Kurzweil has always been a smaller player in the synth game and they've almost gone under a few times. However, they are currently owned by Young Chang of Korea and the technology they put in their keyboards has still remained remarkably cutting edge despite their smaller budget.
I've owned a PC3K8 for 3 years now and I am very satisfied with it. It hasn't given me a lick of trouble in that time and its sounds and features have held up very well.
I'll be the first to admit that I hate the fact that they outsourced their editors to Soundtower but there is an active and almost fanatic community of supporters over at
http://forums.godlike.com.au/ and
http://www.ksetlist.com/
And while there is a known issue with backlights failing on displays there are new displays available from third parties on Ebay using LED backlights.
Furthermore, as far as parts availability goes, Kurzweil is far better at supplying parts and support for discontinued machines than Yamaha or Korg ever were.
Realistically speaking, going by what I hear in the community, Kurzweils are no more prone to failure than any other brand of keyboard and Jean at tech support actually encourages people to open up their machines for minor repairs rather than reading from a script that tells you you have to send it back to the factory to change a lousy battery
I'm sorry if you've had troubles with your machines, but if you are gigging around the country with baggage handlers and roadies abusing your equipment you're going to end up paying for service calls regardless of what brand you are playing.
Gary
