Customer Reviews

Panasonic GigaRange KX-TG5471S 5.8 GHz DSS Cordless Phone with Answering System

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this about a month ago to replace my old 900mHz analog cordless phone at home. I don't use the phone very much at home; probably about 30~60 minutes a day. So far, very satisfied with the phone. But here are the things I noticed:

1. Very good sound quality. Hard to tell whether it's a cordless phone or not. Also, I love the volume control button in the middle which I can easily adjust with my thumb as I talk depending on the volume of noise in the surrounding area. The handset's ear piece volume control has 3 different levels of volume.

2. Speaker phone feature. Although not full duplex (I wouldn't expect that anyway at this price range), it works almost flawlessly. Speaker phone feature both at the handset and at the base. Both are very good. The volume level of the handset speaker phone feature has 6 different levels and the base speaker phone had 8 different levels. Also, switching to/from regular handset use with the ear piece and from/to the handset speakerphone feature is very easy; just press the "talk" button to use the ear piece and "sp-phone" to use it as a speaker phone.

3. Ear phone jack is also available on the handset. This is also very useful.

4. The key pad on the base is also very handy. I can use the base as a phone even if I don't have the handset, i.e., if and when I misplace the handset (although the handset would be easy to find with the locator function) or if and when the handset's battery dies.

5. Small foot print of the base is also a plus.

6. Good range. I also tested the range. I walked around the block to see how well it worked in the neighborhood. With a clear view to my house (wooden structure), I could be about 100 steps away and still get a clear reception. When multiple buildings were in between, the range was only about 30~40 yards (my guess). But from inside of my detached garage, there was no problem at all. I think I should be able to use this phone from inside of my neighbor's house, which is located about 20 feet away from my house.

7. Answering machine is simple to use.

8. Battery life is shorter than my old analog phone. My old analog phone, on stand by, lasted about 2 weeks. I think this one lasts about a week on stand by.

This is the third cordless phone I have bought in a month. The first, a Motorola, had terrible echoes and sound. That one went back. The second, a GE, was fine, for the first three weeks. Then the answering machine shut down erasing all the messages every time I put the phone in the cradle. That one went back. I've only had the Panasonic a couple of days, cut so far so good. The sound is decent, though I would like the handset to be a little louder. But everything else works and I have to admit, the talking caller ID is pretty cool. Hopefully this one will keep working.
Update: A week later and still working. I just wanted to add, however, despite what the Amazon site says, this only has one handset and is not expandable.
One more cool feature I have found. You can subscribe to the Caller IQ serivce to get weather and other things on the phone. This is OK, but the best part is you can use the web site to import your Outlook contacts. Then you can check the ones you want on your phone and they are automatically downloaded to the address book in the phone. Saves lots of work.

This phone's sound and communication quality are very good, feature rich, the review is mainly focus on it's down side though, battery related.

1. The phone eat battery. If I leave the battery not on the baseset (as suggested by the manual that extend batter life), the battery only last less than 2 hours of talking (in less than two days, not much standby power consumption), without even using boost clarity and voice enhancement feature. This is well below the manufacture suggested figure.

This is verified on two separate authentic panasonic batteries, so the chance that I came across an odd here is very small.

I purchased additional battery in case I need to backup in the middle of phone call. Then funny thing happened :

2. If you replace a near empty battery with a fully charged one, the handset battery indicator remain in low-battery state (so in this case, you will notice your phone "appears to be amazingly" run in low battery for two hours.

3. conversely, if you replace a fully charged battey with a nearly empty battery, the battery indicator remain in full battery state, until the battery is suddenly gone from full to null in seconds.

If you decide to use this phone, do purchase a few batteries, and let the handset remain on the baseset whenever not used (although not recommended by the manual that suggest will shorten the battery life) until tha battery cannot be used anymore.

Just got it and have started using it, so far so good. I got it mainly for the FHSS, but the battery in the handset seems kind of weak already... Sound on regular talk is good, speakerphone volume is weak. Ok for the money.

Great phone wish it could take more sets

Has everything (more than I need in fact) and the speakerphone works great.