Customer Reviews

Panasonic KX-TG6702B 2-Line 5.8 GHz FHSS GigaRange Expandable Cordless Phone System with 2 Handsets

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

If you need a two-line, expandable cordless phone system, the pickings are pretty slim. Of the few out there, the Panasonic system is the best. I previously owned both early and late generations of the Siemens Gigaset systems. Both were POSs. No wonder Siemens got out of that line of business.

The Panasonic system has great sound quality and pretty much every bell and whistle you could want.

Is it perfect? No. Here's what I'd add or change in the next version of this phone:

1. The (user selectable) flashing indicator on the handsets for new voice messages is great. But it works only with messages left on the machine's built-in recorder and not messages left on phone company-based voicemail? C'mon Panasonic, this is trivial to implement. Lots of much cheaper phones can do this. Even most caller ID boxes have a message light. Silly omission.

2. When you clear the missed called list from any handset or the base, it should likewise clear the missed called list on every other station. Just like when you listen to new messages and the blinking indicator stops flashing on every station. Annoying, basic user interface design flaw that would be so easy to correct in the next generation.

3. The ONE thing the Siemens Gigaset did that I miss is the ability to slip a handset into the charging base during a call and have it charge the battery and not drop the call. If you do this with the Panasonic, it hangs up. You could also initiate a call on the Siemens phone while in the charger by using a plug-in headset or the speakerphone feature. I'm sometimes on long conference calls and it would be nice to be able to do this when the battery is about to die.

4. A two-digit PIN for retrieving messages remotely? That's just ridiculous, Panasonic. C'mon... it should be at least 4 digits long. At least the PIN is user-selectable.

5. There are cheap (< $1) belt/pocket clips for the handsets available from Panasonic. You'll see an order form in the box. Geez, Panasonic. Think ya coulda sprung for a FREE one of those with the phone? It's little piece of plastic, for crying out loud. They snap on firmly and are particularly useful if you like to walk around while you talk with a plugged-in headset.

6. Speaking of headsets, another nice-to-have feature is Bluetooth connectivity between the handset and a wireless headset that you probably already own for your mobile phone.

7. Reduce the size of the transformer plug on the charger base. It's ridiculously large compared to similar devices (e.g. my mobile phone's charger). Move the transformer circuitry from the plug to the base itself. The base is mostly filled with air right now. The extra weight in the base would make it more stable anyway.

None of these are showstoppers for me. Overall I'm very satisfied with the sound quality in both speakerphone and held-to-your-ear modes, the peaceful coexistence of the 5.8 GHz with my WiFi network and microwave oven, the very adequate battery life and the system's ability to deal with my city's mandatory 10-digit dialing and four local area codes intelligently. It's also very important to me to be able to copy dialing directories between handsets and it's simple to do with this system.

Are you listening, Panasonic....? Bueller? Anyone?

This is by far the best telephone system I've ever seen or used. Intelligently designed, allowing 8 handsets to be used with the base station, intuitive operation, great range with great sounding voice reception, an outstanding system in all respects. I've scattered the 7 receivers away from the base throughout our (single level) large home and find they all sound just as clear as when they're held next to the base. The recording system is easy to operate and with all the expected extras for a high-level telephone of this price, this system completely fulfills my expectations. I strongly recommend this telephone (with 6 additional receivers to add to the base and single receiver in the package) to anybody who needs a quality telephone system

The hand set of this 5.8ghz phone system has pretty good range, much better than my old Motorola 2.8ghz system. Ergonomics seem good. Biggest peeve: every incomming call shows as a "Missed Call" on all the handsets where the call was not answered, including calls answered by the answering machine of the base unit. So you end up with a meaningless tally of Missed Calls in the display. Also, it does not indicate when I have a message waiting on my phone service provider's voice mail system (I use that for one of the two phone lines, and the system's built-in answering machine for the second line).

I am quite disappointed with this phone. The device is advertised as GigaRange. Well, you would expect 60 feet to be with in that range. Actually, I expected I would be able to take the phone to my back yard or even to the street and still be able to communicate. When I had a problem in my garage and tried to Intercom with my wife at home (about 70 feet) the connection to the base station simply died. Previously I owned the Panasonic 2.4G 4-line device (this one has 2 input lines) and it worked very well even as far as 180 feet. The KX6700 base station is located exactly where the 2.4G base station used to be but the reception is very poor.

Furthermore, I found the voice quality to be unacceptable. I can barely hear the called and all the handsets are set to maximum volume.

Other than that, the device looks nice and has good features. Memory, answering machine, intercom, call transfer, etc. are all working nicely. Still, I would not recommend this set to anyone who has a standard sized home. If you have a smaller home with not too many wall, this phone should address your needs nicely.

