This is what Bjorn Roslett has to say about the 105VR:
The 105 mm f/2.8 VR Micro looks nice on paper, but using it in practice tells another story. The lens barrel is now massive and you need a big hand to get a good grip on it. VR does work very well, but unless you use a tripod you end up with a lot of close-ups of just adequate, but not perfect, sharpness. VR shouldn't be used with the lens/camera on a tripod so there is yet another slider to set correctly and Murphy's Law dictates you'll forget this when shooting someting of critical importance or using slow shutter speeds.
Like the predecessor it uses the trick of shortening the focal length during focusing meaning that in a distance from slightly less than 40 cm to 31.4 cm (near limit), the magnification changes dramatically from 1:2 to 1:1. Fine if you hand-hold the lens, hopeless if the camera is on a tripod since you cannot adjust focus ever so slightly without altering the framing of the subject in a major way. This in fact was the very reason I dropped using my 105/2.8 AF and reverted to the manual f/2.8 and f/4 models instead.
Colours are rendered better than the old 105 AF and the bokeh is much better. The "nano" coating probably gives crisper images as well. However, the optimum aperture range is still f/5.6 to f/11, and the IF design gives a slight emphasis to reddish fringes in the foreground and the complementary greenish ones in the background of the focused zone. CA isn't very obvious. much less so than with the older AF version, but you can observe slight vestiges on the D2X.
AF with the TC14E is slow and slightly erratic, and with the TC17E just a bad joke. True, Nikon warns against AF with TCs and evidently for a good reason. You do get VR with the converters, CA isues are added, and sharpness declines a bit. But the lens will give greater than life-size images with the converters. In fact, as long as there is no "G" compatible extension ring in the Nikon product line, this is the only way of going beyond 1:1 with the AFS 105 VR lens (I'm not familiar with possible third-party offerings).
Is the 105VR Micro a good lens? Obviously a lot of engineering efforts have gone into the new design and for many this will be a dream lens. I'm lukewarm and have no immediate plans of purchasing one for myself, although my aim of owning each and every Micro-Nikkor conflicts a little with this decision.