Customer Reviews

Uniden TRU8885-2 5.8 GHz Digital Cordless Phone with Dual Handsets and Answering System

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I've been wanting to get a 5.8ghz phone system for a while, but all previous models seemed to always have some kind of major shortcoming. Seems Uniden recognized this and came out with a model to beat all previous ones.

The 8885 and 8865 models are newer versions of their old 5860/85 lines. It has pretty much any feature you could want.

Just to highlight some of the strong points:
1. Nice phone design. Perfect size and not as ugly as the previous model.
2. Perfect reception. Anywhere in our house the phone is crystal clear.
3. Speakerphone in the base and from every handset.
4. Intercom/Paging between phones
5. 100 number phonebook (although it shares entries with callerid). You can keep separate phonebooks per phone, or download the phonebook from other phones.
6. DirectLink mode, where you can use the handsets as walkie-talkies. Although in my opinion the phones are a tad too big to carry around with you everywhere, but it might be nice for specific situations. I haven't tested the range though.
7. You can have the base + 2 handsets speaking on the line at the same time. The previous model was limited to 1 handset per conversation.
8. Customizable ringtones - can assign a certain ringtone to a certain caller so you know who they are. Can only use the builtin tones though.
9. Handsets have a plug to use with a headset for handsfree operation
10. Can access the voicemail from any of the handsets, not just from the base.

Those are just some of the major features, there's plenty of other little bells and whistles to configure the phone.

My only 2 complaint is that incoming caller ID gets stored on every phone. There is no way to just delete it from all phones at once. You need to go to each phone individually to delete the callerid list. Fortunately there is a delete all option.

One other potential complaint is that you can't set up separate mailboxes on the answering machine. I know some of the other brands let you do this. No biggee for me as I wouldn't use the feature anyways, but might be important to some.

Those might just be nitpicks though. This system really exceeded my expectations and I give it the highest recommendation possible.

After years of living with my Siemens 2415, I had to replace them with a 5.8ghz due to interference from a neighbor's wireless network (so annoying). I was disappointed with the 5.8 ghz models on the market (big antennas and poor design) and was waiting for something upto the level of Siemen's, but tried the Uniden based on the rave reviews here. After a few weeks, I would say they are quite good with flaws. Good reception. Good design. They have all the features you could want. A big plus not mentioned elsewhere is the "do not disturb" button on the base which will shut off all ringers and call screening, perfect for napping. Plus all phones clearly say Do Not Disturb so you won't forget about it later.
Orange LCD is very bright and readable (not my favorite color but you get used to it). Handsets are attractive. The Base is another story, not as attractive and buttons are really small and hard to decipher.
Handsets are comfortable to use and you can easily adjust volume when on the phone. Caller ID on Call waiting is a pleasure as the name doesn't disappear as soon as you take the receiver away from your ear, it gives you a chance to see it.
Also a nice bonus is being able to call screen on any handset even though it is done through the speaker phone.
Retrieving messages on the Handset is also a good feature.
Many Minor Flaws, the first is Caller ID. Caller ID must be reset on each phone and base separately. It will tell you how many times a number has called but then that info disappears after you read it once on that handset. Most odd. Keep that info and put a star next to the new Caller ID's instead.
Time and Date must be set manually for answering machine and not taken from caller id. Answering machine annoyingly tells you what time it is when you call in first. Then tells you how many new and old messages you have, then repeats that info when you press the button to actually play the messages. Beyond redundant.
Most bizarre is that when you retrieve message from the handset you press single digits, but when calling in from outside, you must press 2 digits, you must press a preceding 0. Ridiculous.
You pick your security code but it is only 2 digits long. Again ridiculous especially in this day and age.
Answering machine doesn't correlate to Caller ID so you can't easily see number of hangup or person leaving message. You must go into Caller ID and correlate the time and number yourself.
There is no way to delete the entire phone book in a handset, you must delete each entry separately. Kind of dumb.
The alphabetizing of names in the directory is also dumb, as non letters are placed in priority after letters. There is no easy way to force someone at the front of for example the B's with B1: Name B2: Name as I used to do. The only way now is by BA1: BA2: etc. Too cumbersome. And any symbol used is also placed after z for alphabetizing, so preceding symbols don't work either.
Caps are the default when typing in names. So you must press button 4-6 times just to get lower case. Very annoying unless you like all your names in all Caps.
You can't edit phone numbers without deleting numbers first, text however is fully editable.
The ringers are acceptable but on par with the cell phones of 2 generations ago. Where are downloadable ringers or more normal ringers. And why do we have only low and high and off settings? Where is a midground of medium?
The delay when distinctive ring is on is way too long. Phones light up and you wait and wait for it to ring. I had to turn this feature off to get phone to ring when it lights up.
I would prefer a base with no buttons at all more like Siemens and everything in the soft menus.
Also a higher price with more memory would be better. More minutes for messages and give me 100 memories for both Caller ID and Directory. I need 100 just for the phone book alone.
Even with all these minor/major annoyances and flaws, the phones seem to offer much more than the competition at a fair price and in my opinion clearly the only game in town so far...