Update in August 2010: About a year or so ago the phone started making random interrupts or hits on phone calls where I hear a click and no sound for the half second while the person with whom I am speaking hears a tone. Usually this interrupted but did not drop the call. The line does NOT have call waiting so that was not the cause. I confirmed that it is not the headset I use at times with the phone. This seemed to be increasing in rate of occurrence - once it happened three times in a one-hour call. A similar thing occurred with the earlier TG6500.

The sound quality on the phone was always slightly muffled although acceptable. A Plantronics headset had no effect on sound quality. I recently started using a Sennheiser CC520 headset with the Panasonic phone. The Sennheiser sound clarity with the Panasonic phone was amazingly clear. It made me realize just how muffled the Panasonic handset had been all that time.

I stopped using the phone and replaced it with an AT&T DECT 6.0 phone AT&T DECT 6.0 Digital 2-Line Answering System (86109).

Initially I gave this Panasonic phone four stars but I just downgraded it to three.

==== original review unchanged ====
This is a good newer version of the KX-TG6500. Same menu structure and general operation. Very well though-out layout of the base unit and the handsets. A very compact unit. On the answering system the optional higher-quality recording helps a lot, although it reduces recording time from 60 minutes to 30. A worthwhile trade-off.

Some other reviewers commented about a very short usability distance for the handset away from the base. I don't have this experience. I have used the handset two floors away from the base station.

Other reviewers commented that the recessed buttons below the LCD on the handset for the soft keys are difficult to push and activate. I have no problem in this regard. The buttons are slightly recessed although they activate easily.

There is an option to have the handset flash an indicator when new messages are on the machine although this reduces battery life.

All is not perfect. The handset indicates the number of missed calls. That is useful. But ALL the handsets indicate this. So it seems one must go clear out the number of missed calls on other handsets unless you want to always see that display message. Can't quite fathom what the designer had in mind...

Volume is sufficient, as with the earlier 6500 although if you have a very loud environment it may be difficult to boost volume sufficiently.

No interference with wireless local networks due to 5.8GHz band.

Overall very pleased with the system.

We purchased this system a few weeks ago for our home and small business. After using it for the past several weeks, we are very pleased with how easy it was to set up and how intuitive it is to use. At first, we were a bit fearful that the system might not be what we needed, based on some negative reviews that we read on the Amazon site. We are happy to report that we have had absolutely no trouble with the system.

Some customer reviews complained that a call which is taken on one handset is listed as a "Missed Call" on the other one. We are pleased with this feature because, if you want to add the caller's phone number to your directory, you can easily locate the information on the other handset, add it to the directory with two keystrokes, and then copy it to the other handset using the menu keys. Then you have the caller's information in the directories of both handsets -- a very useful feature! (If it weren't for this attribute of the system, I am not sure how you could so easily capture the caller's ID and phone number for your directory.)

Several reviews mentioned weak signals between the base unit and the handsets. We have found the signal to be very strong, so strong that we are able to carry a handset into our back yard (over 100 feet away) and make and receive calls from it.

The answering system works very well. It allows you to save messages or erase them very easily, along with the usual time-stamping that lets you know when a call came in.

Overall, we are extremely pleased with the system, and will shortly add a third and possibly a fourth handset so we can have them on both levels of our house.

This is the 4th cordless system we've tried in recent months. All of the others had to be returned for various reasons including huge amount of static when only one room away from base; instrument didn't stand which made it difficult to use speakerphone; it was necessary to scroll entire address book to find a number; etc. This Panasonic model has clear reception from the other end of the house and even outside; the speakerphone is easy to use since the instrument stands up; and phone numbers in the address book can be easily accessed by inserting the first letter of the person's name. The address book and the answering machine were easy to program, the Amazon price was very reasonable, and we are very pleased with the new phone system.

While this phone has lots of good features -- especially clear reception for a pretty good distance using the handset's regular speaking method -- the jacks for a headset give tinny, soft sound, especially to the person you're calling.

If you don't need to use a headset with your phone, don't worry about it (sound quality is good when not using a headset), but I talk on the phone all day for work, and need decent sound quality through a headset. Two good-quality headsets which have worked on other phones on both of these Panasonic units made me sound quiet and far away.

The range was much better than the 2ghz phone I had before.

The interface for saving numbers to dial is a little clumsy, requiring several buttons to get to the saved list, which I found annoying.

We use the system with 3 handsets scattered around two floors of our house. It works great! Good voice quality, decent speaker phone on each handset, shared phone books, takes standard headsets and lots more. My only gripe is that each handset tracks the number of calls it missed, including those picked up on other handsets. Brainless. Otherwise, the best on the market.

I could not use phone. The base unit would not activate, no dial tone, all buttons dead.

I notified Amazon and received another phone. The second phone was also defective. Amazon customer service is very responsive.

The 2nd phone did activate but the base unit was partially defective, some buttons did not work. Button #1,2 and 3 and the answer "message" button were dead,thus couldn't dial or listen to messages from base unit.

I have used panasonic phones for many years and this is the first time this problem has occured.

What are the odds in receiving two defective same product model phones?