Customer Reviews

V-Tech LS6245 DECT 6.0 Expandable Cordless Phone (Black)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I've been in the market for a Bluetooth-enabled home phone for the past 10 months, but every review of such products has been more or less negative. I first caught a glimpse of this new phone at the the Engadget website [...] earlier in the year. After finding it at a local Fry's I purchased one with 3 extra handsets from Amazon. Here are my impressions after 3 days of use:

Things I Like:

1. Full soft-touch surface. No buttons, very nice styling. A key-lock activates after 10 seconds.
2. Speaker phone is loud and clear. Call quality is likewise loud and clear, but have to turn up the volume for cellular calls.
3. Separate buttons to make home and cellular phone calls.
4. Ability to join home and cellular calls into a 3-way conference.
5. Ability to make one home and one cellular call at the same time.
6. Different ringtones for incoming home and cellular calls allows you to differentiate between them immediately.
7. Automatic synchronization of the address book. You can add/edit the phone book entries on any handset (or base) and all handsets are synchronized immediately.
8. DECT 6.0 for minimal interference and good privacy.
9. Digital answering machine with all the requisite features (including access from another phone).
10. Price. I was expecting the base unit to cost at least $100. Extra handsets are only $39.95 at Amazon.

Features I Wish For:

1. Automatic download of phone book from cellular phones.
2. USB interface to synchronize phone book with PC/Mac.
3. Wall mount for the handset.
4. Ability to name each handset like "Kitchen", "Master Bedroom", "Garage", "Kid's Room", etc. Handsets are automatically named "Handset 1", "Handset 2", etc.
5. Night mode with ability to silence a subset of the handsets and lower the volume on others.

I still gave it 5 stars because of auto-synchronization and a feature set that is practical without being saddled by too many features (and complexity).

This is the best Vtech made so far. I have owned other Vtech phones but this one performs better then any other cordless phone I have owned. Far superior to Panasonic and other brands. Sound quality is very good, style is great and the features are very easy to use and technically advanced. I like the fact that I can program one handset with all my phone numbers in the directory and it automatically transfers the directory to all my other handsets. The blue tooth feature works! Now I can answer my cell phone thru this phone system. My house is 2 stories and the range of the handsets reaches every room with no static or interference. Only feature I wish Vtech had on this phone is the warning light they had on some of their earlier models that lets you know when you have a voice mail message waiting. Voice mail messages show up in the lcd display. I just ordered additional handsets for my house since we like this system so much

Feature wise, this is a nice phone. As a phone, it seems to work well. The bluetooth paring with my iPhone also worked well. It would occasionally not reconnect on its own, but it usually did and the range for bluetooth was quite good.

A few days in though, the handset that came with the base died. Well, this happens sometimes. I replaced the base and the handset it came with. That part was fairly easy. Now, I suspect most folks looking at this are like me and won't be using this with just the one handset it comes with. That's where the fun really comes in. Once a handset is paired to the base, the id of the base is flashed into the handset and can not be changed unless you are using the original base. So, you can't replace the base and expect your additional handsets to keep working. Per Vtech, this is the way it was designed and they don't see an issue with it. If the base is in warranty, they will supposedly replace the handsets along with the base. That's a bit of a hassle. Of course, if it's out of warranty, you can't just go grab a new one and expect it to work with your up to $550 in accessory handsets (11 additional are supported).

So the net for me was that the 6245 and all of the 6204 handsets go back. This isn't really ready for consumers to use.

I purchased the Vtech base station and two remote phones for a family Christmas gift 2009. The features are outstanding. Programming is very intuitive once you actually read the quick start information and the "cool" factor is very high. The touch sensitive panel takes a bit of getting used to, but, having come from mechanical buttons, it was not that difficult. Battery life is also excellent under normal usage (including some speakerphone use) at about 2.5 days.

