They ship extremely fast. One day, basically.
This new one feels quite different from the previous iteration. The zoom frip feels much more rubbery, and the texture on the hood is very rough. I like it 
fuji F200EXR 400iso f/3.3 1/7
It has a real heft that feels great in the hand. The VR on this copy has a noticeable click when it engages. I also don’t remember that from the previous copy. Five or six years certainly sees small design changes ….
So how does it shoot? Well, I’m really impressed with the sharpness … even at 300mm, its weakest focal length.
First shot ever with the new lens … followed by several. The light today was awful with heavy overcast. Nice enough for saturation etc, but requiring of quite a bit of ISO …
nikon D7000 + 70-300VR 640iso f/4.8 1/500 116mm (174mm EFL)
nikon d7000 + 70-300VR 1600iso f/8 1/800 200mm (300mm EFL)
nikon d7000 + 70-300VR 640iso f/8 1/160 300mm (450mm EFL)
That last one is really stunning. Those razer sharp edges are really there, it is not a trick of sharpening. The last time I remember getting a daisy so incredibly “etched” like that, I was shooting with the Sigma 105mm macro lens.
nikon d7000 + 70-300VR 640iso f/8 1/125 145mm (218mm EFL)
Next, I wandered out front to catch a couple of images of Nick reading something on his Mac.
nikon d7000 + 70-300VR 640iso f/8 1/30 116mm (174mm EFL)
nikon d7000 + 70-300VR 640iso f/8 1/20(!) 195EFL (293mm EFL)
So I’m really glad that I did not talk myself out of getting another one of these lenses
