Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards How is the reliability/Quality control of Casio's DPs

I am asking because I consider getting the PX-150/350 but I've ready some stuff about Casio' quality control that leaves me wanting more reassurance.
I live in canada and Casio's Canada warranty of 1 year only (and no extended warranty) is not helping either. Yamaha, I know are pretty good and they offer 2 year warranty for most of their models.

So if you have some experience with this or know some details, please chime in

Casio PX-150/350 are very new in the market. They claim brand new sound generation (Air) and keyboard. I think it could be quite difficult to find reassurance about this stuff.

I've owned two Casios so far, a CDP-100 and now a PX-330. No problems with either one. In fact the CDP-100 was given to a friend with twin 5 year olds and it's the one thing they haven't managed to destroy yet.

Normally with anything electronic, if something is going to go wrong, it will happen within the first 30 days. Casio makes a good product for the price point.

Now I will qualify my statements by adding both keyboards were received in their original boxes with none of the packing materials torn indicating prior usage, I suspect this might be the cause of dissatisfaction mentioned in other trends.

My other thoughts are that there is a greater likihood of trading up a digital piano long before its useful life is exhausted or mechanical breakdown starts taking place.

Let us know what you end up deciding.

DAVID

I have owned my Casio CDP200 for

Oh 7 months now.

It works as advertised, they keys are noisy however and one or two of them seen noisier than the others.

HOWEVER this may be due the fact I until very recently was a fortissimo (FFF) player, until I realised I could just turn the volume up. Instead of bashing the keys.


With headphones on you can't hear it.

I havne't actually ready much about Casio's quality control. There have been a number of complaints that the case on the 350 vibrates when you are playing, but that's a design issue, not quality control.

As far as I know none of the big digital piano makers we talk about here in the forum have systematic quality control issues per se. The closest you see is irregular spacing of the wooden keys in Kawai's top actions due to the heterogenous nature of wood. Typically they are not serious issues. These manufacturers value their repuataion a lot and therefore also tend to provide good after purchase support if an issue comes up. Certainly Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai are this way. As far as I know Casio is as well.

Some people, myself included, have experienced noisy keys on the earlier models, but there are also a lot of very happy owners with no issues at all. I think only time will tell with the newer PX-150 and PX-350 models. Right now there are hardly any reviews. The new PX's I tried in the showroom seemed quieter.

Reliability has never been a problem with any of the Casio DP's as far as I know. And the actions feel terrific.

To the OP's question, the 1st year of any warranty is what is most important. Not that it couldn't happen, but I cannot remember any customer complaint in the 2nd or 3rd year of warranty from any of the digital brands we sell.

I think QC is occasionally mixed up with references to reliability. I think of QC in terms of consistent, landed quality. If you open 1,000 boxes, how many fail to work properly from the beginning? For reliability, I think about the design & execution. How many years does it work when used as intended?

We see a lot, but not on the scale of even hundreds of any one model. On the scale of the pianos we have seen, Casio's reliability has shown to be as high as any other good, comparable product - which is to say very high. Speaking strictly about QC when new, I would call them very good but with some room to improve.

It's the value quotient where Casio truly excels with valuable designs and technology in affordable, lightweight packages.

only if we had a Casio equivalent of Kawai James..:)

Mike Martin will do in a pinch for that. Not as consistently around as James is, but he's definitely present and an insider (directory of marketing...he makes the youtube videos and stuff of Casio's pianos).

It's actually Roland and especially Yamaha that have no insiders participating in the forum (that we know of).

ive talked to Mike Martin a few times on here.. very helpful.. but just not around that much

Yamaha has a very responsive rep on the Motifator forum. But Roland has virtually no forum presence anywhere, unfortunately.

The Casio PX-350 has a 3-year warranty. If you register the product you get a 2 year extension added onto the 1 year standard warranty. This special offer applies to a limited selection of models. I do not know which are eligible other than the PX-350.

The digital piano must be registered on the CASIO registration website within (30) thirty days of the date of the original retail purchase. This extended warranty becomes effective upon the expiration of the original CASIO Limited One-Year Warranty that was included with your product and extends the coverage described in the original CASIO Limited One-Year Warranty for an additional two-year limited period.

Niko Kiko
Casio quality has been steadily improving over the last 3-4 years. If you check the Casio Canada website, you can get an additional 2 years of warranty if you register your product online. That gives you 3 full years. I own a PX-575 which I bought new in 2009. It will be 4 years old in January. My only gripe with it is the noisy keybed. Anotherscott who also posts on here owns a PX-310 which is at least as old as mine.

Regarding Mike Martin, He has some input on the development of new product, but his primary job is marketing. He is very visible on youtube. I think he has been keeping busy doing demos on the new Privia models around the country. He is probably preparing for NAMM 2013 Jan 24-27. I happen to think he has done a nice job at Casio.

Great information here guys,
thank you very much.