Customer Reviews

Panasonic KX-TG5631S 5.8 GHz FHSS GigaRange Digital Cordless Answering System

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

My work phone started to short out and so I was "allowed" to buy another phone to take its place. I settled upon this Panasonic phone for two reasons: I wanted an answering machine built into the phone and I wanted a 5.8 GHz phone so that I did not interfer with anyone's wireless connections. After three weeks, I am pleased that I selected this phone. The answering machine works well and there have been no reports of interference.

The range on the phone is more than adequate. My office is one of many off a hallway constructed of cinderblock. The phone has a range of about 200 feet or so going through the cinderblock wall and two solid wood doors. I expect that the range in a home should easily exceed 200 feet and likely be more than adequate.

The phone also has a "voice enhancer technology," designed to clarify voices. Frankly, I was skeptical of this feature but after using it I am convinced it is worthwhile. It indeed does seem to make voices easier to understand.

One aspect of seting up the phone initially confused me. I expected that I would set up the time and date on the unit's base. I search all over the base for the "menu" button I was told to push by the instructions. I quickly found a menu button on the phone but initially I didn't believe this was the correct button. I shouuld have believed--the time and date are set up on the phone using the phone's menu button (there is no such button on the base) and then the base apparently receives this information (for date-stamping messages) from the phone. For what it's worth, the instruction booklet is not great. It covers way too many models and so I was constantly checking to make sure that my model either had or did not have a specific feature.

The battery life seems fine. Making only two or three phone calls per day, the battery lasted for about 6 days before it needed to be recharged.

My bottom line assessment is that this item is a fine phone. Indeed, I thinking about buying another for home use.

I just received and set this phone up yesterday. First of all it is great looking and takes up so little space. It is probably the smallest answering machine/ cordless phone I have ever owned. Set-up is so easy. No complicated instructions or menus. Although the booklet said it needed 7 hours to charge, it actually was working in less than 3 hours. I made several calls and asked each person to rate the clarity of my voice. Most said I sounded like I was in the next room. I then asked each to leave me a message on the answering machine. Again, perfect clarity! I also like the option of screening the calls --hearing their message or not. Additionally, no more searching for a misplaced handset, press the locator button on the base unit and the handset lites up and beeps! The LED panel is a great size and extremely clear to read. My last phone (AT&T) I could hardly make out the lettering. All in all for $59.99 I am ecstatic about my purchase.I would not hesitate to reccomend it.

It's a great cordless phone...value for money. It has very good voice clarity & is feature rich.
Keypad is not illuminated though which may cause some trouble in low light condition. Also, one needs to reset the date & time everytime if the base gets disconnected for any reason.

Phone is excellent. No doubts about it. It has all the bells and whistles.

But the battery life is too bad. In just 5 months, the battery is dead and no longer recharges. A spare battery cost me $12 at Radioshack. I thought that the factory battery was already old and expected the new battery to last longer. But even the new battery is already showing sigs of age in just 1 month.

I found out from my other friends that they are having problems wiht their Panasonic phones too (other models).

So please don't buy this phone unless you don't mind spending a fortune on batteries.

This is my third cordless telephone system from Panasonic. The features keep getting better and the prices keep getting lower (thanks to amazon.com). There was one unusual issue that I discovered shortly after setup but it was resolved very quickly thanks to excellent customer support from Panasonic. When a caller hung up on the answering system feature, the phone wouldn't release the line. The all too familiar message saying "if you'd like to make a call, please hang up and dial again . . ." would get recorded on the answering system which is annoying and a waste of space. I called Panasonic's help line and at 5:30 PM on a Friday I was able to immediately reach a helpful and friendly technician who spoke perfect English with no accent. There is a "secret" key sequence where three buttons on the base unit have to pressed at the same time. This turns on the auto disconnect feature. That resolved my issue immediately! Surprisingly, this doesn't appear in the owner's manual however I made a note of it and stored it with the manual in case I ever need it again.

This is one of the best wireless phones I've had -- good call quality, good speakerphone quality and good range.

I picked this up for 50 dollars to replace a 75-dollar Uniden that had a sticky "talk" button and muffled sound qaulity. The Panasonic blows the Uniden away. The sound is clear, crisp, and intimate, the ring selection is varied (I prefer the nonobtrusive default setting). The controls are easy to use. The quality and finish of the materials is high. I am now a loyal Panasonic phone buyer.

Getting a new phone made me realize how outdated my previous one had become. Reception is good all over the house and there's no interference with my wireless network. User controls are intuitive. I even set up a different ring tone. I'm usually pretty slow adapting to new techie devices, but I was up and running quickly. It's a fun phone, with selectable color lights when it gets an incoming call.

Did everything promised, and did it well - for about ten weeks of use. Then the base station quit. The phone is still fine, but without the base station it's paralyzed.
I haven't time for this sort of nonsense so I'll replace it with something cheap from a local store.
Great phone (5), didn't live long (1), so it gets a compromise rating of 3 stars.

I've owned many cordless phones over the years and they've all been pretty lousy. I've tried all the frequencies and they all were full of static or other noises. Half of them required a year of school to figure out how to make them work and the other half have the most illogical controls ever devised by man. None of them had enough volume to hear over even the slightest background noise. And then there's Panasonic.
I've never been a fan of Panasonic electronics until I bought this phone. Open the box, follow the easy assembly instructions, rivaling those from Dell computers, and after a few hour initial battery charge you're in operation.
Do you get frustrated when you call a business that requires you to enter a number after the message and you miss the instructions while moving the handset from your ear so you can punch in the numbers? Not with this phone. Turn on the speakerphone on the handset and you'll hear all the instructions. They even provided a button to switch the speakerphone on. In fact all the most important features are given their own button or can be switched by the joystick button. Listening to messages from the answering machine is a breeze. If you use the handset to listen, the messages play over the handset only (don't forget the speakerphone, it'll switch on automatically). Playback from the base and you'll only hear them on the base.
Interference, static and background noise disappear with this unit. My base is sitting next to my router and I have absolutely no problems.
Have problems hearing and understanding your callers? My hearing isn't what it used to be and I'm constantly asking people to speak up. Well, this phone's got the answer. Not only does it have an excellent volume control, it also has a voice clarifier which can be turned on. Yeah, it actually works but , I seldom have to use it because the phone is so clear anyway.
Ringer volume? Plenty loud or quiet if you want.
Phone book? Yep, and simple and logical to use.
Other features? A whole lot of them. Want diferrent ringtones so you can identify your caller? How about different flashing lights to notify you of your calls? It's also expandable to use additional handsets. This ones got it all without those totally useless and unnessessary (I spelled that wrong didn't I) ones. I haven't found any games on it.
Negatives? Every machine has it's weak points but, this units are very few. If you want to mount the base on the wall, the bracket holds the phone as if it was sitting on a table. I leave mine on the table so this doesn't affect me. The display is clear but, I'd sure like to see larger characters (my eyes aren't what they used to be either).
Compared to other units on the market this has them all eating its dust. Thanks Panasonic.

Update December 12, 2011

I've had this Phone for nearly 5 years and it hasn't once failed me. I use it daily and it's been dropped more times than I can remember. I sure wish everything was made this well and was as reliable. I'd buy the exact same model and definitely a Panasonic if I ever need another.