No, this lens is not the same as a Vivitar Series 1. I had one of these in the old days, and it was a pretty decent lens, but not great. The "Zoom Lock" feature was convenient, since it did tend to have a lot of zoom creep.
This is a beautiful lens. It weighs around 900 grams (!!) so is a bit of a beast. I really like the look and feel of this one. It's not too slow at a constant f/4.
Also, the image quality of this lens won't leave you disappointed. It's very close focus at 210 so you can use it for near-macro shots too.