I picked up my SPD-S a month and a half ago and the LCD broke on it after three weeks. I put it in the trunk of my miata every day on my way to work, which is 8 miles one way, no traffic. But my mazdaspeed suspension is more stiff than the usual miata suspension, so that may have been the trick that did it in. I don't know. I do know that the glass bezel was not scratched or damaged in any way, and that the store I got it from agreed to replace it for me, since it was under 30 days from date of purchase. I just sent it back to them last week and hoping to hear back from them any day now with a shipping confirmation on the replacement SPD-S. I will give a heads up when that happens or not.
(1) If you purchase the SPD-S, I recommend getting a case for it. I talked to Roland, and the person I spoke to wasn't aware of anything Roland sells as a case for the SPD-S. Gatorcases didn't turn up anything either, at least not anything that had the right dimensions for this expensive piece of equipment.
(2) Roland didn't have any response to my query about a "glove" for the SPD-S. Apparently they didn't figure that a drumstick could easily knock out the LCD, or break any one of the plastic knobs on the front panel, the panel that sits BETWEEN the drummer AND the pads being hit.
The cost of the LCD "board" from Roland is $119.00. And the local authorized dealer quoted me 1-1.5 hours of labor @ $60/hr. This was before I figured out I could get a new one from the retailer. A gifted techie could probably find the LCD part from some of these electronics parts stores and solder it into the existing board.
So, yes I plan on getting a case for my SPD-S. And perhaps a glove for it too. Probably will have to make my own though.
Oh, and
(3) The rubber black strike pad is not fixed to the SPD-S, at least in the sense that when the unit is held upside down, the strike pad hangs down sort of like a hammuck would between two trees. Now, most of us aren't going to be playing on a SPD-S mounted above the kit (maybe Neil Peart would), but anything above/near the vertical 90 degrees, the freefloating mass of this weighty strike pad has got to have an effect on the whole dynamics/sensitivity of this thing. E.g., the second stroke on a double stroke roll might be met by a rebounding rubber mass, cancelling out the stroke, and thus rendering the intending action useless.
That's my take anyway,
Steph
P.S. My application was to synthecize Sade's "Sweetest Taboo" shaker, rimshot, bass line, etc, which is going to be rather fun when I get the chance to play on one of these things again.