A local store that is an authorized Roland dealer is selling the Roland DP990F as an "open box" unit for half the price you can get a new unit (anywhere). They describe open box as possibly anything from a dented box, to having cosmetic blemishes, to being refurbished. They don't say which! (It's a large store selling a lot more than musical gear, and they say they can't tell the reason for all the items they sell being listed as open box; I don't fully buy that, but I've bought from them for decades and they are a reputable store.)

All sales have a 30-day, no-questions-asked return policy, and the piano seems to come with the full warranty.

For a newbie wanting to learn on a decent DP, is this worth the chance or is it too much of a gamble?

Definitely.

What does that mean, James? That's like saying "Yes"

Absolutely.

I got a DP990F last year, and its a very decent DP. I am a newbie also and learning on it has been lovely. I like the feel and sound of this DP very much - have you tried one out beforehand? It is the same as Roland's HP302, just different cabinet design (and speakers maybe?) You mention a 30 day return, and full warranty - so you have nothing to lose. (But heaps to gain if you ask me! and thats not counting the 50% saving you will make) If I didn't already have one, and saw that deal I'd have bought it yesterday

I think these are fine DP's, with a much upgraded voice from the original version. My only concern, after playing a DP-990 for many hours, was that the keys seemed to bottom out rather hard, leading to fatigue. Now, my RD700NX has a very similar action, but I don't find hard bottoming-out to be an issue. So maybe it has something to do with the connection between player and instrument being different when the keyboard is married to the SN sound. I don't know if you could have the shop set the thing up so that you could spend some (or lots) of time with it prior to handing over the spons, but that would be my advice.

Sorry, that wasn't the best reply, was it...

I meant "definitely buy it" - it's a decent DP at a good price.
Obviously play-test it first to make sure you enjoy the action/sound etc.

Cheers,
James
x

Definitely don't not buy it. If you did not not buy it, you'd not be not very happy. Absolutely.




(P.S. That's a great offer!)

Well, I tried but the limited stock is now sold out. The site was a bit confusing because one page listed the item but when you looked for more info it was listed as out of stock. Same thing for an open box HP302 they had listed for $1600, $350 more than the DP-990F.

The only open box DP they have in stock is wayyy out of my budget: the Roland RG-3 for $6,300.

No brainer. Go for it. You've got 30 days to determine if you've made the correct choice, or not! However, if it is being sold used, or returned or whatever, I'm not sure if the manufacturer warranty would apply or not. Might be worth checking that out.

Well, actually it's a very competitive DP at regular price or anywhere close to it. And it's still less than the HP302. Open box doesn't account for 50% off by itself. For example, I have a couple of FP-4F's truely "open box" used for one performance at 20% off. At 50% off, there was something wrong with it that you may or may not have been able to live with. We've had DP's with holes the approximate size of forklift forks (hmm), but if they work, they are still worth something to somebody.