HELP! Need GOOD Cordless Portable Telephones!

I will be sent out tomorrow or Tuesday to buy two new cordless phones to replace:

One Sony Cordless with caller ID that lasted about two years...

and One Uniden Cordless/Speaker phone that has had a replacement battery recently and lasted about 2.5 years...

I'm not totally dissatisfied with either phone, but still want to buy something good to replace them!

Recommendations???

I've always went with Panasonic for cordless phones with good results. They tend to be pretty good quality.

If these are for the same house, get on that has multiple handsets. I use a Panasonic at work and a Siemens at home. The Panasonic has slightly better sound quality and range. The features on the siemens ( call screening from all the handsets on speakerphone ) a somewhat nicer.

Scott

Next time I get a phone, I'm going to get a Panasonic. Also, I'm going to try really hard to make sure it uses NiMH cells, not NiCads.

I also have Panasonic at home and like it. It is a three phone system. Make sure to get one that uses Spread Spectrum. It provides more security and better distance. My personal preference is to avoid 2.4 Ghz since Wi-Fi and microwave ovens operate near those frequencies.

Yeah. This is one area of consumer electronics that boggles my mind. Why the blazes aren't there any really high quality cordless phones? And by "high quality" I DO NOT mean tons of features. I mean a phone that won't crap out on you after a couple years.

I have a Sony SPP-AQ25 cordless phone with answering machine that I dearly love. It has lasted for 7 years so far with absolutely no problems. I did replace the battery a couple years ago, but not because it needed one, but because I was worried I wouldn't be able to get a replacement battery when it DID need one. And I figured that after 5 years of constant service the old battery was probably starting to loose some performance.

Anyway, it's a great phone with very good range and sound quality and ergonomics. It has HARD buttons, not those annoying soft ones that are ubiquitous nowadays. And it has a digital greeting, but a TAPE message answering machine. It's very straightforward with no stupid LCD display.

I wish I had purchased two of them when they were still being made.

When I do have to replace it, there will be nothing out there which is as good as it.

Part of the reason it is so good is that it is NOT a 900 MHz, or 2 MHz or 2.4 GHz or 500 THz--as if higher is always better--HELLO? Not necessarily. Anyway. My phone is whatever frequency was used BEFORE the 900 MHz phones hit the market. And it goes through anything. And it goes far. I used to go out and work in the garden some 90 feet away from the base, and the phone worked fine.

Ah whatever. </RANT>

If anyone knows of an elegant and high quality cordless phone, please post about it here.

I have a panasonic cord-less phone that I have owned for
at least 12 years.
I do not use it but it still works.
I think it works just as good as the 5.8 GHZ thing I use now.
maybe better.
The hand set of my 5.8 GHZ phone is too small and heavy.
go for a full size hand set
and buy panasonic.
my sanyo (10 years old)900 MHz digital spread spectrum
phone works better than my 2.4 or my 5.8 GHZ digital spread spectrum phone.
It has more range less noise but no caller id.

this one looks nice for 54 bucks free shipping

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/electronics/B0001W9IIC/reviews/002-9059558-9381651#b0001w9iic4055

5.8 GHz frequency-hopping digital spread spectrum technology (FHSS). Minimal interference, clear sound, and all the advantages of digital—that's what you'll get when you use 5.8 GHz FHSS technology.
Call waiting/caller ID. See the name and phone number of incoming calls even while talking on another call.
Caller IQ compatible. Enjoy convenient information downloads, such as news and personal directory listings, from openLCR (if available; requires registration).
Short light-up antenna with message alert. The handset antenna tip flashes during an incoming call (ringer) and flashes slowly when a message has been recorded into the voicemail provided by your phone company.
Handset digital duplex speakerphone. Digital circuitry helps reduce the echo and dropout commonly found in speakerphones and allows more natural sounding conversations.
50-station caller ID memory and dialer.
Three-line LCD on handset. The caller ID's three-line LCD shows each caller's complete information without additional scrolling. Backlighting on the handset LCD greatly aids visibility, especially in low light.
Lighted handset keypad.
Headset jack and belt clip.
Handset locator.
NiMH handset battery.



this one is 95 bucks it has an answering machine
free shipping


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001Z5KHW/002-9059558-9381651?v=glance&s=electronics&vi=special-offers&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

20 dollar panasonic rebate good for both phones.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001W9IIC.01.RB01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg


I like the 54 dollar one I have a kool answerer
It is the first digital phone answerer that sony ever made. It has a oriental woman's voice- sexy

microwave frequencys are attenuated by wood--walls etc
but range has not been a problem for me
digital spread spectrum is the way to go

They are for two different locations.

I just think getting two of the same will be easier.

The Sony probably has dead nicads. I MAY try to rescue it after replacing it. When the Sony worked, it was far and away better than the phone/fax/copier phone that has our answering machine, and 1000% better than the way off brand in the other room.

