We are looking for an appropriate piano for a beginning music student. My neighbour's daughter is 7 years old and she is taking her first music lessons in the "Music for Young Children" course which is a popular introductory course to music and piano in Canada.

My neighbour found a Casio PX-130 at Costco in the range of about $650. Is this a good piano for a beginning piano student in this budget range or are there other pianos we should be looking at? Does anyone have any recommendations?

I will go to Costco to try it out to sense the keyboard and sound but before I venture out I thought I would ask this question on piano world for some alternatives to be sure we are on the right track.

Our family also plays the piano (we have an acoustic as well as an older digital piano for late night evening practice) but generally we do not have much experience with digital pianos - especially the latest models. I've read that if a budget is under $2000 it is more suitable to look for a digital piano. However, I have seen some reasonable used acoustic uprights in this price range too which personally would be my recommendations but I would first need to explore the digital alternatives too and check with the music teacher of the course as well. I've read most of Larry Fine's piano books in terms of acoustic pianos and I have the latest Piano Buyer book but can't seem to find anything in the book about digital piano ratings in this price range. It seems to be mostly objective specifications. (There is however a section comparing various digital pianos but it is in the $2000 range). Many would write it would be risky to purchase a $700 acoustic but if given the choice between a digital and a low-end acoustic, the authentic piano experience of an acoustic may likely be more beneficial for the developing technique of the young player. Thats my personal opinion but it may be beneficial to consider the digital alternative as well to be sure to compare all the pros and cons.

My questions are:

Should we even consider an acoustic?
(I think its viable but would not have the advantage of volume control as digital pianos do.)

If we look at digital pianos in this price range which have the most authentic keyboard feel?
I personally have a 17 year old Roland HP-1500 which has a reasonably close feel to a real piano. Lately I've played several digital pianos at our local music supplier but never fine them quite close enough to a real piano. They usually have plastic feeling keys that don't bounce naturally. Usually the ones I feel are adequate pianos are about $1000 or more but I haven't tried any of the new models this year yet such as the Casio XP-130. Personally for me when I look for a piano the feel of the keyboard and the sound are the most important rather than all the digital features which I would consider secondary. Midi is important however but aren't they all midi now?

I've heard Yamaha digitals are good but they are much pricier and if I was to spent $1500 or more, personally I would look for a used acoustic upright.

Should we look for a used digital? (I would guess not because the digital models become obsolete very quickly as is mentioned in the Piano Buyer book).

Casio XP-130: pros and cons
pros: price
cons: I've also read on several reviews of the Casio XP-130 that the keys are somewhat noisy. Considering the price of this keyboard this may not be an issue if the volume it turned up a little. Also The wattage is low. (this may or may not be a problem).

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

It seems that Casio gets a very bad rap here.

In this thread, a member didn't like the Casio. Lucky for him he found that BEFORE buying. But in many other cases the complaints about quality come AFTER the sale.

I haven't seen many complaints about the Yamaha, Roland, or Kawai. This leads me to think ... buy Y or R or K, but stay the heck away from Casio.

Or am I dreaming?