Customer Reviews

Vtech I5871 - Expandable System w/ digital Answering Device, Color Handset Display & Dual Caller ID

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(44)

 

 

I'll jump right in and say what I didn't like about this phone. The handset speakerphone is extremely bad, constantly cutting in and out made the phone unusable in this mode. I called Vtech customer service and they told me to unplug the phone for a couple of minutes and then plug it back in and try it, but that didn't help either. Figuring I got a bad one I went back up to Office Depot to get another and guess what, this one did the exact same thing. Vtech has a problem with these phones.

Aside from the speakerphone in the handset problem the phone worked great. The software which installs on your PC and allows you do download ringtones and photos worked very good. The screen on the phone was very sharp.

By the way the speakerphone on the base worked very very good, to bad they couldn't have done a better job on the handset's speakerphone.

If it wasn't for the terrible speakerphone on the handset I would have given this phone 5 stars and would still own it.

Update:6-11-05

After using the Vtech phone I tried the color models that Uniden and Panasonic had to offer. The Panasonic had a very good screen but lacked the volume I needed. The Uniden's flip phone was nice but the screen was way below the quality of the Vtech and Panasonic and Unidens software was not good at all. Sending info to and from the phone was very slow.

After taking the Panasonic back I decided to try the Vtech again but this time I went to another Office Depot. This new phone has worked flawlessly and didn't exibit the same handset speakerphone problems as the first two.

It's my opinion now that of the three color screen phones the Vtech is much better than Panasonic and Uniden. I'd now give it a full 5 stars.

Highly Recommended!

We purchased this phone primarily for its styling, but from the reviews it seemed like this phone did everything. From a styling perspective, it was everything we hoped for. It is very elegant in its simplicity. The base units all have metal feet (not just plastic). The handsets are very simple, yet look good in their base units and are well designed to stand upright on a flat surface.

The base units have a lighted ring on them that shows the handsets are charging, and helps you to find the bases in the dark. It is a nice touch. When you pick up the handset from the base, and press a key, the keypad lights up and the LCD display lights as well. The number keys, the speaker phone key and the send/end buttons are well-sized and easy to press. The design is very comfortable to use.

Although others have complained about the speakerphone, we found it to work quite well--better than our older Vtech phones. The sound is good on both the handset and the speaker phone--it was easy to hear and voices were clear.

There are a lot of selectable ring tones. You can also download pictures onto the handsets using the supplied USB cable. The phonebook software is easy to use and it is possible to export a full phone book onto the handsets.

The digital answering machine is easy to use, and the recordings were very clear. We were very impressed with the sound clarity.

The nice features are more than offset by some issues, however. First of all, the handset is uncomfortable to hold against the ear. If you will be using the phone for long periods I recommend buying a headset or planning to use the speaker phone a lot.

The LCD screen is very small in reality. The screen color accuracy is also mediocre. One of the four handsets had good color accuracy, whereas the others ranged from decent to poor. There is a brightness adjustment possible, but that is the only color improvement I could find.

The digits are also small, and the caller ID would be very difficult to read if you needed glasses. It is easy to see the numbers when dialing the phone, but the incoming numbers are difficult to read.

One of the most frustrating elements of the phone was the phone book. Although the software is easy to use, it is not very good. It is easy to create phone book entries, but the number of characters you can use for names is limited. For each entry it is also possible to select a ring tone and a picture that come up when the number is received, but it is not possible to program these custom ringers or photos in the phone book software, so each of these combinations must be programmed on EACH handset. To do this for more than a couple of entries is a pain. Also, if you load new phone numbers onto the phone, using the software, it is very easy to overwrite all this programming--you have to do it all over again. In concept it is very functional, but in reality it is difficult and time consuming to use.

Also, each phone must be loaded with each photo, the phone book, and then you must program the photos and custom ringers for each number. If you add a number to one handset, it is NOT shared with the other handsets. If you have multiple handsets, it takes a lot of time to sync the phone books--and if you're programming custom photos and ringers, plan to spend a LOT of time doing it.

When loading photos, it is easy to select photos and load them onto the phones, but the amount of memory is limited. The problem here is that there are about a dozen images that are permanent on the phones--they cannot be deleted. It is only possible to load about a dozen of your own images.

