Well,
You might as well here from me too! I agree with Uncle Dave, Fran and others.
I was the first dealer in the US to get the G800's and after two weeks of a nightmare experience with broken aftertouch sensors in the pitch bend/mod wheel lever, I finally gave up and would never buy an 800 again to sell in my store. While experimenting with the 800 before I returned all of them I also disliked the sequencer which was a direct to disk sequencer if I remember correctly. Then came the G1000 and I loved it with the exception of taking a long time to really get to know how to use it. When the video owners manual arrived it became a lot easier to navigate. Having the zip drive and the internal sequencer and having real aftertouch in the keyboard made me really like this keyboard. I too think that the VA products could have used more dedicated buttons and a few more of the G series features, but Roland went a different direction with these keyboards. To the home musician this keyboard is doing really well, but to the pro who needs to take it out every night there is by some accounts too much navigation neccessary to do things quickly.
If you like Roland keyboards and you want one that can do most anything consider the KF90. It has 88 hammer weight PA-4 Action, built in speakers, vocal harmonizer for singing, styles and programable styles, 16 track sequencer, works with all older styles, big screen with touch functions (sometimes good, sometimes bad) and great sounds! About $3500.00 in the US. I doubt if many people even know about this product because it's not available through the MI dealers, only CK dealers.
I think the new Solton SD-1 will become a favorite amongst a lot of our readers here. I've had the SD-1 for evaluation in my store for over a month now and my customers love it. I am also liking the 9000 pro so much more than the psr9000, even though there are not much differences. I really like the feel and the number of keys on the 9000 pro(76) and I think it looks great. The X1 is still going strong here with Roland and GEM taking a back seat right now. I've hesitated ordering the WK8se as I was not able to hear the new piano sounds in the models at NAMM. They were supposed to be loaded into their demo models but as I found out, they were not. The fact that these new piano sounds are really the only difference between the new and the old, I've decided to wait awhile before ordering any. Generalmusic products don't sell as well in my store as the X1 and I know a lot of this is because of my enthusiasm for the Solton product. I still get more "wow's" when I play the X1 in my store than other arranger keyboards.
I'm still hoping the Korg PA-80 comes out eventually. There's been so little talk from our friends in Europe who have been able to purchase this keyboard for several months now.