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I've had no problem with the range, sound quality, etc. There are four design problems, however.

1. Limited handset capability. You can expand it to 10 units, which is great, but you can only use 2 handsets at any given time, which is not so great. You should be able to use as many units as the system can support.

2. No battery backup. The handsets all have batteries but the base doesn't. That means that in the event of power failure, nothing will work, and the time and outgoing message on the answering machine will be lost.

3. Phone book transfer. It's nice to be able to transfer phone entries unit to unit, but it would be better to have a separate phone book stored in a single location, e.g., the base, that is viewable by all. Then people would have no need to program anything into an individual handset, except in the unlikely event that they actually wanted certain phone numbers to be accessible from that handset only.

4. Long distance dialing. To store a number in the phonebook, the user manual tells you to input a 10 digit number. Actually doing so, however, will result in an error message from the phone company informing you that area codes must be preceded by a 1. Having to store an initial 1 is annoying enough when you input the number manually, but it's worse when you try saving numbers from Caller ID, which do not include the initial 1. Worse, you can't even edit the number manually to include the initial 1, without first erasing the entire number and then having to re-input it from scratch. A better design would be to add a setting that causes the phone to dial 1 automatically before any long distance numbers (i.e., before any area code not expressly programmed NOT to be preceded by 1).

In the past we've had a combination of cordless phones all over our home. Everything from 2.4 ghz to 900 mhz to you name it. Probably typical for many of you reading this review. For a number of reasons I got sick of that setup. I then purchased this phone with an additional handset and tried it out. We have a 3,500 square foot home. The sound quality is outstanding. No static whatsoever. We now have 5 handsets. Things I really like are:
1. The handset isn't the size and weight of a brick. This was VERY important. My cell phone fits in my shirt pocket why the heck were our cordless phones the size of a brick? The size and feel of the Uniden handsets are perfect.

2. No antenna. Not on the base or the handsets. Finally someone got this right.

3. Keypads light up amber. Very easy to see and read.

4. When you have a message on the answering system the base remains lit up. Easy to tell you have new messages. Or you can have it beep every 15 seconds to let you know you have a message.

5. Every handset in the house has a red flashing light when new messages arrive.

6. You can listen to messages from the base unit or any handset. You can also replay, skip or delete from the handsets. Basically anything you can do at the base you can do from a handset.

7. The phonebook allows you to enter names and numbers. The great thing here is you can then copy either a single entry or all entries over to the other phones. No need to program each phone. This is a very nice feature. The phonebook is very easy to use after a name and number are programmed in. It also supports one touch dialing which is nice.

8. The speaker phone on each handset works well and sounds quite good for both you and the person you're calling. It is really nice if you're doing something and can simply go to the handset speaker phone during the conversation to free up your hands. The base speaker phone works VERY well and isn't annoying to the person you're talking to.

9. Doesn't interfere with our 2.4 ghz wireless network.

10. The phones can be programmed to do a custom ring when someone you've identified calls. This is a great way to know who is calling before you even look at caller-id. My wife is a remax agent. When remax transfers a call to our home we know by the type of ring that it is for my wife and it is business related. Nice feature.

11. Intercom feature allows you to communicate with everyone in the house or to just one individual phone. Nice feature.

The only thing I'd change is the ability to use this phone in a power outage. For that we still have an old fashioned hardwired phone in the home. The reality here is we have a power outage about once every two years so this isn't an issue and certainly not worth buying a brick sized phone for. The bottom line is I'd buy this all over again.

Positive:
- Very good sound quality
- Great handset speakerphone function, good quality
- Good looks, better than Panasonic and others
- Good phonebook function, shareable across handsets
- Useful key and menu setup
- Good voice mail setup and base station
- Big blinking LED on every handset shows unread voicemail, also a periodic beep can be programmed for this. Very thoughtful.
- Sturdy handsets, most of handset body is not painted but black plastic, so it won't look bad after years of hard use.