If you're buying a phone to look good in a setting, and you don't use it for hours at a time, this is an excellent choice. It is extremely stylish. If, however, you are a technophile you will find this phone somewhat frustrating. It has a lot of good features, and with some software upgrades would be a great phone, but as it is there are probably better options.

Vtech's phones were always a bit clunky and inelegant, but this one's a sleek, svelte, sexy winner. It looks great in any contemporary interior.

The handsets (I have five) feel like remote controls -- long and fairly thin -- but that doesn't affect how easy and pleasant they are to handle. The keys are more responsive than on Vtech's previous phones, and more thought went into the user interface and the electronic menus -- it's all pretty easy to figure out, and operating the phones becomes second nature in a brief span of time. The displays are crisp and easy to read, but some of the smaller type is going to make most people squint a bit.

The phones have a good range and are clear; even the speakerphone quality (each handset has its own speakerphone, a great convenience) is a cut above, according to people on the other end of the line (I've asked a few). The phones are quite sturdy too. I dropped my desk handset at least three times onto my hardwoord floor already (the base on which the handset leans is not quite stable enough for such a tall object, and it takes a second to find the right cradle position when you put the handset down to recharge it), but there's no visible or audible damage.

The amber backlighting on the base display doesn't exactly scream "modern" to me, and so it looks a bit out of place. That said, there's a lit half circle (also amber) under each handset when you put it in the cradle, so it's easy to find the phone even in the pitch dark.

Two points of caution: Programming a phone book into one handset does not lead to other handsets automatically copying the same names and numbers. In fact, there's no way to transfer the data, over the air or otherwise. It's mind-numbingly tedious to program each handset, because every letter in a person's name takes up to eight key presses. This is a big oversight on Vtech's part that the company should address in the second generation of this model.

For such a pricey phone, it also strikes me as a nasty case of nickle-and-diming that Vtech doesn't supply a battery that keeps the phone up and running during a power outage. That's an important feature, especially if you live out in the country. You'll need a proprietary battery that is hard to get ahold of from retail shops, so you're probably going to have to call Vtech and buy one directly from them. It's kind of a cheap trick, if you ask me.

Despite the criticism, I like these phones better than any I've owned.

After researching cordless home phones for only a few days (compared to months researching an LCD TV) and despite some of the negative reviews of this phone I decided to purchase it anyway, figuring that if it wasn't up to spec i would return it.

First off, this phone is replacing a Seimens which had caused interference problems with my wireless network in my home. That phone was a 2.4 GHz so my choices were narrowed to a 5.8GHZ phone only.

This phone was without peer in the 'looks' department. It is sleek and sexy (if a phone could be called such!). It is large enough to cradle between your ear and shoulder allowing you to use both hands for chores. This is a big plus for me. Too many of the new phones are too small to do this.

The quality of construction is superb. The base is metal as well as the legs which have rubber ends so it won't slide around. Overall the phone has a nice solid feel. I have an Apple computer so the provided software can not be used. I'm told that the software allows you to create an address book and download it to the phone and any additional units you may own. It also alows you to download pictures and sounds to the phone. I had to do it the old fashioned way...enter in the numbers directly to the handset. Still this was no problem. If you own a cell phone you've probably done it. It really was no big deal. Some folks here complained about the number of keystrokes. I completely disagree with them on this issue. It was a breeze. I was also able to load custom ringtones using the supplied audio cable. This also was a simple matter. All in all the menu's were simple and intuitive. The speaker phone also worked flawlessly. This phone is loaded with features (one of my favorites is the intercom system...my family uses it all the time). I also have had no problem with the phone working at a distance from the base station, though I have to say I live in an apartment so I can't comment on how it would work in a house, a backyard etc.

One slight reservation is with the volume of the earpiece. It tends to be a bit low. There is an adjustment which mitigates this problem somewhat and makes it acceptable. Of course if you have a hearing disability this might not be the phone for you.

Another issue. which I find to be not too bothersome is that all the handsets operate independently. For example if you clear the 'call log' from one unit it still appears on the other. Not a big deal in my estimation.

Overall I found this an easy purchase with no regrets.

I've been on a hunt for a 5.8GHz cordless phone with a color screen, downloadable ringtones, downloadable pictures for Caller ID (CID), and multi-handsets.

