they suck!

Which line are you thinking of buying ? they have entry level to pro level drums !

I watched a little quartet outdoors this afternoon keeping time with a Yamaha 4 piece kit. Young lady playing the kit played simple but kept it steady on stuff the had lots of changes in tempo... I thought her kit sounded and looked great.

I don't think your going to go wrong with Yamaha gear, they aren't going to sell something that is completely crap.... cross check your prices closely.

But I am no expert and have never owned or played Yamaha drums.

Not sure if the question is legit or not, but anything with Yamaha on it is first class regardless of the "level" of the product.

I never owned a Yamaha kit, but I bought a Yamaha Oak Custom 7 x 14 snare drum a couple of weeks ago. It's definitely a quality instrument.

Depends on the Line, but yeah, they have been making quality drums for long time. Kinda depends on what you are looking for. I wouldn't want to compare a Recording Custom with a Hipgig or a vintage Y-Badge to a Beech Custom. What I miss though, now that I don't own one any more, is their mounting hardware. It is fast to set up. stable, and gets the toms in close. I owned 2 Premiers right after my last Yamaha and the tom arms drove me crazy!

Seriously?

I bought a '92 Premier Projector double bass kit last year. I have it posted here: [URL="http://vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=28648&highlight=premier+projectors"]

This is the first Premier kit I've owned. It's the kit I gig with. I've found them to be the easiest and quickest kit I've ever had to set up. The tom mounts all have built in memory locks that set the drums to their exact positions every time. It's one of my favorite things about this drum set.

I've been playing Yammies since the early 90s, they just keep getting better. I think again it depends on what kit you're thinking about but even the stage custom (entry level) have gotten much better. My friend picked up a new stage custom kit, about 650 new and it sounds great and the finish and hardware are first class. I have 2 yamaha kits, one with 12 toms and I'm really happy with them.

Yamaha makes great drums. I have a maple custom absolute kit that is extremely well made. The sound is very articulate I suppose. I also have an Anton Fig snare that sounds really great and is well built. Their build quality is top notch. Certainly not vintage, but they are extremely high quality drums. As mentioned, there are a lot of lines available so make sure you are getting what you want.