Now the fun stuff; I really enjoy putting my cell phone away when I get home and having the ability to make cell or land line calls from any Vtech phone (or base station) in the house. Same goes for answering incoming cell or landline calls. The caller ID distiguishes between incoming cell phone or land line calls which is nice if you want to screen unwanted calls. Additionally, we paired 2 cell phones (you can do up to four) to the system so it is just that much better than the closest competitors who can only program two Bluetooth devices (at least from those that I could find and research). The pairing is also quite easy and the range is good.

The speaker phone feature and overall sound quality is the best I've had in a wireless phone so far. The lock feature is handy in preventing erroneous entries. Essentially, the keyboard is locked until you hit the unlock key (very simple and easy one touch) which prevents you from mistakenly activating any button on the phone just by picking it up. Programming new contacts is easy. Capturing them from incoming calls is even easier.

I don't use the answering device in the base because I have Vonage voice mail, but the programming, again, looks very simple.

Probably the only criticism I would offer is that there is not a headset jack on the phone itself. You can pair Bluetooth headsets to the system (which work with all phones and the base station), but if you do that you occupy one of the four Bluetooth pairing slots. This is not a huge issue for me as I can use a headset on my cell phone or another one of my landline phones if necessary for that occaisional long duration call.

I was excited about replacing my antiquated cordless phone system with one that would also provide connectivity via BlueTooth to my cell phone. I also purchased this system with two additional handsets and the system as a whole performs well. The BlueTooth connectivity to my cell phone works very well, allowing me to leave the cell phone charging bedside and still be able to answer and make calls anywhere else in the house and immediate vicinity. I have not tested it with a headset or two cell phones. The one issue that I really have is the sensitivity of the buttons. It is extremely easy to activate another button when exchanging the phone from hand to hand. Also my wife is never quite sure whether she has hung up or not. The display doesn't make it readily apparent. The speaker volume is just OK and unfortunately you cannot access your cell phone directory, or at least I haven't figured out how to yet. A nice attractive system that I would get again, but my non-gadget savy wife would disagree.

Advantages
- sound quality
- bluetooth pairing
- central address book (on base station, accessible from all handsets)

Disadvantages
- no backlight on keys on base station (VERY difficult to see in dim light, a ridiculous design decision)
- no apparent way to import/export address book(s)
- installed ringtones not consistent between base station and handsets (another ridiculous design decision)

To be honest, I got this phone for one reason. To use with my Plantronics bluetooth headset for conference calls. I telework out of my home a good bit and have been searching for an excellent hands free system to use while talking. Other corded headphones had audio problems but the Plantronics works really well. The problem therein was I was using a lot of cell phone minutes for phone calls.

I bought a similar phone base system at Best Buy but it didn't support a headset so I had to take it back. Then I got this one using my Amazon Chase Card rewards points.

I just hooked it up and it was fairly easy to pair with my headset. After the first call I was very, very pleased at how well this works.

I would recommend this for all of you teleworking fools who need a good hands free system. Well worth the money and very professional looking to boot!

UPDATE 02-13-2012

This phone is still working great. Very dependable! The one annoying thing...and its not the phone, its the bluetooth platronics, is that I have to repair every time I switch devices to pair with. My Sony car stereo doesn't require the pairing, just this phone and my Iphone.

Still highly recommend!

We purchased this Vtech LS6245 along with 3 extra handsets. I'm happy with the phones. The configuration of the extra handsets was easy. The sound quality is good. The Bluetooth cell phone pairing works great and is more useful than I expected. We like the styling.

The main feature I miss on this and all current answering machines is the ability to have the answering machine call my cell number when there is a new message. We have a Panasonic digital answering machine that is about 12 years old that has this feature. I can program it with the 7 digit number to call whenever someone leaves a new message. It's really nice to get notified on my cell phone whenever someone leaves a message at the house. That feature has saved us a couple of times when the message at home was time-sensitive. Why oh why doesn't any current answering machine support this feature???

Another feature that's missing on this Vtech is the ability to have different ring tones for various callers (using caller ID). That feature doesn't matter to us because we don't have caller ID but I know many people need that capability.

But over all I've been pleased with this phone system and I'd recommend it.