The Uniden has lost some buttons. Can't call up anything with a 1, 2 or 3 in it and can't retrieve caller id info. It was a better phone than many that have come before. It still ANSWERS fine, and may go in the back of the house as a backup.

WOW! Almost exclusively Panasonic is recommended. That HAS to count for something!

I don't really give a big whoppty doo about 5.8ghz and all the latest stuff. I DO like caller ID info on one screen without scrolling! And it only has to reach through a couple walls at either location. 900mhz seemed to do all I required of it.

I'm going to take a hard look at Panasonic!

THANKS for the info so far!

2.4ghz phones can work fine with wifi, you just have to experiment with the channel settings on your wifi access point. Channels 1, 6, and 11 seem to be the least susceptible to interference in my experience, but it varies depending on the phone.

I had to get 2.4GHz because there are no 900MHz or 5.8GHz phones that are both two-line and expandible (yet).

Cordless phones are tricky. There are a lot of crappy ones out there. Every time I go to buy one, I end up returning several before I get a keeper. The only ones I have ever been satisfied with were Panasonic, and there have even been a few of those I returned (another vote for Panasonic).

I don't know the currently available Panasonic models, but definitely get a Panasonic. My last two phones were the 2.4 GHz band and have been very good. You don't necessarily have to pay a lot. My current phone was about $60 (with caller ID) and was better than $100+ phones that I tried.

And by the way, whichever one you buy, you can trash the lame low-capacity Ni-CD battery pack and put a good Ni-MH pack in there instead so the thing will work properly. That's what I do.

Good Luck!

I think you can buy the phones anywhere and the rebate will work just fine.

it is a panasonic rebate

Oh Boy!

If these turn out not needing to go back, I'm a happy camper!

I got a KX-TG2312 which is a 2.4ghz DSS (FHSS!) with a simple base,

And a KX-TG2336 which is the same deal with a Keypad base unit.

So far in simple testing, sound quality is light years above 900mhz!

Both also have NimH packs included, and say in the book "cannot be overcharged" which is what I KNOW has killed some phones in the past!

As it happens, the Phone/Fax/Copier/Answering Machine at the office is Panasonic. It works ok, but is 900mhz with the CID on the back. I like these new units a lot better!

THANKS GUYS!!!

We will get one more at a later date.

panasonic phones with extra handsets
I would buy two phones instead

http://www.101phones.com/browse/08bb45f001919e60709529e0d4c618bf

We had a Panasonic 49Mhz that lasted forever, until getting drenched with root beer, and dropped into a glass of sugar water in the same week. (Looking back I may have been able to bring it back to life, but I was maybe 7 then so...)

Then 2 VTech 900 Mhz. Junk. Swore off VTech forever.

Went back to a Panasonic 900 Mhz but the sound quality wasn't as good as the VTech (900 Mhz Digital for VTech, Analog for Panasonic).

Wanted a 5.2 Ghz Panasonic but they only came with answering machines at the time which we don't need, and a bit spendy, so got a 5.2 Ghz DSS Uniden and very happy with it. NiMh Battery.

When it does need replaced we'll probably look first to Panasonic, then back to Uniden.

About the only security the 49 mhz phones had was in the ring. A digital code would signal if the ring was from your phone. You'd still get others in your conversation, or they could scan through the channels and listen in. With a scanner, you could enter all the channels in and listen to every phone call in the neighborhood. Digital and spread spectrum solved all that.

For other purusing this thread, I too recommend the 2.4 GHz Panasonic. The KX-TG2740 series allow up to 7 phones to run from a single base station and some even support two lines! I have 7 in my house, all identical. It's great to have very good clarity and ALL of them have the same keypad. My wife talks for 1 to 3 hours per night to her mother.

Oh, the phone model is labled "MultiTalk". Some of the handsets have NiCD and others have NiMH. The newer ones are NiMH.

Daniel

I'll add this before we drop this thread.

The phone which was pretty roundly HATED (and replaced by the KX-TG2312) was a V-Tech 900mhz. What a piece of GARBAGE!!! I'd NEVER EVER buy V-Tech again!

THe Uniden 900mhz that lost buttons (and replaced with the KX-TG2336)was actually a well liked phone. It was nicad powered though, and I have instantly found that I LOVE these new Panasonics for having NimH batteries!!!

THANKS AGAIN for turning me on to the good stuff!!!

You may want to look into the specific Panasonic model you're considering, there was a particular one that Costco was selling that got pretty universal bad comments from some reviews I saw, so the name alone may no longer be a defacto indication of quality. I opted for a Uniden 2.4GHz dual handset combo that they also had at Costco, which works very well.

I see no huge problem with Uniden.

The two Panasonics I got... one was cheap enough that if only makes a year, it's okay.

The other one was a bit more, but had the base I wanted.

So far, so good!

I think I'll buy Panasonic again if needed!

Oh and the V-Tech we all hated? 900mhz Digital (or so it said!)