This is probably the best value out there for a professional level Nikon lens. It is my favorite lens and most of my best pictures have been taken with it. I consider it to be my lucky lens, in fact, for that reason.
Pros: Excellent contrast and clarity and virtually no pincushion at any focal length. Beautiful optics/output at a professional level. Market value extremely low, relatively speaking of course. (that last one of course is a pro for a buyer. for a seller I guess it would be a con)
Cons: Telescopic (AKA "push-pull") focal length adjustment takes more time and energy and is more herky-jerky, weighs about a ton, and the bokeh is so good it's almost too much in certain instances!
The cons here are really just getting into minutia for the sake of being thorough and objective. This lens is a slam dunk for the price it can be found regularly on the used market. I picked up this lens for exactly 1/5 of the price of the much lauded 17-35mm or 17-55mm "photojournalist" lenses. I realize the focal length range of 35-70mm is not as desired for many people as the 17-35mm or the 17-55mm, but at 1/5 the price c'mon! I am not able at this stage to afford the 17-35mm/17-55mm or I might have bought it instead, but I really don't feel like I got the short end of the stick by any means. This lens holds its own just fine thank you very much. Plus, I rarely have the need to shoot at a focal point less than 35mm. The vast majority of my work is between 35mm and 55mm. Also, I would be very surprised if the optics of the 17-35mm is noticeably better than this lens, at least by 99% of people looking at it. The output quality of this lens really is beautiful. When I first got the lens I spent several hours trying to find a place where I could be disappointed with the output, even zooming in with Photoshop to super close ranges. I was not able to disappoint myself. I found no negative issues with the optics/output of this lens then, and I still haven't at this point. If I do in the future I promise I will come back and edit this review, so if you are reading this now I haven't found any yet!