Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I bought this phone as a replacement for my Panasonic TG776 which went dead after only 30 days! I didn't lose faith in Panasonic's cordless line due to the fact that I had 10 years of excellent service from their TGM240. I was drawn to the TG8231 by its sleek, modern appearance and the great user reviews it has received. Not only is this model beautiful to look at but it has many of the features that today's cordless users are looking for including a color screen and DECT 6.0 capability. The phone itself is tiny compared to my old M240 but the quality of the calls that I make and receive are even better than that great, old phone was capable of.

Voices come through loud and clear. Speaker phone mode is also nice and loud. Battery life can only be described as amazing! This phone can easily maintain its charge for the better part of a week. The only major gripe I have is that the color screen is not customizable. Because of the small size of the receiver it takes some time to learn how to hold the phone between your head and shoulder. Also for some reason the phone tells you that you "missed a call" even after you have answered the phone! My former TG776 had the same problem. Unfortunately, you must load all phone-book information by hand into the receiver rather that through desktop software like I could with the TG776. This makes adding new numbers to the phone very time consuming. In the end I think Panasonic has introduced what will be considered a "classic" design to the cordless phone market. I highly recommend this product.

Overall a great phone, with a few minor imperfections/annoyances. I did quite a bit of research for a new land-line phone and I'm glad I did this time, rather than just guessing at a store how good or bad one might be. I upgraded from 2.4ghz to DECT and the difference in voice clarity and interference is amazing. I also upgraded from a Motorola phone which in my personal opinion was garbage! To summarize:

PROS:

* DECT is far and away the best standard out there and the voice clarity on this phone is amazing.

* I have yet to experience any interference at all, from TVs, cell phones, radio, microwaves, anything.

* Panasonic quality

* Color screen - you can't change the backgrounds much, but it's cool. Interactive menus are intuitive and easy to learn. The directional key helps you navigate, a bit like a cell phone.

* Nice finish, cool design.

* You can turn the ringer off. Some phones out there don't let you do that. Can you believe that!??!

* Speaker phone, which is pretty loud.

* Battery life is excellent. You can leave it off the charger for 5 days and it's still good to go!


CONS:

* When the unit is on the base charging, the background screen is on ALL the time. Even when the charge is full. So even in the dark, it's lit up. The background only goes into "screensaver" mode when it's not on the charger. Could be annoying if the phone is in your bedroom.

* Only one way to stand phone on charge/base.

* When you use the handset to check your voicemail, it automatically starts in speakerphone mode, which isn't very discreet. Would have been better to start in normal phone mode. Easy to deal with, you just have to hit speaker phone before the messages start.

* I think the default for call screening is that you can hear the person leaving the message out loud, but it can be changed so messages that are being recorded don't have to be heard.

* Honestly, this phone looks pretty but it really isn't that comfortable to hold, at least for any length of time. IT doesn't really fit snugly into the ear, and it doesn't have well-rounded edges. However it is light and you can hold onto it quite easily for a long time.

I was surprised at how quickly this phone arrived. It is more complex than I had expected. I am an old lady and complicated electronic stuff tends to throw me. However, I spent some time with it and now it works great for me. It does things that don't interest me but as a phone it is fine.

what the title says.

i was away when it arrived, and my girlfriend was able to take it out of the box and set it up, and she has no idea how to turn on the tv, so that means it's pretty good.

also, i like the voice on the outgoing message so much that i haven't put a personalized message on there yet.

ok!

This phone has the best sound quality of any phone in the house, including my landline! And the sound quality of the voice greeting and the answering system way surpasses ATT Call Notes. It has a brilliant screen, and the features seem very intuitive and easy to figure out (I haven't read the manual). The whole system way surpasses my expectations. Highly recommended.

I've used both 900mhz and 2.4ghz, and DECT by far outperforms both in terms of range and clarity. This phone in particular is well made, sounds good (no "tin-ny" or echo-like characteristics), has good battery life and has a small footprint. I have no reservations in recommendinig this phone.

This is a nice phone, looks sleek, good menu system, the wallpaper is pretty nice too. Only bad thing is the ringer isn't very loud. It doesn't have a ringer in the base and the ringer in the handset, at full volume, isn't very loud. If you're in the bathroom with the exhaust fan running you'd better take the phone with you. I had it sitting on the coffee table not 12 feet away and could not hear it ringing while the exhaust fan was running. I like everything else about this phone but the ringer, which knocks one star off the total. Don't know what Panasonic was thinking by not putting a ringer in the base. -kd5-