I must admit i really bash my buttons and keys hard. hard enough that paint starts chipping off them, never once have I had a problem with a button not working or anything like that? other than on this Forum, I have never heard of anyone having an issue anywhere else...

The Yamaha products are so cheap compared to their competition so to have a problem like this hear or there really doesn't matter, since you have already compensated by not spending as much as if you purchased a Korg or a Roland or anything else for that matter.

you cant really say they "aren't designed for road use", because that is where it starts to get broad. what cases are being used? Hard / soft? do they get dropped? do they get bumped around and things like that?

Its like the cheap Dell Computers. sooooo many of these get sold around the world and everyone always hears of them failing or things going wrong. that is because of the ratio of how many dells are out there...

you might not hear of Rolands / Korgs breaking down as much for the simple reason there aren't as many out there...