I told you guys we should have started a pool.

If a keyboard has a 1 year manufacture's warranty it should be honored no matter how many owners it has had during the first year. The same goes true for buying from Synthplanet. The manufacture should guarantee it for the duration of their warrantee regardless of who owns it or where it was purchased. If I buy a Ford that has a 5 year 50000 mile warranty they honor it period, regardless of how many owners it has had or where it was purchased. That is just good business.

The next thing you know is that Yamaha or the other companies won't warrantee their keyboards that are used professionally. They could say that professional use falls outside the realm of normal use. Your homeowners insurance already uses that dodge for professionally used equipment that you keep at home.

I bought my X1 from Don Mason and Bell/Solton honored the remainder of the warranty for me. Their customer service was excellent.

If a store has a 30 day return policy I don't see any reason not to consider that when making a purchase. I would never use that policy as a weekend rental but for something as major as an arranger keyboard I would consider any store that has such a policy to be at an advantage. I've owned my X1 for over two years now and I still am discovering things about it. A simple demo or trial in a store does not work for something as complex and expensive as a top of the line arranger. Most stores don't even have a quiet place where you can sit down with one and really play and listen. Trying to assess an arranger at my nearest Guitar Center is like trying one out in the middle of Wal-Mart. It can't be done on a Saturday morning. I'm thankful that U.D., Donny, DonM, and others try these keyboards first and render their opinions on the forum. They do all the work and I get the benefit. U.D. sell that thing to Don then I can buy it in 9 months.

Tom

There is a difference between abusing the return policy of a store and properly exercising it. I am sure that if the Home Depot finds that having a generous return policy is bad for their business, they will change it. Until they do, it is my right, as well as every one else's to take advantage of it. When I was doing a major project around my home and wanted to buy a cordless drill, I went through 3 drills before settling on my current one. It ended up being a more expensive drill than all of the previous ones, but the first of the bunch where the chuck does not vibrate noticeably with a very fine drill bit. That is something that you can only find out by trying a piece out. According to all the paper research either of those drills should do the job, because none of the drills advertises the product as producing slight chuck vibration, any more than a keyboard is advertised as having not-quite-so-realistic sounds, or being slightly more difficult to use than the competition. That is why the salesman at Home Depot was telling me to buy a drill and try it at home, and if it does not work bring it back. Similarly, it makes sense that a salesman at the GC tells me to buy a product, try it out, and bring it back if it does not work out for me. As long as I buy the product with the intention to keep it, rather than intending to use it and bring it back, I am in compliance with the store's policy.

I think it makes definite sense with something so subjective as a keyboard. With each keyboard there are dozens of factors which make us like or dislike the instrument: key feel, sounds, styles, ease of navigation, ability to store presets, expand the memory contents, etc. The only ones which we can really judge before using an instrument are size and weight - everything else comes as we get our hands onto a product. It only makes sense that a user want to try a product in a real-life situation before knowing if it will work for him or not. That is why stores with generous return policies, such as GC, offer such a stiff competition to the established local stores.

On the other hand, I noticed several of our members from Europe are able to arrange with their dealers to borrow an instrument for several days, and then bring it back, without making a commitment to buy one. It is interesting that the local dealers in Europe can afford to do this, but the ones in the US can not.

As for buying a car, I will usually try to rent for a few days a vehicle like the one I am interested in buying, to get an idea how it drives (or will drive after a few thousand miles). Few of us get married without thoroughly evaluating our prospective spouse for a while (often with at-home trial), and some even take a refund. And as for that tankful of gas, the retailer who sold it to may be liable for a lot more than the price I paid for the twenty gallons: if it is indeed substandard, the dealer better be prepared to pay for diagnostic tests and repairs to my car, besides losing their state license.

Regards

Wow ...... Hooda thunk this post would STILL be going ? Maybe I'll fool you ALL and keep the darn thing! (yeah, THAT'll happen! )

If you still have it after Christmas ( I know the odds probably aren't good on that one ), I might be interested UD. I would at least like to try the XD9 out. Because of financial concerns at this point, my choices for a current model second arranger may be limited to the XD9 or going back to the PSR2000. I absolutely dislike the key feel of the 2000, but if the XD9 doesn't have features I need or the sounds that I want ( coming through an amplified system ), I'd rather go back to the 2k. I liked what I heard on the VA76, but it is still commanding more money than I want to spend for it, and frankly I don't see it being better than a 2k for more than double the price.

AJ

AJ,
The XD9 sound simply mahvelous through any PA I ever tried. I think Donny was more upset with the total difference of the navigation, and less tweaking available because of all the mixer options and separate EQ's on the Yamaha. I think sound-wize, the XD9 was a dfinate winner. I agree with Donny about some of the button places and menu requirements though.
Call me when you need me !