Originally posted by Sliver-Surfer Except the outer 2/3 of the image area. ....OUCH
Pentax auto focus is pretty good. 2/3 is a bit of an exaggeration as to the portion that isn't covered by PDAF points. You can also use live view and that covers a significantly larger part of the sensor.
I'm sure the A6500 is great too, but the OP would need to sell his lenses and buy new as it doesn't sound as though he is particularly interested in manual focusing. I take plenty of my photos of my kids with Pentax gear without problem and my wife shoots weddings with it. Is it a struggle? No, it isn't.
I understand that you are pretty invested in Sony, but your comment did come across as pretty snarky. I would say that cameras out there are pretty good these days and often choices come down more to things like whether you like EVFs (I don't), whether you like Sony's ergonomics (I don't), and how good video you need (I don't shoot video with my SLR). Someone else who answers these questions differently might end up with a Sony, or even better, a Panasonic camera. But in the end the goal is producing the images you want and finding that gear that you enjoy using to do so.