Well Donny, if you want to avoid the questions, that's fine with me.

One two bossa nova...

Well now I have two on my list to ignor.

Does this mean I'm not getting a Christmas card?

I can understand someone preferring voices,features, feel etc when choosing a keyboard. If one needs to impress people with the LOOK of the keyboard rather then their playing I really don;t think the materials will make a difference. But then again Guitar makers save a lot of money making cheap guitars that "look" great.

I don't understand the obsession with heavy Iron! Everything is made of plastic today, Its weight to strength ratio is an advantage over steel.

I don't think either keyboard would survive a 5' drop worse than the other. Well the heavier one might sustain more injury internally. I would think Plastic can absorb more impact then metal which transmits the impact to the inside.

Common misconception...size and weight equal quality and performance. Don't be fooled.

Yes it was a fun night..
It also showed a different way "pros" use their "home arrangers"..

Kristin used her E-500 for mic and effects ..as well as the sound source to play sequences from her laptop...playing keys on the E-500...She involved her regular following to sing with her..

Joe used his PA800 in a way Diki mentioned..as a quick set up instrument..
He plays left hand bass with right hand tones such as brass, piano, strings etc..The drums are the auto play...and vocals/harmony are also from the PA800..
Joe is the best at backing quest singers..in real time....It is always party time on Joe's gigs...

The funny thing about Joe's set up..he has a Bose 4 feet from his ear..and uses a floor monitor in front of the "stage" area...I guess the Bose doesn't cut it for him in this room..

A side bar....Joe stated he absolutely hates the PA800...and compared to his previous model the PAx model with speakers..the PA800 is half the weight and half the "balls" of the older model....by the way the PAx is in the repair shop.....speakers didn't hold up well...


Joe's act was more energy, but Kristin was early in her show {dinner set}...

BTW: the E-500 did sound better than the PA800...

After reading all of this debate let me say something:

when it comes to playing arranger keyboards, how well you perform is how tactfully you use sounds. you may want to sound just like the real song or add some extra taste and color.
IMO the player who thinks and sets up his instrument before playing, will perform better. So fast operating functions may not make huge differences. I remember a wedding where the player(who thought he is a pro!) was asked to play a song which certainly he had no pre-sets for it. with his big korg although he used some of those fast functions, he performed very very ordinary and in my opinion somehow nonsense.
my brother that is just a listener told me that you play this song far too better and more exciting(I am a hobbyist player).

this is where fast swithing or grooving functions are not that much helpful.

all I want to say is: if you already set up your instrument for a song, there will be nothing you can do with g-70 that you cant do with tyros although ways are different.