Lens Dilemma

[Dymentian]

Here's my situation. I recently read a very positive review (on this forum) of the Nikon 70-300mm VR lens. However, as a divorced father of 2 (w/ full custody), and considering that I just ordered my 50mm f/1.8, I simply cannot bring myself to justify spending almost $500 on another lens right now. I'm leaning towards the [ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000O161X0/ref=ord_cart_shr/102-1458313-5958519?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance"]Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR[/ame] for 2 reasons:

1) It costs half as much, and
2) It better complements my 18-55mm kit lens

I'm pretty sure the 200mm will be sufficient for the landscape/nature type shots I like to take (at least until Christmas bonus time ) but I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience/opinion about this lens. For about $240 on Amazon it seems to be a fairly decent deal, but there's only a handful of reviews on there, and I don't wanna get burned!

Thanks in advance.....

 

[DSLR noob]

Does Nikon have an equivalent to Canons 70-200 f/4 or f/2.8? That lens you listed seems nice, but it looks a bit slow.