Customer Reviews

Motorola MD71 5.8 GHz Cordless Accessory Handset for MD700 Series Phones

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

As with the MD751 (required to use this expansion phone), this phone offers superior sound quality. In my opinion Panasonic is the best when it comes to sound quality, but this was a close second and was a vast improvement over all AT&T, VTech and GE phones I tried. The features are excellent, including expandability, handsfree/speakerphone, and all the other standard bells and whistles for a top of the line phone. The one feature that seems unique to Motorola is the Area Code Format feature. Among other things, this means that when I get a call from a long-distance area code, it either knows to add a 1 at the beginning or allows me to change the format to do so to facilitate calling back that number without needing to key it in manually. I have not found this on any other phone and it is a great feature. The only problem I have is that there is a lack of connectivity between the expansion units and the base units. Each phone is more or less designed to work on its own, so it is necessary to manually delete caller ID logs from each phone and to store auto-dial and Area Code Format preferences separately as well. Still, this is a great buy even at the high price.

We have a base unit (Motorola MD761) and one of these expansion sets. The phones have good range on them (I have taken mine across the street to check the mail without a problem) and despite my wife's habit of spending a lot of time talking on the phone, we have never had the battery charge die on us. You are supposed to leave them on the base when not in use (maybe some didn't read the instructions?). We have had these for about a year now without complaint other than very rarely having to hit the "flash/answer" button twice for the phone to pick up - no big deal.

It has more features than I will ever use, but the built-in SHARED stored phone numbers are great (when you enter a number you can designate it to be stored on the phone or as a shared number in the base unit for any phone to use). You can use multiple extensions simultaneously - some/most other phones do not allow 2 handsets to be used at the same time (say you and your wife both want to talk with grandpa at the same time, for instance). The phones are comfortable to hold and the rubberized sides help prevent accidental drops. We really like the phones. Sound is clear and the phones are easy to use.

The phone is labeled as an "accessory handset" and says it is for use with "Motorola MD 700 series expandable cordless phones". If you didn't read the product description carefully, do not complain that it isn't what you thought it was. As far as the looks go - we really like it. I think it is silly to look at a photo of a product, buy it, then complain about it's looks. Come on.

This is a good phone but the battery life is really short. All the other features of the phone are up to the standard that I would expect from Motorola. Very disapointed in the battery life. With about an hour of use, the batery charge indicator in almost exhausted.

People complain of bad battery life, and we had this problem at first. I think what happens is that the batteries get old on the store shelf. Ours wouldn't hold a charge very long, so we called Motorola, and they cheerfully & quickly sent us new batteries. After that, everything was great. Like any NiCad product, I think you have to 1) follow the directions for the initial charge and 2) keep them on the base as much as you can. Our family has trouble returning them to the base, but they still are holding charges well after about 8 months.
For us, being able to expand to 8 phones on just one line is the clinching feature (its not common to support so many handsets using just one "ringer equivalent" [telephone technospeak - we only have 5 ringer equivalents in our house - so we can only have 5 ordinary phones or phone devices hooked up at once]). Also, the Motorola doesn't interfere with our internet DSL dial-up on the same line. So far, we have just 3 handsets, but plan to add more gradually. More means less getting up and running around, and more intercom units - I'd like one in each bedroom eventually.
The human inferface and buttons are relatively easy. Changing volumes is easy - in my room I turn off the ringer, but hear it ringing in other rooms. It lights up on ringing, (text and buttons!) and I can see the caller ID even at night, and then decide if it's for me or whether to let my children answer it, or just let it go to voice mail. The caller ID log is shared by all units - everyone can see the same list on their phones and holds the last 40 calls backed up by battery. You can quickly redial any entry in the log and/or save it to your handset's personal address book. The fast dial address book entries are unique to each phone, and have user-defined text tags for each number. They have a lot of shortcut features that make them convenient.
Our friends gave us a "talking" 2.4MHz system to try and it almost drove us crazy - I couldn't get anybody to use it - the interface was so awkward. A clean interface is very important. Any phone requires a few days to get used to because portables lack a precise common interface like the GUIs on computers, but my family was up and running quickly.
For security, we want 5.8MHz. It's too easy for prowlers to cruise around and capture conversations. I'm told no one can readily crack 5.8MHz right now.
I was surprise how poor the features are on many phones - someday someone will make some that are much better - but this is the best I could find at present. My wife doesn't care for the "rugged" non-slip handset, but the guys like it, and my daughter is indifferent. Most of all, adding phones to our single line is trivial and relatively inexpensive. The system should last a long time with up to 8 handsets.
Don't overlook this phone. Get Motorola to replace the batteries if necessary. I don't think any of the systems are perfect, but this one is very nice.

I've owned this phone MD791 with two MD71 extensions for about 3 weeks. Everything works great and I cannot get over all the features it has. My favorites are: Each extension shares the common phone book with the base as well as has its own private phone book. Each base has caller ID. You can access the answering machine from each extension. Each extension has a speaker phone, paging, intercome....
I love it!

With today's technology and gadgets, it's refreshing to find a phone that is intuitive and easy to use. My Dad (70yr+) after using it in our home said: "I really like your new phones, much better than the old ones.... you can buy me one, too". One unexpected surprise, is the notice of calls on our voicemail system. We would sometimes forget to check for calls and get them late.... these phones have a flashing light that are almost annoying to the point, that we check our messages promptly. Easy to store and recall phone features. Phones are a little bulky, but no problems with battery or distance. I highly recommend these phone.

Everyone in my house is very happy with the MD71 in terms of messages and basic phone use. The 5.8 GHz has eliminated static and cross talk issues we used to have with our previous 2.4 phone system. The one caveat I have is (and it seems foolish that they don't have a better selection) the ring tones and ring tone options are both limited and cheesy. Given the proven technology they have on the cell side, and the room to inclue more options in the memory of this unit, one would think you could get everything from a classic phone bell ring to a wide variety of options and that's not the case. It's a very solid unit though and has some really nice visual cues communicating a ringing phone, messages etc.

I was looking for a handset that would not interfere with 2.4Ghz wireless that has taken over my neighborhood and caused many reception problems. Saw the Motorola 5.8Ghz and thought I'd give it a try after trying out a Panasonic 5.8Ghz which sounded like I was talking through a tin can. Unfortunately Motorola was just a bit better on sound quality, but not much. The last part of every word gets cut off. I couldn't go far from the base without loosing signal and the volume was low to medium. Battery life was marginal at best. I am slightly hard of hearing, (but have perfect pitch) so having a little more juice in this department would be good. The features are okay but, layout and interface are primitive compared to other phones in this price range. I guess the 3rd time is the charm because I ended up finding the 5.8GHz Uniden Tru 8860-2 finally with normal human voice quality and volume when needed. The layout and functionality for the features are intuitive and easy where the phone is not drawing attention to itself because of it's quirkieness and low quality audio(Motorola and Panasonic.) Take it from me, if you are looking for a 5.8 Ghz phone, get the Uniden.

Now have five of these cordless phones around my home. They work great for the price. The only weak area is the battery. The battery last about two hours on talk. Not bad.
You will enjoy this phone.

Pretty nice handset. It has speakerphone and intercom features which I like and use very much. Very lightweight compared to previous models.