Casio PX-770 Privia

In this Casio PX-770 Privia review, the Casio PX-770 Privia bundle earns our Best Budget Bundle label at number four of eight, and it is the smartest $1,079.00 package for a beginner who needs everything on day one. The bundle pairs the black PX-770 digital piano with a furniture bench, headphones, an instructional book, an instructional DVD, online lessons and a polishing cloth. Casio sells it under model PX770BK-COMBO-PRO-2, and it holds a 4.4-star rating from 100 Amazon ratings. Buyers who want an 88-key console piano that looks like furniture, stays in one room and costs about a thousand dollars are the right fit. Anyone who needs to move a keyboard every week, or wants synthesizer controls, should look elsewhere in the guide.

The keys do the heavy lifting here. Casio uses 88 scaled, weighted hammer-action keys with simulated ebony and ivory textures, which means the low notes feel heavier and the high notes lighter, just like an acoustic grand. On top of that, the sound engine delivers a detailed grand piano tone plus 18 other tones, so beginners can experiment with strings, organs and electric pianos without buying anything else. The stereo speaker system sits inside a modern wooden cabinet, and the lacquered black finish means the piano reads as furniture in a living room. At 106 pounds, it stays where you put it, so measure the wall before ordering. Meanwhile, the built-in 3.5mm headphone jack makes silent practice easy at night.

Value is where this package separates itself. For $1,079.00 you get the piano, a bench, headphones, an instructional book, an instructional DVD, online lessons and a polishing cloth, and that starter gear would cost extra if you bought each piece separately. By contrast, most digital pianos in this guide stop at the instrument, which means a beginner spends a second afternoon shopping for a seat and a practice book. That said, the accessories are basic: the headphones work fine for starting out but are not for critical listening, and the online lessons supplement a teacher rather than replace one. The cabinet also cannot fold away, and the 1-year warranty is shorter than some rivals offer. Even so, if you want a wooden console piano with everything ready for lesson one near $1,100, this is the bundle to buy.