In my quest I've tried Uniden, Panasonic, and now the VTech. The Uniden was the best in most cases; small, great screen (large digits that help this eye-sight-challenged guy to see the numbers and names), and the ability to "push" phonebook data from one phone to the others. Nice. However, the Uniden lacked some key things, namely some of the features ("Do Not Disturb" -- supposedly turns off the ringers on the base and all registered handsets) simply didn't work, along with a few other advertised functions. Also, and along with the Panasonic, it wouldn't map the CID phone number to a stored entry in the phonebook. My old B&W AT&T phone did this, so instead of "Unknown Caller" with just the phone number displayed (as happens sometimes with CID, especially with overseas calls), it looked up the number and compared it with the Phonebook entry and viola! It would display the name you'd programmed in your Phonebook. Slick (and essentially how most cell-phones work). Neither the Uniden nor Panasonic did this however, so I returned them and tried the VTech. (Interestingly, while neither of those previous phones would display the name as I wanted, they DID still pop up the picture I'd programmed, so while the problem was somewhat mitigated, I wanted more).

The VTech DOES have this feature, so initially I was sold. It has great features, clearly presents a very "groovy" style in design, and offers a long battery life. I've had no reliability issues with it, although I've had it just less than a week.

However... (you knew this was comin'!). My old AT&T stored all the personal data (i.e., phonebook entries, no pics or ringtones on that old B&W unit) in the BASE, so each phone had all the current data; using any extension phone was identical to each other, no syncing required. The VTech (and Uniden, and Panasonic) don't do this, they treat each phone as a separate, "personal" phone, that you individually program. I understand why this is, the idea is that each person has their "own" phone that they can personalize to their tastes. Makes sense in business or at home with multiple users. However, that's not my case, I just want to grab any phone and know my data (pictures, ringtones, phonebook) will be mirrored on each. It IS possible to share phonebook entries with the VTech, but the process is entirely manual and prone to errors. You CANNOT share downloaded ringtones or pictures, so each phone must be individually programmed using the supplied SW. Again, while I understand why they did this, for me at least, it's not what I'm looking for. So while I'm still toying with the VTech, I suspect I'll be taking it back, not because it's "defective," but doesn't work as I personally want it to.

Also, recording ringtones is a problem for me. I tried using the audio cable, but the volume was SO quiet that it was unusable (this was not a problem with the Uniden or Panasonic). I tried using the microphone to record a ringtone, and while it worked (volume was great), the first 1/2 second of the recording is always a quiet, but noticeable burst of static. I called VTech support on this, and they seemed to not be familiar with these problems, and escalated the call for me to follow up with a "Senior Tech." I'm going to follow-up on that today (It could very well be that my unit is defective). The phone is advertised as being able to upload ringtones from your PC, however I didn't find that to be the case using the supplied SW (a side-note, I went to the VTech website and downloaded the most current SW versions, only to find the Phonebook Manager on the site is a generation behind the SW delivered on the CD! And, two of the apps they make available simply don't support this phone! I suspect that, since this is a new model, they haven't gotten the site properly set up yet). The tech from VTech said it can be done, "all" I need to do is hook up the audio cable to my PC and play the audio through my PC to the phone! Uh, no... when I read that it allows you to upload ringtones via your PC, I expected it to do so through the SW that you use to upload Phonebook entries and pics, but that function isn't there. Also, when it's advertised that you can sync phones, to me that's a misnomer; you can, but you have to save your current phonebook settings through the SW from one phone, then upload those settings to other phones. Tedious (The Uniden allowed you to "push" settings to other phones wirelessly).

So the VTech i5871 is actually a great phone, VERY solidly built, good functional quality and features, but doesn't fit well with MY personal "I just want a set of phones that all act the same" needs. The only operational problem I've found is the ringtone recording, aside from that the phone works almost as advertised. Sound quality is very good (especially for the ringtones, the sound is almost breathtaking!), and I've found no interferance problems (I think you could put the phone IN a microwave without hearing noise, although I haven't tried that yet :)).

So, what I've been searching for is a phone system that has a dandy, readable color screen, universally shared pics, tones, and phonebook, and one that maps CID to your phonebook. Oh, and I really don't want a phone with an answering machine, I use Vmail from my phone provider, but I've yet to find a higher-end phone system that doesn't throw in an answering machine. The VTech fails on many of those needs of mine, but that was by design, not a flaw of the system.

