For a 8y old in her 3rd year of lessons. Teach recommends something with weighted keys.

Will this be ok?
£199 – Casio CDP-130
http://www.chasedirect.co.uk/casio-cdp-130-digital-piano-new-model

Or should I really invest in one of these?

£390 Casio AP-250 Celviano
http://www.chasedirect.co.uk/casio-digital-piano-ap-250-black?cPath=2_59

£360 Casio PX-760 Privia
http://www.chasedirect.co.uk/Casio-PX-760-Privia-Digital-Piano-Lessons-no-bundle?cPath=2_55&

I had a look at casios at the time but ended up with a yamaha when I was looking a few years back. The keys were nicer and I liked the cherry finish. Probably best go back to the teacher as ask them what the recommend

Looked at loads about a year ago. Really didnt like Roland ones, felt pretty plasticky and very keyboardy for this end of the market. After trying loads and on a few recommendations; ended up with a Yamaha P-35 not many fancy features, but it sounds and feels really nice. much more akin to a real piano feel than a lot of the others.

Went to shop yesterday that stocked Roland and Korg. Didn’t get on with the Korgs at all (and I really wanted to). Roland F20 was super super nice except the rebound on the keys seemed a bit slow. The sales guy agreed too.

I bought a Roland F-20 a couple of years ago. I went and tried quite a few and narrowed it down to that and a Yamaha. Conversely I preferred the key action on the Roland as it was the one that felt most like the old Bluthner I used to play as a kid. There is a Kawai model that was being released around that time but I was too impatient to wait a few more months.

A friend of mine sells pianos and prefers the Roland ones. I don’t play much, so feel free to take what I say with a pinch of salt. Anyway, I think the Roland ones sound a bit dark and have heavy keys, so I don’t like them so much.

The Yamaha ones are the leaders in the market, and are lovely, but IMO tend to have a bright, electic, stage sound. I’d have thought they would be easier to sell second hand though.

Personally, we owned a Celviano, and I probably preferred the sound. It was cheaper than Roland or Yamaha, but for our daughter to play and take lessons on it was fine, and I preferred the sound of it and the feel of the keys.

Er… the price has just changed on 2 of the links above.

Can’t really comment on the Casio ones. We have a Yamaha at home.

When our two were trying them out we were looking at a Rolands and Yamahas, the Rolands sounded nicer, but the Yamaha felt much better. We ended up with one of these..CP50
We had the amp already, and its good if we want to take it to a gig. Above your budget I know.

We just replaced an upright piano with a Casio PX-150 and I think it’s superb.
We paid £250 delivered second hand.

I preferred the hammer action to the Roland, Yamaha, Korg and Kawai ones we tried at a similar price.

We plug in an iPad if we want more sounds.

(are you sure the Casio PX-760 was £3xx – that sounds very cheap)

Thanks folks.

Casio PX-760 was £360 – 48% off or something but its not that now 🙁

Hopefully they put the price up ready to re-discount for black Friday????

Some sites have been known to automatically change prices based on cookies or referrals.
i.e. first visit is cheap, second is dearer.

But I don’t know if that’s what happened here. Chase music do seem to have a bit of a wheeler-dealer nature about them.

I wanted to try a Casio and called in, and despite the website saying that all the models were in stock, they didn’t actually have any on display and weren’t willing to show me one.

In fact finding the Casios in Manchester proved impossible. I had to ask around for a while and try a friend-of-a-friends’ in the end.

As a keyboardist myself can thoroughly recommend the Privia brand for beginners. Weighted feel is good. Tone, timbre across the range impressed too – for the price. Only complaint really is the somewhat underwhelming speakers, but on the flipside it is light and easy to move around. Although I bought it (think was a PX110) for a lady who professed a keeness for learning, she was over the moon with it. So much so that it sits unused in the corner these last 6 years. Along with the Wii and balance board. *Sigh*

(Note to self – to stick to wining and dining)

Casio PX-760 was £360 – 48% off or something but its not that now

Hopefully they put the price up ready to re-discount for black Friday????
Maybe call them and mention it – sounds ‘too good to be true’ to me (for any of those keyboards in your op.

The one in the Casio range I would personally pick is the px-160 btw.

I looked into replacing an inherited, very out of tune, upright piano years ago. I spent along time researching and then went and bought a Korg SV-1 because I like the look of it. So ignore anything I say! Although I love it the RH3 keyboard does have a heavy, clunky feel to it, and even though I play (badly) with headphones in, the keyboard action can be heard!
If its for an 8 year old do you need to worry about keyboard action just yet?

The Casio also has quite a loud action (it’s one of the criticisms in reviews), but it was a a fair trade-off for us.