Oh, no problem at all with what you have done. That's entirely your choice. I guess I'm just more old school - You know, where you went down to a store, tried a keyboard for as long as they'd let you play it. Leave. Come back a few days later, try it again, see if I still got the same impression, try a few other things out on it. Leave. Coma back a few MORE days later, and play it again, by which time I'm 'reasonably' sure that I either GOT to have it, or it's not for me.

THEN, I buy it.

Personally, I think it's a great marketing tool by the manufacturers and the stores, to refuse to actually STOCK any of these things, so the only way to find out if they are any good is to BUY one! Sight unseen! Brilliant! (for the stores!)

But by doing things this way, we are only playing into their hands. I refuse to buy anything sight unseen... If they can't be bothered to stock them, I can't be bothered to buy them.

And, as Donny keeps pointing out, it's not going to make any difference to my earnings to hold on to my old gear. I'm already doing quite nicely, and a new arranger won't make much of a difference.... Only to me.

But at least going through this process, Zuki, will probably have sharpened your awareness about WHAT, in an arranger, you DO feel is the main things it MUST have. That should at least minimize your chances of making a hasty purchasing decision in the future

Maybe we need to be a bit more upfront when we buy new things just to try them out. Someone's announcement that they just bought a ModelX arranger is usually taken at face value. They decided to BUY it. That usually implies they want it. But nowadays, with as hard as they make it to even find one to audition, perhaps we need to announce that we are 'AUDITIONING' a new arranger. That way, the users of said gear don't get as confused when you drop something faster than a hot potato! Truth is, you NEVER 'bought' it. You just rented it for a few days to try out!

But even so, kudos to the manufacturers and their dealers, for getting us to start PAYING for something we used to get for free...

Greedy SOB's...