Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Hands down, this was the best purchase I made this year (no pun intended). As is the case with many children of Chinese immigrants, I was strongly encouraged to take up classical piano throughout grade school. After a 5 year break from the craft, I found myself craving it like my roommate craves ice cream. Which is to say, quite a lot. Out of respect for my upstairs neighbors, I decided to look into a digital piano I could plug a pair of headphones into. This product caught my eye as--like most Amazon customers--I never consider anything with less than a 4.5 star rating. Being a poor graduate student, I was very apprehensive to make a near $700 purchase. Some initial research hailed both this and the comparable Yamaha model as the cheapest digital pianos that will emulate the feel of a real piano's action. Resistance in the keys is absolutely vital in building strength in the fingers and improving one's technique. So, as someone with Carnegie Hall aspirations, this was crucial. After purchasing the piano I must say, it feels and sounds just like the real deal! The weight of the keys, the sensitivity of the pedals, and my parents telling me I need to practice more. I bought the piano with the intention of playing classical piano music so I immediately threw the manual in the trash. Still, I found it easy to navigate the various functions in order to faithfully recreate such classics as the Jaws theme song and the intro to Game of Thrones. A few more pros and cons: Pros -Feels and sounds just like a real piano -Keys have nice grip to them -Has not shown any sign of wear after a month of heavy use -Package deal includes everything you need (mount, pedals, bench) -Pedals are surprisingly sensitive -Very easy to remove keyboard from stand and transport Cons -Piano wobbles while playing big passages. Makes it a little harder to impress your friends -Bench height is not adjustable (a little too tall for me at 6') -Unusually large gap between white and black keys, sometimes my fingernails get caught in there. Ouch. -Sheet music stand feels cheap and is not adjustable. Also can't be used if the keyboard is up against a wall -Packing material from shipping produces a lot of trash. It will fill up all of your bins and your next door neighbor's As one of the more inexpensive entries into the realm of digital pianos, this is absolutely worth considering. For someone like me, it certainly beats sharing practice rooms with the dirty undergrads!