Panasonic KX-TG8231B DECT 6.0 Cordlesss phone System with an All Digital Answering System

by Panasonic

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.9 x 6.5 inches ; 10.9 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000WOGAQM
• Item model number: KX-TG8231B
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 14, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

This Panasonic DECT 6.0 Cordless phone System operates in the 1.9GHz frequency range, which means this phone will not conflict with other wireless devices such as computer routers, wireless keyboards, microwave ovens, and other common household devices. With DECT 6.0 (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) technology, you can move freely around your home with long range and amazingly clear sound. It also assures greater protection against eavesdropping for all your calls. This phone system allows you to program each handset to ring--or not--at your discretion. Before going to sleep, simply set the bedside handset to "night mode" so that it won't ring in your bedroom. In the meantime, the handset in the den will still ring when that important call comes in without disturbing the person who's sleeping. This phone system also features text-to-speech technology, which announces the Caller ID information between rings, and the ability to assign an LCD color to your phonebook data. The LCD will flash a color of your choosing for each phonebook name and number when the corresponding Caller ID information is received from an incoming call. The system also boasts a talking alarm clock that will tell you when it's time for lunch, a 50-entry digital phone book, a digital answering machine, multilingual support (English and Spanish) and a talking battery alert that politely tells you when your battery is low with a "please charge phone" reminder. Each handset comes with a battery that supports 12 hours of talk time and 150 hours of standby time, and the system can be expanded to up to six handsets. This system's base also features a keypad and receiver, which can be used as a functional phone in the absence of a handset.

What's in the Box
Three Panasonic DECT 6.0 phones, base with keypad, two cradles, and power supplies.

Product Description

The KX-TG8231B DECT 6.0 cordless system uses Digital Enhanced Cordless Technology to offer great range, clear sound and less interference with common household devices.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great phone, January 2, 2008

By 

Roberto Garcia Martell "rgmartell" (McAllen, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panasonic KX-TG8231B DECT 6.0 Cordlesss phone System with an All Digital Answering System (Office Product)

Pros:
- Great range. Much better than the 5.8Ghz uniden it replaced.
- Very good clarity of voices during a call. No interference at all.
- Great battery life. First charge lasted 5 days of use before returning it to charge in base (home use, not office).
- Flexibility of batteries. It uses two standard AAA size Ni-Mh rechargeable batteries, which you can replace later for another brand or ones with even more capacity. Or you can have another set ready for use.
- You can group people in the directory and set an specific ring tone and display color for each group.
- Caller ID links the number calling to your phonebook names and displays both number and name calling. The uniden was suppossed to do this but never did.
- Good looking piano finish.
- Compact handset and base.
- Great looking color screen.

Cons:
- Very low customization. You can only select between 3 wallpapers. You can't add new ones. Few color options for setting the menu's colors. Those were a strong feature of the uniden.
- Only 50 number phonebook memory.
- Could add another volume bar. Volume is not low, but could have another bar for people that likes very high volume calls like me. Volume on speaker mode is great.
- ID caller takes like two rings before it displays the name calling.
- Only 18 min record time for answering system.

This is a great phone overall. It exceeds all the basic functions you expect for the dect frequency and panasonic (range, clarity, battery life). But I would rate it 5 stars if you can really customize it by adding your own wallpapers and ring tones. Also it would not hurt to have more memory for the answering machine and the phonebook.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can't find a better phone . . . . ., February 27, 2008

By 

K. Jaynes (Bonham, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panasonic KX-TG8231B DECT 6.0 Cordlesss phone System with an All Digital Answering System (Office Product)

This phone does it all. Like most people my age (50ish) I have owned many many phones. I am not normally a "brand" man; I usually buy my tools and equipment according to the features, user ratings I find online, and what I perceive as best bang for the buck.
One thing I have noticed over the years though about Panasonic products in general - they are usually superior to the competition, so I do find myself always looking to Panasonic first for many of our appliances, tools, and electronics because they are just plain better. This phone is no exception - it is a sterling example of Panasonics engineering, design prowess, and their commitment to R & D before throwing a product on the shelves like many other companies obviously do. Panasonic does TONS of research and market testing to get the features and user-friendliness that the future users will want, before releasing a product.

I read in several places, here at Amazon and elsewhere, that this phone's only weakness was the confusing menu, but I have not experienced that at all. And like most cordless Panasonic products the battery life is FAR superior to any other phone I have ever owned. Thier battery technology is always ahead of the pack not only in their phones but all of their cordless products.
Last month my shop got struck by lightning and zapped my older model Panasonic phone (which I also loved) and my wife ran down to Wally World and brought back a 5.8ghz GE. It was a POJ! I won't waste time describing how bad it was as this review is meant to help you decide that the Panasonic KX-TG8231B DECT 6.0 Cordlesss phone System is HANDS DOWN the best phone out there, unless you want to look at the other Panasonic DECT 6 phones, because they are their only competition.