Negative:
Here I'll be a bit more specific, because these are just tiny details.
- First, the caller ID support seems a bit haphazard. If a caller ID service doesn't transfer the name, the phone won't match the number with the phone book and display the name from memory. The phone does find the entry from the phone book, because it plays the customized ring tone. It looks like an oversight from the developers. Secondly, the caller ID history shares memory with the phone book and has to be manually deleted. Information which CID has been read and delete them has to be done for every handset and base separately. Also, the voice mail doesn't correlate the calls with caller ID.
- Phone book entries can be max 20 digits. This is too short for international numbers when combining it with services like 1010987. My 5 year old Panasonic could do this.
- The phone book synchronization across handsets is great, but has gaps. First, custom ring tones and speed dial keys are not synchronized, also, when changing a number and then synchronizing it, the old numbers stay in the phonebook.
- The belt clips are really big. This makes them sturdy, but it's still weird that they are almost as wide as the phone.

I am really happy and would always buy this phone again, as the competition is weak. Panasonic fell through because of its bad design and big antenna. I dislike painted phones as the paint will be eventually rubbed off the corners and the phones look beaten up. I almost bought the Siemens 4215, but dropped it because it had no headset jack (what an oversight!!!) It's also way more expensive than the Uniden.
I always thought of Uniden as a cheap, generic brand, but I am really hapily surprised with this phone.

I had a few basic criteria for a phone. 1) headset jack, 2) speakerphone (at least in the base), 3) a mute button on handset and base, and 4) 5.8 GHz to avoid problems with my wireless network.

Almost all phones meet criteria 1 & 2, and many met 4. But #3 is very rarely obvious, even when looking at non-working display phones, reading various manufacturers' boxes and even their web sites. This Uniden does implement mute as an on-screen button when you are on a call (which I didn't find mentioned ANYWHERE). I was only able to confirm the presence of this feature this from a salesperson who owned the same phone. Mute buttons really should be either obvious on non-screen buttons, or at least mentioned on the box.

And I have a quibble with most manufactures speakerphones (criteria 2). Almost all put their microphone on the bottom of the phone. This assumes that the phone will be placed on a solid surface to reflect the sound back up into the mic. Background: I'm not a morning person. So I find myself dialing into many early office meetings using the speakerphone. I want to put it on the bed near me to ensure the best mic sound quality, as well as close access to the mute button. My old phone had the mic on the bottom, and I had to put it on top of a book in order to get acceptable mic sound quality. This Uniden has the mic on top of the phone!!! It works great! Speakerphones in the handsets are a bonus.

I like that the base unit is so compact. Since I keep it on my nightstand, I appreciate the small footprint. There really isn't any wasted space in its design.

The Do Not Disturb button on the base is very nice - to silence all phones for a good nap. (Though the national Do Not Call List has made this feature somewhat less necessary - it's still nice not to get woken up by a well-meaning friend.)

Tons of great features.

I agree with some other people's quibbles, esp. the caller ID not synced with answering machine messages. The least obvious limitation is that after programming numbers into the base unit's phone book, you can't send to handsets. But if you do all your phone book programming on handsets, you can push the phone book to the base and other handsets.

Other minor quibbles - The base unit has a wall-mountable bracket, but the remote phone chargers do not. Most of the buttons on both handsets and base look the same. Buttons with a little color-coding or different shapes (like up & down arrows for the up & down functions) would have been nice. More similarity in button placement between handsets and base would reduce the learning curve (and maybe make the base even skinnier). The separate Talk and End buttons are familiar to cell phone users, though the Uniden's are not symmetrical like most cell phones. Most older cordless phones use one button for Talk and End. Making a second press of Talk act like Flash instead of End is confusing to get used to.

Bottom line: Definitely worth the money. But I hope Uniden reads these reviews and makes the next generation even better.

I read all the reviews and decided to try this model anyway. I'm glad I did because the system is awesome. Battery life and reception have been great. No complaints from anyone on the other end and most don't even realize if I put them on speaker.

I've had several cordless phones over the past 20 years and I've found that placement of the base is not always the same across brands. My Sony & Panasonic phones both worked better with the bases upstairs (but in different rooms). This Uniden is working great with the base downstairs. worked great with the base in my office, my Panasonic worked better placed in the bedroom, this Uniden is working great downstairs in the living room.

