I could sure use some advice. I am searching for an electric keyboard/piano for my daughter(6 years old) to practice her lessons on. Her teacher strongly recommends a clavinova for the graded hammer keyboards. I have found one on Ebay pretty close to my house. It is a CVP -201 and the price is $900.
Is this a good keyboard/piano to learn on?
Does the price sound fair?
We have a maximum of around $2000 to spend, should we be looking for a newer model?
Any help with these questions will be greatly appreciated. I thank you for your help,

Jeff

The 200 series debuted in 2001. Like computer equipment, this is a long time back in digital piano years. The CVP series has additional features like rythms, drums, multi-track recording, hundreds of voices your beginner may or may not utilize. The 201 was the entry model in the CVP series at that time. Yamaha is just now showing the new 500 series in the stores. $900 might be a little high, but not too much. I would recommend looking into a mid level Yamaha CLP series one or two generations back if not a new model within your budget.

You budget is certainly enough. With $2K to spend you can buy a very nice digital piano without being forced into a used model. There are quite a few new ones in that price range, Maybe a dozen that could work for you.

In the Yamaha line there are many digital pianos with the same "GH/GHE" key mechanism. The Clavinova is just one of many. YDP160 has the exact same keys and retails new for about $1,350.

I think the Kawai ce200 has even better keys than any Yamaha and also has some of the CVP features like rhythms for about $1800. The Casio PX130 has keys about like the better Yamahas and sells for $499. The Casio AP200 is $800 and has very good weighted hammer action keys too.

The teacher was right, you want the good keys. Yamaha makes several grades and you want at least GH/GHE (Yamaha uses the terms GH and GHE interchangeably now, the next step up is GH3. A step down would be GHS) The lowest priced Yamaha with the GHE keys is the P140 for just under $1K

Having browsed through the manual online, I wonder if the CVP-201 has any graded hammer action..?

Maybe you should read the manual through, yourself?

I guess the current CVP-series go over your $2000 budget, but here is my view: Out of the new, modern CVPs I think the CVP-405 has the best price/performance (String Resonance + 4 channel sampling), with exception of the CVP-509 (though costly), and with the CVP-505 being a disappointment. The CVP-407 is also good, with its additional iAFC (sound-to-room-dimension adjustment) over the weaker, but price favorite CVP-405.

Otherwise I would say the CLP-series is worth taking a look at, but you will lose all the hundreds of synth-sounds that are in the CVP-series. Depending on you local dealer's prices I think you could go for either the CLP-340 or the CLP-370. You can compare features in this link.

Out of the Casio models I think the PX-830 fits well into your budget and the PX-830 makes a fair game compared to equally priced Yamahas. If you want more tones/voices (like the CVPs) you could go for the more expensive AP-620, which hopefully should fit your budget.

If you still want many sounds/voices/instruments, the Casio piano-synth with 670 tones/voices, but weak speakers; the cheap CDP-200R could be an alternative (probably ignoring the CDP-100 as it has few voices/tones).

There are also some Korg digital pianos worth looking at, the simple but heavy keyboarded; the Korg LP350 and possibly something from Roland (some feel Roland has a bright sound, including me, too bright sometimes, others like Roland's brightness).

There seems to be some kind of opinion in the forum threads that the Kawai keyboards have the best feeling in their price range competing to similar CLPs/CVPs. So you might look out for a not-too-old Kawai as well.

I thank everyone who has been gracious enough to reply. Your information has provided me with many other options to consider.
Jeff

@ Huygens: Wait, are you saying Roland's sound is too bright for you? And yet you play a Yamaha?
That's, well, interesting.

@ Jeffrey: You should deffintaley try the Roland HP 203, which should still be in your budget (I think). It was simply amazing when I tryed it, much better than the similarly priced yamahas, but keep in mind that's just a personal preference. I like it for it's sound, and action, both of which are superb. The sound is a little richer and more mellow than Yamahas, and the kexs a bit heavier and more solid feeling IMO.

If that's out of your budget, you can also try the HP 201, which is basically a stripped down HP 203. Just make sure to get the Mahagony version, becouse it has the PHA II keayboard.

Well, I have mostly tried the Roland RD-700GX, which I have been considering to buy.

You can read my shop try-out, in this thread..

Maybe I mean something else than bright, maybe I feel the RD-700GX has too much treble? And that the Yamahas have more richness in its softer sound?

One thread where someone mentions that the Superior voice as muffled, I heard it as extremely bright, and the Ultimate that (to me) was only a bit less bright, one person perceives as really muffled. I don't know if it is the shop's setup (speakers, cables, DP settings, God knows, etc) that's wrong or my ears that're wrong, but the RD-700GX was inferior on the Grands compared to the CLPs.

So, if anyone knows what setting to apply to the Roland, please let me know, because I will be going back to the shop and hopefully be able to ask the shop personal to un-brighten the RD-700GX or I'll not buy it.

Edit: I didn't buy the P-85 based on its sound, but based on its weight.