In summary, if you're looking for the same features as I am, the VTech falls short. I gave the phone 3 stars because it doesn't meet MY needs, but if you're looking for a phone system that is used by several people who want to configure their phones individually, one that is loaded with features and style, the VTech is the best I've yet found. I'd give it 5 stars if that's the phone system I was looking for.

I've had this phone now for about three months and I have to say it's the best cordless phone I've ever had. The sound quality is very good for a speaker phone. I've asked the party on the other end before if they could tell that I was conversing with them on a speaker phone; while not as perfect as speaking directly into the phone it has never bothered the other party for me to continue the coversation while using the speakerphone.

This phone has so many features and they are remarkably easy to use with the intuitive user interface on the phone itself.

I have to say one of the best features is that when a message is left it shows on the phone in the display and you can simply use the speakerphone and play the message back on the phone itself and then erase from the handset!

I've read the other small complaints about the phone, but I have to say I've been more than pleased with it for sound quality, range and messages.

I also have an in-the-ear Jabra headset. It's one of those for cell phones that has no mike boom, only the piece that fits into your ear and picks up your voice through a very sensitive pickup on the earpiece. This works very well with the i5871 also.

I highly recommend this phone. It's pricey, but the build quality and features put it head and shoulders above any other cordless phone out there except the Bang & Olufsen, but that phone is $$$$$$$$$.

Originally, we had a VTech 5831 for about 4 years. This was a great phone and speakerphone - very good sound quality, nice readout for caller id, Ni-Mh battery performed well for 4 years, and very good speakerphone quality. BUT, as with all other reviewers of that phone, the OFF and 1 buttons have started to fail miserably. Strange and disappointing.

Anyway, this started our odyssey to find a new phone. First, we ordered the Panasonic KX-TG5432M (dual handsets, answering machine) because of the great Amazon ratings. The phone looks fine and the features were fine, but the sound quality was just horrible. (Who cares about the features if you sound like you are talking into a tin can attached to string?) I don't understand why these people would give the phone 5 stars! We sent it back.

Next, we went to Fry's and purchased the Motorola MD781. Not only was this phone aesthetically unattractive, the sound quality was actually worse than the Panasonic. Additionally, the battery for this phone was Ni-Cd. Shame on you, Motorola! This one went back the next day.

After the Motorola, I went back to Amazon and spent an afternoon looking at all of the phones available. I went to a few stores and talked to a couple of sales people that all said the same thing - Panasonic was the way to go. So, we decided that maybe we just got a bad phone the first time. We purchased another model 5432, took it home, and resolved to give it a real chance. I'm sorry, but the raters for this phone are wrong, wrong, wrong. The Panasonic has horrible sound quality. Horrible.

So, here we are, still no phone. I broke down and spent $180.00 on this VTech i5871. Very sleek looking, but very solid - metal, not plastic. The base/answering system is actually kind of heavy. Everything works - answering machine records messages and plays them back, battery performs well.

Read other reviews for pros/cons and feature rundowns. The simple fact is the sound quality is good. Very good. At this price, it better be, but I'm starting to believe that when it comes to the digital spread spectrum 5.8, you get what you pay for.

When I first got this phone, after much research, I have to say I really liked it. The range isn't nearly as good as an older 900 Mhz DSS phone I have (and I'm not sure why they did away with that technology as it works great and doesn't interfere with wireless networking). But as time goes on, there are little things about this phone that are really starting to bug me, like a pebble in my shoe, and I have to admit I'm having a bit of buyers remorse.

First, when you clear the caller ID log in the base unit, and even delete voice messages, they still appear to exist when viewed from the handset display, even if the handset is in the base at the time you clear. When you then go to play the message from the handset, it says "Message not found" - well duh, I deleted it - but the handset still shows it exists. The same holds true when you delete the call log from the handset, it's still intact on the base unit and you then have to clear it manually at the base unit? Frustrating to have to keep dealing with both units independently, it's getting quite repetitive and is time consuming. Apparently the units don't "talk" to each other, which is disappointing for such an expensive phone. As an example, when the phone rings and you pick it up to answer the call, after you're done and hang up, both the base and the hand set says "new caller". Yeah, I knew that too, I answered it! This may seem like a small thing, but when you answer a call, then go out for a bit and come back and the handset says "new call" but it's just the one you answered earlier, the feature becomes useless in my opinion unless you clear it each time you end a conversation at both the base and handset, very tedious. Maybe it's just me, but when the handset says new call, I kind of expect it to be a "new" call, aka one that I missed and not one I just answered?