The "Do Not Disturb" button is wonderful. With 4 handsets scattered around the house, it used to be a pain to make sure all the ringers were off if you wanted to nap.

I also like the "call screening" from the handsets. No more going to the base/answering machine if the person calling has their phone number blocked from the caller id. Now I just hit the "screen" button on any handset and hear who is leaving a message.

For the writer complaining about the lack of a "1" on the caller id, that is your phone company's problem, not the hardware. Besides, a quick read of the owner's manual would tell you all you have to do is hit the asterisk (*) before dialing back that caller id and it will add a "1" for you.

I wrote to Uniden support asking about what happens to the messages if the power goes out. I also was curious if the direct link phone functionality was different than when talking to the base. You would think the range would have to be decent for walkie-talkie usage; the manual talks about using them while shopping for example. Also I did unplug my phone (very briefly) and saw that time reset but then it came back to the correct time soon afterwards. My outgoing message was also intact. So I'm not sure how that works... a capacitor or small battery? I guess the announcements/messages could be written to some type of memory that doesn't need power (like a CF card?)

I would have to say though that the answering machine is a little hard to get used, especially when my old Siemens 4215 had such a nice interface (it said the caller id and time when listening remotely and showed caller id on the display when accessing through the handsets. It seems especially odd that the Uniden says the time of the call after you play the message rather than before! The Uniden voice is also a lot more "robot-like" than the old Siemens.

Here was Uniden's reply:

"The range of the phone will depend on your environment for both using the handset and also in direct link mode.

With out any interference and a direct line from the base to the handset, the range is up to 6000ft. In direct link mode the range is line of sight between the handsets.

If there is a power failure, the messages will be restored regardless of how long the power was out."

i hate to put this phone down given that i owned the older model previously and it worked well- that is, until the speakerphone started acting up, which is when i decided to upgrade to this latest version given the many positive reviews.

naturally i feel this may be a random incident, given the many praises the rest of the amazon community seems to have for this model, yet i must illustrate the 3 main problems i have faced since receiving the phone.

first, the speakerphone on both the base and the handset are described WAY better than they actuially are. for the first 2 days, no complaints on the other end. since then, people automatically ask me to take them off speakerphone given the echo it brings about.

2nd, i found a few annoyances, including an inability to view the number you just dialed (once you've dialed it), and the incredibly small buttons on the base.

but the main issue i have with this phone, is the fact that it records a message for any and every call that comes in that prompts the outgoing message. even if somebody hangs up at the sound of it, the machine still take a message. it is incredibly frustrating. i can come back at the end of the day and have 5 new messages of nothing but dead air. amazing...

so, although i hope they don't happen to you, please consider these as possibilities with your purchase.

After going through cheap cordless phones faster than a pair of sneakers, I decided to part with some extra money for the Uniden TRU-8885-2. I was floored by the features: big bright backlit displays, crystal-clear sound (both earpiece and speaker-phone), synchronized handsets (day of week/time, phonebooks, conferencing), sophisticated but easy to use menus, as well as access to the same features from all handset menus. However, a little extra money also gets you good, solid construction. Both handsets and base have solid buttons that are easy to push yet are rigid and don't feel like they could fall out or misfire. The handsets are compact and contoured for your hand. The internal antennas add to their aesthetics.

During calls, features are easy to access with a single click, like volume up and down buttons, mute, and speaker-phone (if you need to put the phone down and continue the call). The selection of ring tones and tunes are actually pleasant and far less cheesy than the ones in my Nokia cell phone.

Only drawbacks noticed so far could be some sporadic reception issues depending what kind of structures are between you and the base. I can get great reception in one distant room, but not another. This could be the case with any phone, and with the newer 5.8 GHz band (and shorter wavelengths), articles suggest there may be a very slight trade-off with reception for the extra security. Nevertheless, it appears that a little common sense and strategic placement of the base could work wonders for any reception problems. I've also noticed that the answering machine seems to be a little dodgy in detecting early hang-ups; they tend to result in the "please hang up and try your call again" messages. But if you limit your incoming messages to 1 minute (and not four) then this problem should be kept under control. I otherwise love the answering machine set-up and operation.

This is a handsome, well-built, and feature-packed phone that, at least in homes and apartments less than "sprawling", should offer good reception and performance. Finally, the "true" 5.8 GHz receive/transmit was a must as I am a wireless network user.