Panasonic KX-FPG381 Plain-Paper Fax and 2.4 GHz Cordless Phone Combo

by Panasonic

Product Details

Product Manual [8.43mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000AQL6Z
• Item model number: KX-FPG381
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 22, 2003

Product Description

This fax machine from Panasonic can take care of all of your office needs. Not only does this plain paper fax double as a copier, but it also features a corded Caller ID* capable phone, a digital answering system, and a 2.4GHz digital cordless phone. You'll also love the digital duplex speakerphone on the base and the handset, as well as the 10-sheet automatic document feed and the 50-sheet letter paper capacity. *Requires phone company service.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Panasonic needs to dump this style, March 31, 2004

By 

Alexander E. Paulsen "AlexP" (Jacksonville, Fl United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Panasonic KX-FPG381 Plain-Paper Fax and 2.4 GHz Cordless Phone Combo (Office Product)

Panasonic needs to dump this style of fax machine - the ones that use that cheesy film - like carbon paper only really really expensive.

I had the older model this unit and I can't really fault much about it except the cost of the film and the way it uses the film. It basically feeds inch by inch film to paper. What his means is when a fax message is blank or has one line it still uses an entire page of film.

When your film is finished you may used 20% of the potential of the roll. You can't rewind so you have are stuck with shelling out another $25 for a roll.

I just took mine out of service in favor of a SHARP unit that uses an inkjet cartridge. It's too soon to tell how long it will last but the starter cartridge has already done more than 300 sheets and still going strong. The entire unit cost me the same price as two rolls of Panasonic film.

The cordless phone is fine and works well, but the battery could stand some improvement.

Panasonic needs to stop making these film based machines or at least re-engineer them to feed film only when printing.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Initial Comments and Review, June 23, 2004

By 

Steve (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Panasonic KX-FPG381 Plain-Paper Fax and 2.4 GHz Cordless Phone Combo (Office Product)

The Panasonic KX-FPG381 Fax & cordless phone combo appears to have been a good decision.

PROS:
1. It accurately distinguishes between fax calls and voice calls.
2. It allows the phone to ring up to from 2 to 7 times (selectable) before triggering the answering machine.
3. I added an additional telephone and was able to add it without any trouble.
4. Good, clear telephone reception
5. Lots of convenience features that you'll quickly depend upon
6. Selectable tones reduces the irritation of hearing the phone ring
7. Faxing out is simple (just enter the phone number and hit send). An automated message tells you whether it was sent OK or not.
8. Receiving faxes is automatic (do nothing, just read your fax).

CONS:
1. The manual is the only drawback I can see right now. Its obviously written in a foreign language and then translated into
English. If this isn't the case, then Panasonic should have hired professional technical writers to produce the manual (not the engineers - they can't write directions to make pop-corn).

OVERALL
I consider it a good buy and a good price when you consider you're getting a quality cordless phone system and a fax machine at one price.

Well, that's my opinion so far. If it changes, I'll update this.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice compact unit with lots of features, September 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Panasonic KX-FPG381 Plain-Paper Fax and 2.4 GHz Cordless Phone Combo (Office Product)

This machine does it all! I really like the 2.4 Ghz cordless phone that has its cradle attached to the side of the fax machine. It has way too many features to mention, and the answering system on it is great, again, with lots of features. The fax machine does a very nice job and is easy to operate and load paper into. Changing the toner could be a bit easier, but once you get the hang of it, I guess it's not so bad. One thing I don't like is that the toner runs out too fast if you use it as a copier - especially if you are copying photos or something with a lot of black. But it is nice to be able to use it as a copier when needed. Another thing I don't like is when you play your messages, the light does not go out, it stays on. This is confusing, especially if you receive more messages before erasing the old one(s). The only other thing that is a bit annoying is that the paper comes out at the very bottom of the machine when copying. This forced me to keep the unit raised on a telephone stand on my desk, otherwise I would not be able to put anything on the desk in front of the machine. But the nice thing is that I now have some additional storage under it too.
Other than that, it's a great compact unit that fits nicely on my desk, and is packed with all the bells and whistles.