why no reviews?

[kevin69]

Hi,
as a beginner, thinking of buying my first acoustic piano i
am surprised about the lack of reviews of piano on the internet.

Why is this?

There is obviously a subjective element as well as technical ones,
but this isn't a problem for music, film, or other hobbyist reviews.
The only comments i've seen tend to be either 'brand X is junk'
with no reason given or 'i bought an X and its great'.

As i've been learning on a cheap keyboard, i'm finding the touch and tone of
any acoustic so different from what i'm used too that i don't know what to listen and feel for.

[iansinclair]

Look around in this instruments section.  I think you will find that there are many comments on and discussions of various pianos, both acoustic and digital, and their characteristics.

I'm not too surprised, though, that reviews on the internet -- other than in specialist forums such as this one -- are kind of rare.

As to what to look for -- I would suggest that if you can find a really top end acoustic piano to play, do (this may not be easy, but sometimes dealers will let you do this).  By top end I mean... makes; Steinway, Bosendorfer, Estonia, Fazioli.  Makers in that class.  The very best Yamahas and Kawais are also very good.  And a top end model would be a grand, at least 6 feet -- in the Steinway line, for instance, an A, B, C or D, although an M will also give you a feel for the action.

When trying to get a feel for a piano, avoid uprights; avoid spinets like the plague -- and, unhappily, avoid all digitals.  Even the very best digitals, while they have very acceptable actions, do not really capture the feel of a big grand.

Once you get the feel for a piano, though, you may find that an upright will be quite acceptable -- and a whole lot less expensive!

[indianajo]

I think if you will read, I have given a lot of specific comments about great and trashy 50's-60-s brands of pianos.  IMHO, I won't say anything about a piano made these days  by employees without factory safety programs, building codes that prevent fire & collapse, hours work restrictions, retirement programs, health benefits, or any other modern expectation of employment.  
To be very specific, Winter pianos were junk because they had the tone of a $10 toy, and the hammer shafts were all bent where the felt didn't line up with the strings anymore.  Kimbles were pretty junky because while they sound okay lightly played, the ones in the Officer's and NCO clubs always had notes stuck down, or broken strings, or hammers that flopped around, or dampers that didn't work right,  or missing plastic key tops.  the new (2006) Yamaha studio at my church, although a 44", has no overtones on the bass notes, and inadequate volume to fill a 500 seat auditorium.  The 50's build 40" Baldwin in the Sunday school room has better tone and probably is louder IMHO, although since the music committee is satisfied with what they bought there will be no trial.  The loudest brightest tone console I ever played was a 44" Baldwin Acrosonic(?) (the guild lady said later, I was too nervous to look myself) in a school cafeteria at the Piano Guild contest in Houston 1964.  I've never heard another like it, not even other Baldwin models.  
Consoles I've liked over the years have been Sohmers, Baldwins, Steinways (too heavy a touch new, or too worn out by constant practice in schools), Wurlitzers (not extremely fast), Mason & Hamlin (a stellar spinet, but no faster than any quality spinet),  an older Kawai,   Goodman (probably a store brand) Everett (bad tonal split between 2 string and 3 string notes),  Hamilton (Baldwin's budget line, not quite as good a tone as a real Baldwin).  Speaking as a low church member who grew up low church, grands have too heavy an action, are too expensive to move, and seem to require more serious 24/7 climate control than the churches I've been members of can afford.  Those of you that play concert halls, both of you, (three of you?) may have other opinions about grands,  I think baby grands, the ones I've heard played, sound wimpy in small rooms.  At least consoles are designed to sound their best in  small rooms.  The one grand feature I would like would be a working middle pedal that holds notes down as you push it, and not the others.  Pictures at an Exhibition Great Gate of Kiev & Scott Joplin Magnetic Rag seem to be designed for this feature.  
I've never heard an electronic "piano" worth the effort to haul it out to the trash.  Individual notes are fine but they don't sing together.  On top of this, electronic "pianos" are usually presented on trashy PA speakers, especially in churches.  The electronic Korg at the church I attend is so bad I won't even sing anymore, besides being built in a factory with the defects listed above.  I have heard decent simulations on PA systems at concerts, although that is only if they play one note at a time.  As soon as they play any chord, the electronic is back out there in kazoo-land.