Yes — based on the community feedback, the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 is generally considered a real upgrade over an 18-55mm kit lens, especially for indoor and event use.

The biggest advantage is the constant f/2.8 aperture, which gives you much more light at the long end than a typical kit lens. That helps with lower-light shooting and subject isolation. Multiple answers also note that the lens is quite sharp, especially stopped down slightly, and performs very well for the price.

The non-stabilized version can still make sense for events, because stabilization only helps camera shake, not subject movement. For people indoors, the wider aperture is often more useful than VR/VC.

As for third-party lenses: yes, they can absolutely be solid long-term options. The shared experience here is that this Tamron is a strong value lens and not just a cheap substitute. The main tradeoff mentioned is that it may have some downsides in handling or refinement compared with more expensive brand-name options, but optically it’s widely regarded as very good.

So if your goal is a better standard zoom on a crop-body Nikon, this is a sensible and worthwhile step up.