easy, and a f/2.8 lens is easier.

You are better off upgrading your current lens to a 18-50 f/2.8 or a 24/28-70/80 f/2.8 zoom and then adding a 70-200 f/2.8 down the road.

You can save money but looking at Sigma, Tamron and Tokina, or looking at used lenses.

The 18-55 mm lens is much better for shooting landscapes at 18 mm. If you later want to buy a 10-24 mm lens for shooting amazing landscapes, you will have to save your pennies for a while.

The 55-300 mm will give you the reach you will need for shooting sports, action, air shows and wild animals. At between the focal lengths of 55 mm to about 85 mm, it is good for shooting portraits.