I read a lot of reviews regrading this phone and I was seriously researching a cordless home phone that has the blue-tooth capability. Most of us just have a cell phone and no LAN line. I'm using this as my main source of telecommunication. As most of us know, if your inside the house you will lose your single most of the time and you have to keep moving to get a signal "Can you hear me now? What about now? Any better?"! lol! The only reason I have this phone four stars, cause the base does not have a back light. Makes it difficult to navigate though the menu.

People did complain that the speaker in the base was horrible or poor quality. I tested out the speaker function, flawless! Everyone heard me perfectly!

There's a feature on the hand held that locks the phone. Some complained that they would hit when talking on the unit! I have never had a problem with touching the keypad with face etc.. Keypad take a light touch but the correct amount of pressure to active the keys! :)

I always had V-Tech phones some where great and others... Well ended up in the recycle r!
I purchased this phone and hooked it up once I got home. Blue tooth feature! Easy, devices were found within seconds!

Features:
2 Blue Tooth devices can be hooked up.
Very easy to use.
You can check your messages on the base and the hand held.
Expandable!
Nice desgin! Very clean lines.
For more features read the product description.

No custom ring tones besides factory defaults.
No clue display, dot matrix LCD black % white display.
The glossy surface does leave nice impression of your finger prints! Finger print magnet! Come with a nifty cleaning cloth! loL!

Recommend this product!

I ordered this phone (and 2 extra handsets) with free 2-day shipping (from KS to MI). Much to my surprise and delight, I received all 3 items in 24 hours and 30 minutes! As always, Amazon's shipping is stellar!

I replaced an 8-year old Panosonic cordless phone system with this Vtech Bluetooth, Dect 6.0, Model LS6204 (Base unit with answering system and handset), and (2) LS6245 extension handsets. So far, I have found this system to be excellent. I have no complaints with it whatsoever. I was having major issues with my old phone and my WI-FI. I have had no such trouble with this new system as yet.

I had the base and both extensions unboxed and plugged in their respective locations in under 15 minutes. Registering the additional handsets was effortless! Each handset and the base unit immediately set themselves with date/time from my service provider, and after about 30-seconds, all flashed the voicemail icon indicating there were messages in my VM box.

I find the controls both on the base unit and the extension phones intuitive and easy. The displays are easy to read even without my reading glasses! I like that just touching a handset turns the backlight on.

Setting up an iPhone 3G and a Samsung 3G cellular phone with bluetooth were both quick (about 30-seconds each) and painless.

I read almost all the reviews on this system. I was concernd with the automatic locking feature and having to find an unlock button to dial 911. (In the past I have had to dial 911 and I know how nervous and frightened one can be so I was worried that in a time of crisis remembering an unlock feature would be trying.) However, the unlock feature is "programmable" with (3) 10-second intervals (10, 20, and 30 seconds) and a "never" feature. I simply set the lock feature to "never" thus eliminating the need to unlock the phone to dial any number or access features. If my toddler-grandson is here, it's easy enough to lock a handset with one touch so that he can't alter settings or dial numbers should he get his hands on a phone.

The volume at its highest setting is good and loud! Also, the speakers are clear and loud as is the speakerphone. There are a variety of ring tones and melodies to select from, and I like that I can have a different tone for the house number, and each cell number. Each handset and the base unit have their own volume and ringtone controls which I like very much! (I like to keep a phone in the bedroom, but don't like it to ring. Nor do I need the base unit to ring.)

The 100 entry phone book is tremendous. Many folks have 3 numbers (home, office, cellular) which can quickly eat up the room in a phone book. The system shares one phonebook, so adding/deleting/editing a number is easy...put it in one phone, and it's in all the phones.

I love the look and feel of the handsets. They are high gloss black, sleek and expensive looking. (They are also fingerprint magnets!) The handsets have good weight to them and feel comfortable and balanced in my hands. The base unit is much less "bulky" than I anticipated thus making its "footprint" small enough to set on a shelf if one wanted. I love the touch technology!

All-in-all, I feel I got more than my money's worth! Great looks, great features, ease of use, and quality of the equipment, and the sounds are well beyond my expectations for the cost.