REVIEW - Roland CPF140 Digital Piano at Costco - Recommended

UPDATED REVIEW - January 20, 2019 - Roland CPF140 Digital Piano at Costco - Recommended - The Roland CPF140 flat-top (top folds down flat) digital piano in satin black ($1299US Costco regular discount price) is a compact model sold only through the Costco web site (here in the US). You would need to add your local state sales tax if you are a Costco member) and the piano includes some free accessories along with a matching bench which makes this package a good purchase. I have played the 140 model and do like it quite a bit in its compact smaller cabinet along with some of the cool features that it has. The Roland company has been around for a long time and is fairly well known by musicians but not as well known by the average non-musician person.

Costco has been offering a variety of digital pianos on their web site for many years and this model is one of their more popular sellers in the lower price range. What makes this piano unique is a number of things such as its compact size that puts out a good piano sound, and it has the some of the latest digital piano technology including wav file audio playback, interactive accompaniment backing tracks, and some good connectivity including an iPad wireless control that allows the user to control some of the functions of the piano from their iPad touch screen. All of these features make the Roland CPF140 a very nice  instrument to purchase for beginner through intermediate piano players and anyone in-between.

The Roland company also markets the CPF140 under another name for mainstream internet music dealers and local piano stores and that model is called the F140R and sells for $1199 internet discount price. It is the more popular version and is the identical piano to the Costco CFP130 with the exception that the F140R does not automatically come with a bench, headphones, or other accessories, although some on-line music dealers do include some extra accessories at the $1199 internet price. I have played the F140R and like it although there are other good digital piano choices in this price range including Casio, Yamaha, and Korg. The Roland CFP140/F140R is a nice choice for those people looking for a small compact profile, low priced digital piano with a pretty good piano key action, although a bit noisy and stiff, and full dynamic range of acoustic piano sound, pedaling realism, and lots of very cool built-in digital technology with a large library of additional instrument sounds. I will say that the piano sound itself is a bit brassy and metallic so some people may not care for that type of piano tone as opposed to other digital pianos like the Korg C1 Air which offers a richer grand piano piano tone

I have done an extensive review of the Roland F140R at the link below, so I would recommend you read that review completely and then you will know more about the Costco CPF140 which is the exact same piano in terms of the electronic features, speaker system, and buttons. Both pianos have the same key action, same piano sound, same functions, same cabinet design, and the big difference is that Costco has its own model number for this piano. Sometimes there are distinct differences between Costco pianos and the general market versions such as the Roland RP400 (at Costco) vs the mainstream RP401R. Those two pianos are not the same. But in the case of the CPF140 and F140R, they are the same with the distinct exception that the F140R version is also available in a satin white finish ($1199US internet discount price) whereas the Costco model is only available in the satin black finish. It can get a bit confusing to try and figure this all out to know what you're really getting, but that's why I am here:). Before you purchase any piano anywhere, please contact me first and I can give you good piano shopping advice as well as show you how to save even more money over the best Amazon, Costco, and internet sale prices and bundles that are available including additional and higher quality accessories. Please read my review on the Roland F140R. Roland F140R Review 

UPDATE! The Casio PX870 is on sale right now with a Casio New Year internet discount price of $999 (minus $100 instant rebate through me = $899 final price), free shipping, no tax.  The Casio PX870 is the most popular new digital piano right now under $1000 and it has 4 speakers and 40 watts of power along with a quicker and slightly lighter key action (more like a real piano) so it sounds and plays much more like a piano. This model has some advantages over the CPF140 and is quite a bit less money too. I would recommend you also look at that model and read my review of it at the following link: Casio PX870 Review. I believe you will find some compelling reasons why this model would be a better option than the Roland.

A more advanced alternative digital piano that I like very much is the Korg C1 Air digital "grand piano." With 50 watts of power going through a high definition bass reflex sound system which makes this model sound like a real baby grand piano along with a key action that is used in Korg's $4000 pro stage piano, the Korg C1 Air is designed and built in Japan with much higher quality instead of Malaysia where the Roland pianos are built. Instead of a Roland 5 year parts and 2 year labor warranty, the Korg C1 Air has 5 year parts and 5 year labor factory warranty. The Bluetooth feature on the Roland piano consists only of Bluetooth "MIDI" (for connecting a Bluetooth computer/tablet) and not Bluetooth audio. Bluetooth audio is the more sophisticated and expensive form of Bluetooth wireless and allows for your digital music library on your external device to be played wirelessley through the piano speaker system whereas the Roland piano cannot do that. For MIDI connectivity on the Korg you just connect a MIDI/USB cable which works just fine. The Roland piano sound has a more metallic tone in my opinion and not a full, more piano like tone in the Korg C1 Air. At $1399 internet discount price the Korg would normally be more money than the Roland price, but at the moment there is a $150 instant rebate putting the Korg piano at just $1149 including free shipping and no tax...brand new which is less money than the Roland CPF140 at the moment. Check out my review of the Korg C1 Air at the following link and let me know what you think. Korg C1 Air Review 

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.