Is the Nikon 18-135 any good?

[Mitsu3000gt]

I've pretty much decided not to sit around and wait for the EOS 40D, so yesterday I went out and looked at a bunch of cameras. I was considering the 30D, D80 and Rebel XTi. The XTi feels like a toy, and it's kit lens is quite poor as well. Also, I did not like the grip at all. The EOS 30D was very nice but for $1700 with the 18-55 kit lens, that's getting up there in price and with a good lens it would be well over $2000. I loved the D80. It felt the best to me and is loaded with features and customization for a reasonable price.

My budget is ~$1500 max at the moment, so I was looking at the 18-70 kit and the 18-135 kit for the D80. Both are just over $1400. Because I do not have enough money to buy another lens right away, I was attracted to the 18-135 because of it's nice zoom and compact size. I would be able to walk around and take pictures of almost anything with this lens, but is it any good? It is only about $450 or so by itself. I love the 18-200VR but I don't think I can shell out $2100 right now, and I hear they are hard to get ahold of.

So, should I buy the 18-135 kit or is there a better lens around the same money I should buy seperately with the D80 body?

Any help is appreciated as I know plenty about the camera just very little about lenses.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

I think it's a very god starter lens, quite sharp, with a nice big zoom range for walkaround photos. Build quality isn't great, and the manual focus ring feels realy chintzy, but it's an inexpensive kit lens - it's not meant to be pro quality. I say go for it, I've been very impressed with the picture quality of that lens.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by BerserkerCatSplat
I think it's a very god starter lens, quite sharp, with a nice big zoom range for walkaround photos. Build quality isn't great, and the manual focus ring feels realy chintzy, but it's an inexpensive kit lens - it's not meant to be pro quality. I say go for it, I've been very impressed with the picture quality of that lens.

Thanks for the input, I think I will be going with that one. I will be using it for portraits, landscape, general/walk around while traveling, pictures of people behind the boat (i.e. Wakeboarder) and lastly, some close up shots if the lens allows it until I can afford a macro lens.