This phone is small and does not have an external antenna - something I like because I run a sawmill and woodshop and always have my hands busy, so when I would get a phone call on my old Panasonic I would shut the sawmill/machinery off and hold the phone in my mouth by the antenna and use the speaker phone as I continued to work. This phone does not have an external antenna so I bought the Panasonic KX-TCA60 Headset. It is also true to Panasonic form - comfortable on the head and ear and unobtrusive. No batteries needed as it gets it's power from the phone.
The phone is sleek, small, powerful, and the clarity and range are so superior to anything else out there that it's no contest.
I realize this glowing review sounds like I own Panasonic stock (maybe I should buy some), but it's just that I am SO picky about my phones, and everytime I buy a new Panasonic model I am pleasantly suprised to see they have improved on the older models even more.

There are too many functions and features for me to list on this phone - they have been covered by the other reviewers collectively. My aim was to give some more general information that the detailed reviews did not cover. One thing I have heard a few times about Panasonic customer service is, that it is bad. I cannot say either way though because although I have owned at least a dozen Panasonic products over the years, I have never had a problem with any of them so I have never had to use their customer service.

This is a no-brainer people - buy the KX-TG8231B and don't look back......life is too short to hassle with crappy phones.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a phone that does a lot, December 30, 2007

By 

benjasmine (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Panasonic KX-TG8231B DECT 6.0 Cordlesss phone System with an All Digital Answering System (Office Product)

UPDATE (May 2009): FOUR stars

I have been using this Panasonic cordless phone system (KX-TG8231B, with NO additional handset) for home use for about a few months, and I'm happy with this product. Overall, this is a great phone for home use. I wish it had built-in VOIP feature. Though, I can't complain about it for this price.

1. The phone is easy to set up, and it recommends 7 hours of charge before initial use. The phone displays "Charge Completed" each time when the battery is full. Battery life is 17 hours according to the manual.
2. The design is stylish, comfortable and lightweight. The base station takes a little space.
3. It has a lot of features of a cell phone, such as color screen, caller ID, phone book, speaker, ringtones, wallpaper, etc.
4. The phone supports English and Spanish. If you don't wish to record your own greeting message, you can use the pre-recorded message in English or Spanish.

***********CONS:
- The phone has a glossy surface, which looks nice. However, it's pretty vulnerable to scratches, and attracts oil and fingerprint easily. Instruction recommends using a damp microfiber cloth to clean the surface.

- The answering machine has a 18-minute record time. 18 minutes might not be enough. Though it does alert you when the remaining record time is low.

- There is no sound alert when you have voice messages.

- The phone has limited customization, which makes the color screen not very useful. There are only 3 wallpapers you can choose from. In addition, the screen's resolution is pretty low. (Thankfully, there are 15 ringtones to choose.)


***********PROS:
- Long battery life: the phone comes with 2 AAA size Ni-MH rechargeable batteries. Each battery has 550 mAh. The battery life is a little bit "insane" for me. According to Panasonic, the battery provides up to 17 hours of talk time with 1 full charge, which is good anyway...
** Panasonic says on the instruction that leaving the handset on the base station will not hurt the batteries. Charging will be stopped when the battery is full.

- Great sound clarity: the sound clarity on this phone is without question. It also has a great speaker, which is very useful. The handset also has a headphone jack, which might be useful.

- Caller ID: it works as long as you are subscribe this feature to your phone company. It works great. When you check missed calls, both caller ID and phone numbers are displayed. If you want to save a number to phone book, it will automatically use the caller ID as the name, or you can edit it by typing in another name by yourself.

- Mute button & Flash button: The mute button can be useful in some situations. Once you press it, the other side can no longer hear any anything from your side. Press again to unmute, and the call continues.
The flash button provides Call Waiting feature.

- Handset expandability: the phone network can be expanded up to 6 handsets, and you can make internal (intercom) calls between between handsets. ***Right now, I only have one handset, thus I don't know how well the intercom works.

- Answering machine: Total record time is 18 minutes. You can listen to voice messages directly from the handset, not just from the base station. You can limit the recording time to either 1 or 3 minute in the menu. By default, each voice message can be no longer than 3 minutes. Like other answering machines, you can record your own greeting message, or you can use the original greeting messages that comes with the phone, English or Spanish.
**UPDATE: It's up to you whether to erase a voice message or not, the system will not erase it. When you have low remaining record time, it will alert you. However, I'm not sure what will happen if you run out of record time completely.

- Customization: There are 3 wall papers and 15 ringtones to choose. You can also change the background color and contrast. Language can be set to English or Spanish.

- Other features: backlit (light) on keypad, alarm clock, phone book with 50 entries.