Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Tim Praskins Casio pianos

For me he's living proof that you can't simultaneously be an unbiased reviewer and take money from or be associated in any way with industry. Not his fault perhaps in this crazy sell your soul to the devil for a dollar world.

I was very much confused! at the end I did get Roland DP990F and not followed cleverly created blogg of Tim Praskins and Casio.

I don't need to know what someone else's opinion is to buy a piano, I try them out for my myself.

Using the opinions of others can be a good start in narrowing down your choices though at some point you really have to try the pianos and come to your own conclusion.

I also remember a saying from my father ... You never hear a fisherman selling rotten fish.

Except in Scandinavia?
eg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming

Indeed: Rakfisk

I'd like to thank Vectistim and spanishbudda for their enlightening posts.

And, not technically rotten, but I believe fermented seafood could be considered such. It's a matter of semantics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl

So what is your point here? YOU ASK THE QUESTION AS THE OP USING ANOTHER SCREEN NAME.. Then you answer yourself under this screen name...

"I don't need to know what someone else's opinion is to buy a piano, I try them out for my myself.

Using the opinions of others can be a good start in narrowing down your choices though at some point you really have to try the pianos and come to your own conclusion."

Dave H -- This is so true, and yet the OP was looking for a keyboard for her/his son. In this case, the opinions of others matter. I was curious about the Kawaii MP6 and MP10 about 2 years ago, but not one dealer near me had them -- so I was relying on reviews and opinions before driving an hour or so to try one.

Rather than try an online forum, I'd ask the kid's teacher.

"Rather than try an online forum, I'd ask the kid's teacher."

Probably the wisest course of action.

I signed up for this forum to offer feedback about Tim Praskins. Short version - he is legit, and I am very happy with the Kawai ES8 I bought from him, and got a good deal on it.
Longer -- yes he is a salesman. I would say that he does like Casios a good bit, but I was not pushed toward a Casio. While his blog is not pure in the sense of being unconnected to selling pianos, his reviews are thoughtful and helped me, as someone who could not possibly play all the pianos in question. Where his reviews were most helpful was allowing me to sort out the style and price range that would best fit my family -- ie, 3 young kids getting ready to start piano lessons and want something high quality but cheaper than a decent upright, and space efficient.
Also, he is, somehow, able to offer really good prices. I don't think anywhere else would have beaten, maybe not even matched, the deal I got.
He and his son both responded quickly by email and were also available by phone, including helping me when I had a dumb question while setting up the instrument.
I had never heard of Tim or his website before digital piano shopping and have no personal connection to him. Just putting in my 2 cents.

On more than one occasion, I've noticed that Tim Praskins isn't always liked very well on this forum, specifically because he's a salesman.

I've read his reviews when looking for a stage piano, and later a digital upright piano. He uses some hyperboles such as "Best digital piano under $2000" and such, and he describes things as he sees them, or even as he sees fit.

That doesn't bother me; every salesman does. Even the one where I bought my piano's, in The Netherlands.

What Tim Praskins DOES do, is describe most, if not all, capabilities of an instrument and he points out things he likes and doesn't like, and why, which is a nice addition to reading the manual. I made note of such things, and used them while testing; some things he liked I didn't like, and some things he didn't like did not bother me.

As with every review, I do the following:
- I pick out the facts for each instrument
- I line up the things the reviewer likes or doesn't like
- I do that with 5 or 6 different reviews, for each instrument I'm interested in

And then I go have a look for myself, exactly knowing what I'm going to look for, and what I'll be testing in which way. Then, and only then will I make my decision.

Use the reviews as educational material (discarding the sales crap), not to make your purchasing decision, and you'll be fine. Never buy something as big as a digital piano blindly, based on reviews only.

Tim Praskins's advice for low end to high middle market digital pianos is the same as the advice that tends to have been given here over the last five years: go for Casio if you're wanting a good instrument for as little as possible. If you can afford more, go for Kawai.

So by design or coincidence, he seems in line with the impartial.

Though I don't doubt your sincerity, one risk of the way you posed your question is that responses may conflate feelings about Tim Praskins (or salesmen in general) with support for the idea that Tim says "Casio is the best". Whether Casio is the solid and one's feelings about a salesmen are two different questions, deserving separate consideration.

