Customer Reviews

VTech DS6101 DECT 6.0, Cordless Phone Accessory Handset, Silver/Black, 1 Accessory Handset

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am running a business with 2 phone lines for many years now and phones have always been a problem for me. I found that all cordless phones degrade or stop working after a couple of years, so I went through several different brands and models which I can repport here for you. My comment on the VTech is the last paragraph.

Starting 1999 I had a 2.4 GHz Siemes Gigaset and that was the best phone I had, it was stylish, very well organized and functioning. Unfortunately, wireless computer networking exploded shortly after and swamped this frequency band that no cordless phone at 2.4 GHz worked well any longer. Features included phone book copy amongst the different hand sets.

I had two sets of different Panasonic 5.8 GHz phones, and all were really bad. Voice quality was horrible and something stopped working in a short time. One is tempted to buy Panasonic because they have the largest selection of models. But don't be fooled by that! I could not buy Siemens because they retracted from the 2-line analog phone market, they only offer VoIP stuff, but I am not ready for that yet.

I had a Motorola 5.8 GHz for a couple of days and let me tell you, this was the worst phone I ever had, it was even much worse than all Panasonics. There would be not enough space on the Amazon server to write down all the details :-)

Then I had a 5.8 GHz AT&T phone and I really liked voice quality and workmanship. But all hand sets had different numbers in their phone book because you cannot transfer the phone book between them; I just could not keep up with this. Also, the functionality was not very intuitive.

Finally I got his VTech phone, and I must say that I am impressed. I wanted to have a DECT 6.0 phone because I believe this is the best frequency band for cordless phones. This phone looks great, has excellent voice quality, has an intuitive menu setup, and it has a very competative price. And what I like most which no other phone ever had: You program a number into your phone book and it is available instantaneouly in all hand sets. Only thing, they should have memory for more than 50 numbers. I have this phone and 4 hand sets since Dec 2009, and the only thing I hope is that it will be reliable. As soon as I have an issue I will update this review, so if you don't see an update, that is more points for this phone.

Easy to set up and synchronize to the base station. Shares the number directory across all handsets. Speakerphone is loud and clear. Solid phone and price is great!

The Vtech DECT 6 we purchased (Base and 7 handsets), are a replacement for a 5 year old Uniden 5.8 GHz system which worked well, but the batteries were on their way out and we were looking for a bit of range improvement. We've had these DECT phones for about 3 weeks now and they definitely do have better range--at least 2X. They lack some of our old Uniden's features like a carry clip, earphone jack and nice ring tones. The Uniden's had a wide selection of good sounding ring tones ranging from classical to modern music snippets as well as many ring variations. Not so with the Vtech's. They offer a minimal number of harsh and mostly unpleasant choices. You will be hearing the phone ring a lot during their lifetime and if you care about the sound they make while ringing, check out the current Uniden DECT4066 series. I am assuming that this newer model still has the nice ring tones our old one had, but do check. Another missing item on the Vtech's is the ability to label the handsets by location (Kitchen, TV Room, Bedroom, etc) instead of "Handset 3". This makes the intercom feature more difficult to use.

The voice quality is OK, the speaker phone is loud enough, the blue LED keyboard backlighting is nice when calling at night. It's also nice to have a centralized phone directory that shows up on every handset. We have phone company voice mail and don't use the answering machine. The Uniden's had a handy blinking red light on each handset to let you know that you had messages waiting. This Vtech sports only an obscure icon on the normally dark display to let you know that you have voicemail. The lightweight charging base only has two very small rubber feet to keep it from sliding and the front 2 feet are part of the hard plastic shell and can scratch wood finishes. Battery life seems fine so far. Unfortunately, as an industry it seems that cordless phones still use the cheaper, NiMH battery technology rather than switching to the higher capacity Li-ion type.

So why didn't we buy another Uniden? In retrospect, The Uniden DECT4066 would probably have been a better choice, but we did save about USD one-hundred and ninety on the Vtech DECT 6 with seven handsets. There are not very many choices if you need a two line cordless phone and as other reviews have stated, paying more doesn't necessarily mean getting a better phone system. That said, even though we have not had a chance to evaluate it, I'd recommend that you check out the Uniden DECT 4066 as a more expensive, but better featured alternative before settling on the Vtech.

Phone works great (we bought a number of remotes to work with it)...

One thing I didn't appreciate until it arrived -- the intercom function is not as robust as other phones. You cannot "name" any of the remotes -- instead it's hard-coded to Intercom 1, Intercom 2, etc.

That makes it harder to remember where each unit is and who you're trying to reach.

Second problem with the intercom -- you can't ring all remotes -- you can only reach out to one intercom at a time, unless you are at the base unit. Unfortunate design...

This phone is very good. It makes conference call between lines, it has a good speaker... and the price is very good. And alos is a beautiful phone.

Was not looking for a phone with all "the bells and whistles" but certain basic features; i.e., base with screen, clarity, ease of caller ID, comfortable hand set, and volume control, to name a few .... and this phone seems to fill the bill with those features I was looking for.

Works just fine. They seem to have thought of everything to include, and the price is so right.

If the mfr is reading this, the red power-on light is too bright for use next to the bed at night. They should use a smaller bulb or less intense bulb or a different color.

If the mfr is reading this, a wider base on the phone would make it more tip-proof.

Vtech 6.0 2-Line Expandable Cordless Phone with Digital Answering System and Caller ID (DS6151)

Vtech DECT 6.0 Digital 2-Line Accessory Handset with Caller ID and Handset Speakerphone (DS6101)

I bought this Vtech DECT 6.0 to replace a much more expensive RCA cordless phone system that we'd only had for a little more than a year. The RCA started going down hill shortly after we bought it, but for some reason we didn't do anything about it until it simply just died!!
I read a lot of reviews before I decided on the Vtech system, and as with anything, it had both good and bad reviews. I decided for the price, it was worth a try and I have NO regrets!! This is by far the best cordless phone system I've ever used, at the office or at home. In fact, I plan to order one for my home very soon.
Giving this Vtech phone system a 5 star rating is totally a no-brainer for me.
Thank You.

Needed a two line cordless phone, read the reviews, this seemed like it would do the trick.
It did.
Good range and voice quality.
Only downside is that when we get a message on our phone company voice mail, there is just a small icon on the screen. Would have been much better if it lit up or something like that to indicate a message.
Otherwise, no complaints as yet.

Plug it in and follow the simple instructions to connect to current base and it works! No hassle. No problems. Shipped on time (early actually). Great buy.