Costco Members: Roland FRP-1 Digital Piano Bundle Expired

This. It's as if you read my comments in other threads. Not really though, because anyone with a discerning brain would conclude the same thing.

tl;dr This Costco deal is great. Great keyboard action, Super cheap, comes with stand and bench, and can take back to costco years from now if run in to any serious problems.

Note: this Costco Roland FRP-1 Digital Piano Bundle is the name of the bundle. The Roland keyboard in the bundle is the FP-10. Look at youtube reviews on the Roland FP-10 for info.

I actually think the $150 extra for the Kawaii ES110 is worth it. It's not that simple though. The ES110 does not come with a stand ($100 extra), or a sitting bench. The Roland at Costco comes with a stand and bench and costs $550 instead of $700 +$100 +$40. And the nail in the coffin is since you are buying the Roland from Costco you can return it years later if the one you got ends up being a lemon.

The ES110 has better action. It's lighter and more sensitive. The only 'con' according to one online reviewer is because it's light, learners might not get the finger muscle built up enough to instantly move over to playing an acoustic piano. I don't agree with that. The sensitivity is more important to becoming a good player, and if you move over to a grand piano with good feel and technique, it's probably better gaining strength after that.

The cons of the Costco Roland is it does not have old school midi in/out ports. It has USB to connect to computer, and bluetooth usb to connect to tablets. You can use all the computer software with the Roland, but you can not directly connect the Roland keyboard to something else and use the Roland as a controller. You would have to first connect both to the computer. So a computer has to be involved for the roland to be used as a controller. I don't think many will want to use it as a controller directly. Only as a controller to a computer.

I do Not like Casios and am surprised how accepting even pros are to them. I find Casio sounds cheezy, and the ones that sound 'good' sound to me more like a facsimile of good then actually good. Never liked them. They are getting less cheezy over time, but it is still a mixed bad.

Even in the Youtube review Roland vs Casio posted in this thread the guy said the casio felt spongy, and the next casio up had a different keyboard action mechanism. As Jesse said, This Costco Roland has the same keyboard action mechanism as senior model Rolands up to about the $1200 price point. Those models have more features (including old school midi connections) but the main thing is this Costco Roland has great action for the price.

The Costco roland comes with a cheap, annoying singled pedal. The ES110 comes with a single quality pedal. For both the Roland and the ES110, a 3 pedal insert ad-on can be bought that fits in to the stand (costco roland comes with stand, ES110 is an add-on). I think they cost about $150. I don't know about the casio. If you buy the Costco Roland, I advise you buy a quality single pedal (if not the 3-pedal insert) to replace the crappy one it comes with. Can do that later though. No hurry.

Pro tip: Costco charges $70 shipping if you buy this roland online. If you go to the store you don't have to pay it. If you are in store and think 'man, that box will not fit in my car'. Good news. When you get the box to your car you can open the box. Inside you will find 4 boxes that can be taken out and put in your camry. Depending on your car, at worst, you should show up with a red flag and some thin rope, and let the biggest box hang out your trunk, legally with the red flag. I folded over the main box and could squish it in the car. $70 is $70 bucks.

Pro tip 2: If you buy the Costco Roland, and have been happily using it for a few months, trust it, Consider disassembling the Stand and Bench, and reassembling them using small amounts of gorilla glue in the joints and where surfaces connect. This will make the cheaper build become rock solid. Caveat, It might be harder or even not returnable if you do this. Maybe just use a glue gun with strong glue on this one.

This is the yearly piano deal. well, $50 more than yearly, but pretty much still best value.

The fp10, is the piano that's in the bundle, it's got a heavier action than yamaha's $500, p45.

The majority of pianists prefer lighter actions, but it's up in the air. You won't know as a beginner,

I can tell you about all the technical details and the merits of each, but it means nothing to you because you're not IN IT yet.

IMHO for beginners, Just swing the bat and upgrade in 3-4 years.

Watched the video on the linked web page.

On the plus side (seemingly--because I haven't tried this piano) the keys with hammer action have actual hammers and from what I've read this is the closest type of feel to a real piano.

On the negative side--some of the sounds in the video. I would think if you want to sell a product you'd probably present the best of sounds in your demonstration video. If that's true this piano has a long way to go. I watched it on my phone but can pretty much still understand the sounds presented (-except with the piano sound I'd want to listen to on a preferred stereo to hear nuances in tone). To continue, the strings sound pretty much sounds in par with my really old Casio Privia. I'm not knocking my privia but I really don't use it for strings. Same with the electric piano sound--what was that? The organ was ok (jazz style) but I wouldn't pick that one to sell this piano. I'd probably pick a sound more similar to Frank's wild years (Tom Waits). The organ presented just sounded a little too staccato but that may be just my personal preference. And all of what I'm saying is personal preference. With any instrument it's best to go to an actual music store to experince the feel and sound yourself. Or at least try the different brands and different types of weighted keys. You might find something particular that would make you pay even more for this piano. Or you may find a deal breaker that you'd never have known of just by buying online and not testing in a store.