Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha P85 is it the best for £500

Just about to order this piano. I am not sure what £500 is in $ or the Euro but it's the max I can afford.

I never really considered buying any other make as we did once have a Yamaha P-120 and loved it. I have to admit I will be buying the DP without trying it. I am getting it based on all the positive reviews it gets on many forums and youtube e.t.c. I am not in a position to travel to try one.

For me the most important aspect is the weighted keyboard and it's closeness to that of a acoustic as I wanted to take further grades.

So are there other DP's that are better for this price? Thanks in advance. The 2nd hand market seems to be dead in the UK for DP's.

The P-120 is IMO MUCH better than the P85.
Do you still have that one?
If yes, stick with it, becouse it's a quite good piano, but if not, you might not want to get the P85, becouse you could be dissappointed by the keyboard, which is much lighter, and overall cheaper-feeling than that of Yamaha P-120. You could go with the Korg SP-250 (I don't know how much exactly it is in GBP), which is a very good DP and should be similar in price.
Otherwise, a lower end Casio might also do the trick.

Relica,
You are making a big mistake by not trying out the piano before buying it sight unseen. Basing your decision on You Tube videos and recommendations on other forums without trying it yourself isn't a good idea. As for the P-85 itself, there are other choices--Korg SP250 and Casio PX130/330 that are better choices. The touch and piano samples are better on both of these. The P-85 has a limited single layer piano sample and uses Yamaha's cheapest action (GHS). It is light action and not much better than unweighted synth keys. In my opinion the P-85 isn't that great of an offering from Yamaha, and there are better choices but you have to be willing to check them out.

You have me concerned now. I don't have the p120 anymore as we sold it when my daughter lost interest. I also played the instrument but like I said sold it when we needed some money.

I can't afford more than £500 so this important to me. You say the Korg had better and more realistic touch which is the most important thing for me. I thought casio made watches and cheap ones at that!

Even if I did have an opportunity to try them out which is looking the most obvious move now I bet I would still be undecided.

I remember the P120 was just like an acoustic in touch but it's successor is way out of my league.

I just purchased the SP-250 last week. It should be comparable to the P85 in price, at least it is here (Norway) at the moment. I much prefer the touch of the Korg to the P85. I think the P155 did have a better keyboard, but not enough to justify the higher price in my opinion.

I'm very happy with mine so far!

'Action: The most important aspect for me. What can I say? The action is great. Waaay deeper than my upright acoustic piano, but I have grown to like it more and more, and now I feel uncomfortable playing my real piano because the action is so shallow. One word of warning: the action is VERY noisy'

Got this from another review on here and I am worried that the keys are noisy as this reviewer mentioned.

I will stick with the yamaha P85 if it is close to an acoustic in feel and will help me through my grades. I am never going to be a professional at my age but quality and the correct choice is very important. Can you help further with your comments. Thanks all

isnt the p155 around 500euros? maybe 550ish? cause it's around 1100 in dollars.. if you can find the right dealer

or i might be totally wrong b/c right now, im thinkin that 1euro=2$ lol

I don't know what the used market is like on that side of pond. Try looking for a used P120 since you liked it, or you might find a used P80 or P90, they have the same keyboard as the P120. Note the P90 doesn't have speakers, not sure about P80.

Not very comfortable buying what essentially is a second hand electrical hardware due to reliability issues. Also I am finding it difficult to locate 2nd hand DP's in the UK.

I am going to leave it for a while until I can try them out. I just assumed that Yamaha were the best but if you had to choose between the Yamaha P85 and Korg 250 which one would you people choose?

Thanks

There's plenty on ebay but they tend to go for absurdly high prices. In the last few weeks I've seen S/H DPs sell for;

Yamaha NP30 £225 plus £12post - currently available new for £186 from Rocking Rooster!

Casio PX110 £300 plus £29.99 post

Yamaha P60 £400 collect only

M-Audio Prokeys 88SX inc stand £209 collect only - available new from DV247.com for £224

Korg SP200 for £325 plus £15 post

I haven't dealt with this site, but they have a classified ad service for pianos:

http://marketplace.ukpianos.co.uk/

There's currently a P80 for £400, and a P90 has sold for £300. Yamaha has a good reputation for reliability.

Will have a look through the link. Thanks.

But are you all saying the Yamaha p85 and the Korg 250 are that bad they can't be considered. Don't forget I am not an expert.

If the Yamaha P85 or the Korg 250 feels like a acoustic piano I would rather stick with buying new.

With your budget the Casio Privia PX-130 may have the best keyboard action. (Price in US is $499)

In the current Yamaha line the lowest priced DP that has the "GH" keyboard mechanism is the P-155. However there may still be P-140 in some dealer's stock (the 155 replaces the 140)

Korg puts their GH3 keys in the SP-250.

I don't know the Korg. Whether the P85 is 'good enough' is pretty personal, though if you're taking grades I'd suggest that a better action would be an advantage. I'd certainly say there's a significant improvement moving up from a GHS (P70/P85) to a GHE (P80/90/120/140/155) keyboard. But this is definitely something you should try for yourself.

At that price I'd go for the Korg SP250, it has an excellent piano like action, excellent sound, decent speakers and amp, good build quality, comes with stand and a good pedal which is fixed to the stand.

On the other hand it has low polyphony by todays standards (60) no built in recorder and terrible retro styling. It's a damn fine DP though!

I have a P-85. Keys are weighted, but not extremly heavy. I like it.

Only thing that I mind is that the black keys on the bass are not evenly weighed. Some are softer than others. I would say that it is from F#2 and lower, that the keys are a little too soft by about 15 %.

The bass half keys are also soft in a little strange sense. When the bass keys are depressed half way it is very clear to me that they are not heavy enough, but when I push through to the bottom they become more heavy.

I would advice you to try out the black piano keys in the shop before buying, if an even heavyness of the black keys are important.

The white keys are fine though.

Some say that the DGX-630 is as good as the P-85, but with more voices. Some like the more heavy Korg SP 250, polyphony 60 is enough. I don't know much about the Casio CDP-200, but some like its keyboard quality.

P-85 has polyphony 64.

I guess much is about the speakers as well.

Thank you all for the valued responses.

This is a long shot but does any of you UK people on here know a retailer in the East Midlands or Yorkshire where I can try out both the Yamaha P85 and the Korg SP250 this weekend.

Thanks.

Relica,
I've just sent you a PM.

If you try them both out, could you come back to this thread and tell about your experience? I'm interested in how the Korg appeared compared to the P-85.

Thanks, I am trying the Yamaha P85 tomorrow but I have struggled to locate the Korg in my area. I must resist the temptation of buying the Yamaha without trying the Korg too.