I do like the handset display and the recordable ringtones, but the unit comes with too many pre-installed pictures and sounds that for some unexplainable reason (V-tech support was useless), you can't delete to free up more valuable space for your own. And the memory space on this phone is very limited unfortunately. As I said, given what I paid, I should be able to delete all that if I so choose.

When the phone initially rings, it plays the default ringtone regardless, and after about 3 seconds it determines who the caller is and switches to the assigned ring tone. Wouldn't it have been more seamless to just wait a few seconds and then play the assigned ringtone once the phone figures out who the caller is? Things like this show that the quality of the features on this phone do not justify the price.

I recently took a vacation and forgot to turn on the toll saver feature before leaving and thought it was something I'd be able to do remotely as the old machine I had allowed this feature to be changed on call in. Yet another disappointment to find that you can turn the ans. machine feature on and off remotely but you don't have the ability to do the same with toll saver. Quite an oversite on a phone of this price.

When you're on a call and call waiting beeps in, for some odd reason it only displays the caller info on the handset for about half a second, so unless you whip the phone away from your ear as soon as you hear the weird tone, you have no idea who is calling?! I've read the other reviews for this phone and am amazed this doesn't bother anyone else?

And finally, the range is just OK. With my old 900 Mhz, I can go to my neighbor's 2 doors down and across a street and the reception is crystal clear. With this unit, I can barely be in my adjacent neighbor's house and the call starts to break up. If you're just going to use this indoors and not venture any distance, it's fine.

So overall, I'd have to say that if the issues described above would bother you as they do me, keep looking for another phone. A daunting challenge as I looked for a long time before taking a chance on this phone, compared many units, and read countless reviews. Cordless phone mfr's seem to have difficulty making a decent phone with good features and substantial range. Seemingly it's a world of trade-off's, and this V-tech phone lives in a more expensive area of that world unfortunately, especially for the shortcomings you have to live with it doesn't seem nearly worth it.

UPDATE: A little after a year's use, this phone started doing what others have been complaining of, dropping calls, searching for base, etc. It's basically useless now and V-Tech won't do anything. From what I've read on other sites with people having these issues, it seems the battery is undersized for the phone, which seems true, and there's no fix for that due to the size and styling. This is absolutely the last V-Tech product I'll ever buy, and if you're looking for a decent phone, you'll steer clear of purchasing this headache waiting to happen.

My wife works from home, and consequently spends lots of time on the phone and the phone voice quality and ease of operation is very important to her. I bought this base and two extension handsets when they first became available to replace a mishmash of unmatched wired and wireless phones we had. I was worried that she wouldn't like it for whatever reason, but that turned out to be unfounded and she's now a complete convert. These aren't cheap, although prices have come down since I bought, but you get what you pay for, and after buying these, wife now tells me whenever I go out to buy something "don't buy the cheap one - get the best" - "Gee honey, what ever you say" is my response. The system has tons of features many of which we don't feel the need to use, but I'd think there would be something for everyone. In my experience the speakerphone functions work quite well, surprisingly so for such a small handset. One small quirk - the voice mail plays in reverse order, ie most recent first, oldest last, but you get used to that quickly.

In contrast to what some reports say, mine have worked flawlessly right out of the boxes. They were easy to set up, and non-technical wife can reconfigure options without me or the instructions. We did have one day when an apparent powerline glitch upset several electronic items in the house and left the base and one handset in a locked up condition. Removing all power for a moment restored everything and there has been no repeat.

One caution - as shipped, there is no battery in the base although there is a bay for one, so power outage = no phone service. After one night like this, I spent $20 more to get a backup battery for the base, which is the same as the handset battery, to run the phone for an hour or so (you could pull a handset battery and put it in the base for emergency situations, but I didn't like that idea). At a minimum, I'd recommend having one old-fashioned, hardwired, line-powered phone in the house (which I also do).

I absolutely love this phone. Great reception, Great visuals. Easy to use. Simple design. This was important, as I hate clutter on phones. This has few buttons with great features.

Two Cons: The minor con: Have to program each handset individually, but I don't really care ... I would still purchase this phone. The Major Con: It is not yet MAC compatible. Only Windows. I can get around that with my windows laptop for work, but hopefully Vtech will correct this oversight in the future.

Overall, very happy with these phones and highly recommend them.