A few thoughts,

Until a hand full of years ago, it would be common for a young person right out of music school to go into debt and buy a nice quality grand piano. Now, so much more often, I see them choosing a hybrid, most commonly the Yamaha N1x. This could be because a number of area universities now own them, but I also think these fine musicians are familiar with technology. They usually walk in and know quite a bit about options before we even discuss them.

Also, Frederic Chiu made this video for us on his preferences for practicing on a digital piano:

Rich Galassini, Owner
Cunningham PIano Company

    I have a Kawai VPC1 and it’s been excellent for me to practice on.

      Decent electronic keyboards are getting to be quite good. Yeah, there is still some junk out there that I wouldn't really wanna spend all that much time playing. Quality isn't going to be cheap, acoustic or electronic.

      In my own travels, I have found that many of the acoustic pianos that I run into are in way worse shape than ideal, both tuning and regulation, and I would give the preference to the electronic. For someone who is used to playing on a well tuned and well regulated grand piano, they might think a little differently. Context kinda matters.

      In the small town I'm in, I can't think of a single grand piano that I would prefer playing over my Roland RD-2000. If it's here, I haven't seen it yet and have been to numerous public performance venues. Were I closer to a larger city, there might be something to challenge that.

        I bought a Roland digital about 6 years ago to relieve my family of practicing on the acoustic grand. I don’t use it that often, but I agree with others that it won’t produce bad habits. I use the Roland mostly for starting a new piece, learning the notes and coming up with fingerings. I also use it to record sections I’m working on. (I use a Zoom recorder with the acoustic).I’m working on some 2 piano repertoire and record my partner’s part and play along with it so I know how the parts fit together. So, for me, the Roland provides some added value to my practice sessions.

          My favorite thing about digital pianos are the HEADPHONES! My wife and even the cat agree. Not only does the piano sound fantastic but you can practice away in your own little world right in the same room with anyone doing just about anything: Meditation? Sure! Reading? YES! Watching television? OF COURSE! Hot yoga? Well, let's not get crazy here!

          I've had a digital for a while now. I bought an Kawai ES110 several years ago to go along with my grand. I sold the grand and knew I'd be without an acoustic for a while so I upgraded to a Yamaha P525 so that's all I have at the moment but I think they compliment an acoustic marvelously as long as you get a good one with a great action.

            Rubens great! I’m debating between the Kawai es920 and Yamaha p525. I can practice on my acoustic during the day.

              twocats That’s great to know. My plan is to only practice on the digital at night. Our family bedtime starts at 9. So being able to have a digital for silent practice will give me an extra hour or two practice time.

                  rogerch i’m so glad to hear that. I am a late beginner, and still learning basic skills. That’s why I was worried about forming habits on a digital that can hurt my playing on the acoustic. So glad to know that the newer models nowadays can actually help improve techniques. I’m sure my family will be happy that they no longer have to listen to me repeatedly playing scales 😂

                    cheeeeee That’s great to know. My plan is to only practice on the digital at night. Our family bedtime starts at 9. So being able to have a digital for silent practice will give me an extra hour or two practice time.

                    You should take note, however, that some digital pianos have pretty loud keys. My Roland for instance makes so much noise just from the keys that it would annoy someone trying to sleep in the room next door.

                        Jane That is amazing. Thanks for sharing. Great pianists can sound beautiful playing on anything, can’t they!

                          APianistHasNoName Thanks! I’m considering between Yamaha p525 and Kawai se920. Haven’t been able to try either though.

                              Pallas Tuner Hot yoga? Well, let's not get crazy here!

                              Hot piano sounds like a terrible class. 🤣🤣🤣 I have yet to play my piano while sweaty and I'm not eager to try.

                              That reminds me of a funny anecdote. When I was working on a contract a couple of years ago I had lessons during lunch time on Thursdays and would tell my project manager that I was unavailable at that time. She always joked that I must be having hot yoga classes on Thursdays during lunch. I think I never told her the truth and for the several months I was there I was known to be taking hot yoga classes on Thursdays. 🤣

                                ranjit Thanks for the suggestion! It sounds like that I can use the digital to learn a piece and then use the acoustic to polish it.

                                  Josephine That is very impressive that the digital piano has the same action feel as the acoustic grand piano. Maybe their being the same brand makes that possible. I have never played on a weighted-key digital piano and wondered about the dynamic range.

                                    Sgisela That sounds another positive point of having a digital piano. I rely on spatial memory and visual cues a lot playing the piano. So when I have to pay on someone else’s piano, I sometimes get totally lost, especially when I’m nervous 😬. I’ll be using the digital piano for late night practice.

                                      Rich-Galassini Thank you, Rich. Very interesting advice about how to practice on a digital. I’ll try it out when I have one!

                                        Pallas Great advice! Thank you. I’ll check out Stu’s reviews.

                                          HeartKeys Thanks! I wasn’t aware of this model and will check it out.

                                            Bellyman Totally agreed! I recently went to play at my university’s piano practice rooms a couple of times. The pianos are kind of worn. The keys are uneven and it’s very easy to play loud and very difficult to play softly. I had to compensate by playing very lightly/slowly. After that, I noticed that I started to make ghost notes on my own piano.

                                              PianogrlNW Very cool! I never thought about using the digital for practicing duets. Being able to easily record a piece in the learning process is also a big plus. My teacher suggests that I do it regularly to hear what I did right or wrong, but I haven’t been able to. Thanks!