Also, from a quick skim of Praskins site, I see that he claims Casio now is a price leader with lower priced pianos, but he seems to shift to other brands with more expensive price range (Kawai). I am as suspicious salesmen as the next guy, I would be concerned someone who posts on the internet is not representing others correctly.

Third, I am not certain this forum is represented accurately in your post. Musical instruments are extremely subjective. For instance, I don't own a Yamaha, but I understand why people on this forum prefer that brand. Most people on this forum who review pianos don't say one is "the best for everyone", but they do articulate why it is the best "for their tastes or needs" in their posts. There is less dogma on this forum than your post suggests.

In my opinion, Casio as an option for lower priced pianos is VERY valid. Also, their upper end digital pianos (like GP-500) are making a lot of ground, even using samples from other grands. I had a toy Casio as a child, and it is hard to get that image out of a Casio as a toy out of my head, but I am pleased to see Casio providing more competition and products. I would hate to see a question phrased in a way that makes support for salesmen or a salesman conflated with Casio's progress (or any company).

I wish you well in your search. My suggestion -- and the one you will see most on this forum -- is that trying a piano is the best route to getting the best one for you. That makes sense for many products and life decisions (from marriage to careers), not just pianos.

Manufacturers have a book price that dealers can't list below in print, but they can sell a piano one-to-one as low as they'd like to go. This is how Tim can sell the pianos he represents at lower prices than you ever see online. Some online dealers get around that with the "add this item to your cart to see the price" routine or pile on a bunch of extras while somehow keeping the whole package at list price. Tim seems like a good guy - I'd probably contact him if I'm ever looking for one of the brands he sells.

I didn't notice! Thanks.

A short time ago I ended up here in Piano World looking for an informed opinion regarding Tim Praskins. I was hoping to learn whether Tim was a reliable source for keyboards.

I knew about Praskins only by reading his reviews of digital pianos at "AZ Piano Reviews." Compared to reviews I found elsewhere, I found Tim's information to be extraordinarily thorough and informative. While his writing may occasionally come up wanting in terms of professional gloss, I actually found that aspect of his work to be reassuring. His reviews seem more authentic than most, like they're the considered opinions of a piano aficionado, and not the canned spiel of of some guy assigned by his editor to whip up an article on digital pianos.

Anyway, I finally decided to contact the guy and see if the claim that he frequently makes within his reviews - namely, that he can get you the piano of your choice at the lowest price around - had any merit. Turns out it does. In quick order he, 1) consulted with me a bit about the couple of pianos I was considering, 2) answered a couple of follow-up questions, and then, per my request, 3) offered me a price on my piano (Kawai es110) that was 10% less than I could find anywhere else.

The process of ordering was a little unconventional (because he's essentially a wholesaler, I believe, not a retailer), but things ended up going very smoothly and I had a brand new keyboard on my doorstep within a week.

So whether you're comfortable with a somewhat different way of buying a piano in order to save some cash is a call you'll need to make for yourself. As for me, I'm very satisfied with the service Tim Praskins provided, and I have no reason whatsoever to believe that there is any skulduggery going on here. Just a guy making a small profit on the items he sells, and saving buyers a considerable sum at the same time.

I don`t think that blog of Tim Praskins is bad no matter if he working for Casio or not. There are lots of useful information about digital pianos and reading lots of forums, blogs etc and trough lots of digital pianos in my hand, my opinion is that you can find really good informations about it on his site and most of them are valid and ok. Of course, it is always better to read more sites, opinions, and then to try for yourself. Any site that give review about some product has one way or the other some interest to do it, and you can always find subjective informations about some piano. Can you give your 100% trust to anybody`s opinion on internet, even here on forum ? No, of course, we all have more or less different opinions and reasons for that, but more opinions no matter reason leads to more angles and that leads to more knowledge about some topic. I wish there are more sites similar to his site no matter if they little more promote casio or yamaha or roland etc, but unfortunately there are not so many. Most of them are stores with official data or sites where they give review about lots of products including digital pianos. I love to read them all because I love pianos.

Tim Praskins still insists on Roland FP-30 being out of tune! It's a direct competitor of Casio PX-160 and Kawai ES-110 which he sells.