This is one area Yamaha has made great strides in during the past decade. It wasn't too many years ago that if you took the keyboard outdoors, any manufacturer, you not only could not see the screen, but additionally, you could not see any of the indicator LEDs that told you which buttons were activated. Even in the shade, this was a problem. I wrote and called Yamaha on several occasions about this problem and was to rectify the situation. While they still have not utilized super twist LCD technology, they have, beginning with the S-950, switched to a new type of display that can be seen outdoors. You still cannot see it direct sunlight, but it is visible in shaded locations, which is the preferable location to play when outdoors, especially when you're old like me.

Yamaha also explained that the reason they had not addressed this in the past is that only a very tiny fraction of their consumers play outdoors, therefore the issue never seemed to make it to the front burner. When I had a Roland G-800 and a Korg I-3, those screens were nearly invisible outdoors. I'm not sure if any manufacturer has made the progress that Yamaha has in this area.

All the best,

Gary