knoydart's Full Review: ACT 925939 Keyboard (607266702169)
Despite offering promising features for musically inclined this is, as a product intended for kids, a very disappointing item & a waste of money due to poor construction & low quality materials.
Out of the box it looks cheap but at $30 you can't complain I suppose. Musically it is well featured (I'm no musician) with 37 keys, 8 voices and 8 rhythms it offers enough possibilities without being overwhelming. You can record & playback a tune of your own making, theres some built in tunes & the facility to provide external power as well as hook up an MP3 recording device. A musically talented member of my family tried it & made quite an impression so potentially it is promising even though the instruments & voices provided are definitely “electronic” in their sound.
I especially like the way the keyboard lights up, this kept my daughter interested in it long enough to actually get her to learn some of the features. Best of all when it goes into instructional mode the keys light up so that she can follow the tune & play along. Soon she was going at quite a pace, much faster than I ever could have done. In this respect it is a terrific instrument & well thought out for kids to use & retain their interest as well as teaching them something useful.
What makes it a disaster is the poor build quality. The case is thin & made of very brittle plastic. As a result it had a chunk broken off the base within 2 days. After 3 weeks it was totally destroyed! This wasn't the result of it being dropped from great heights onto solid concrete, rather off a dining room table onto a thick carpet. Hardly a”Destructive Test”!
There's also a problem with the keys, they stick up above where they normally should be & won't move making them unplayable. This seems to be due to the hook that keeps each key in place getting messed up somehow & then the key's spring makes it jump up. The key then won't move back because the hook is in the way. I've managed to reach in with a thin screwdriver each time this happens & reset the keys but it really is a pain.
As this was a Christmas gift that didn't come with a receipt we were unable to return it. Certainly if I had bought this item I would have taken it back immediately. I do like the way the keys light up to show you what key to press & this is a great way for kids to learn. But while it is cheap it isn't worth it, you would do much better getting a second hand Casio or perhaps paying a little extra & get a new keyboard. While the price differential might be large at least you'll have something that will last more than 3 weeks!
With 37 keys, 8 voices and 8 rhythms, musical variety is practically limitless Kids learn about rhythm with the percussion sounds and tempo control Re...More at Amazon Marketplace
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