Uniden TRU9485/9460 is like a professional PBX system (clarity, flexibility, long battery life)

Well I had a crisis on my hands. Our last remaining cordless phone (Radio Shack wall mounted) had a problem with battery life. Being the summer, there were longer chats out on the patio and it would only last for 20 minutes (way too short for my wife's average conversation). I had been looking for another wall mounted unit for some time but all the current offerings are table-top mounted. By way of background, I had purchased more than a dozen cordless phones over the last many years (including an outrageously expensive Sony 2-line model). I had consistently gone to Radio Shack to replace battery packs in order to extract some extended life out of the various phones (at $20 each time).

This time I decided it was time to think outside the box. What I wanted was a phone I could put in the den where all the computer gear is and avoid interference with the wireless network. So I was into a 5.8ghz system. I would leave the short duty Radio Shack on the wall in the kitchen and surround it with longer life long range new cordless phones.

The other problem I had faced was that replacing batteries is OK but sometimes the handsets got dropped or left out in the rain, etc. So I was interested in a system that was expandable with replacement handsets. Well, to my pleasant surprise, there are many choices now (thanks to VOIP) for complete systems of phones. I did a quick perusal and decided on a Uniden expandable system (up to 10 handsets). Why? Mostly because of numerous reports on good quality reception and good phones.

This system has the characteristics of a complete telephone system. Somewhat like an office PBX but without the inherent complexity and expense. It can be expanded to 10 cordless extensions. All the handsets are fully functional like cell phones but about the form factor of 8-year old cell phones. They come with a belt clip so you can walk about your property and always be in touch. Not only with incoming calls, but like a mobile intercom with any room in your house that has a handset. Very cool! They have no antennas sticking out so they have a nice sleek appearance. They also have a large display (black on white with orange backlight) and a lighted keypad.

You can share phone book entries and other settings with all the other handsets, OR every handset can have its own set of 100 entries. Very flexible. Copy just one entry or the whole phonebook. Each handset can set its own 10 phonebook entries for instant speed dial. They all track any incoming calls and you can easily return those calls without redialing their numbers. Even if the number is long distance, one touch on the * star inserts a 1 to get to the LD network. If you happen to be in an area that still has 7 digit dialing, one touch of the # pound key removes the area code. Both keys toggle to insert or remove the code depending on your local situation. These Uniden engineers must have actually been using these phones. They are very user friendly. Any call that is identified with Caller ID can be easily added to the phonebook and then copied individually (or not) to any or all of the other units.

Each phone has a redial button that calls up a stack of the last three numbers dialed from that handset. The phone can be labelled so you know it belongs in the Den, Living Room, etc. This is only important if you plan to use the intercom feature. You could just as easily assign one handset to each member of your family (such as Living Room, Kitchen, or Mary and Chet). Each phone has a speaker so you can let the group hear your caller, or, more importantly, put Silicon Sally on the speaker until a real person pickups up your call.

You have the ability to put any call on hold while you do other things without them hearing, or on mute if you are conferencing with nothing to say, and you can transfer the call to another handset if it is for another member of your family. There are 3 soft keys that change their definition based on the context of the current screen, and three function keys below the keyboard: Speaker, Intercom/Hold and Redial/Pause. There are also four function keys surrounding the circle key below the screen: Up/Down and Phonebook/Caller ID Log. (It does not take pictures though.) The main keypad cycles through the letters in upper/lower case for text entry. Special characters are on the 0 key.
The Talk/Flash key is to the left of the circle key and Off is on the right. Both are large and clearly marked.

The Intercom function lets you call anyone remotely located in your estate, or you can conference them into your call. A nice feature is very large contacts with the charging stands. It is easy to make contact and you will not suffer from the corrosion that comes from tiny contacts. Also there is a large LED that lights up to confirm that you made contact. The batteries are NiMH and last for 5 hours of talk time after a full (20 hour) charge. Enough for even my wife's conversations.

There are 100 independent memories for each phone and these can be used for any combination of phonebook entries and caller ID log entries. The phonebook takes precedence so your daughter can fill hers up while you leave some room to track the telemarketers. Each phonebook entry can have two numbers (e.g. home and cell). You can call up Voicemail with one touch from any handset. It is one of the soft keys on the main screen. You can adjust volume during any call. Twenty ring tones are supplied to be assigned to any repeat callers identified in your individual phonebook.

One of the nice features is that setting the time and date on any handset causes it to be replicated on the others. It behaves like a central PBX while providing maximum flexibility for each of the ten handsets. Each handset can be identified . Each phone belongs to its base and is registered with the base station but can be charged up on any base. But if you switch the LR unit with the Kitchen base then the Intercom function will not be meaningful. Intercom is a function key on every handset and rings the one selected. The system can also be used for room monitoring between any two handsets but those units will not act as phones when in this mode. There is also an ability to directly link any two handsets for a private conversation (intercom mode is open to any handset). This essentially makes the two phones into walkie-talkies.

The high 5.8 ghz frequency seems to accomplish a clearer sound with no one noticing that you are using a cordless. It also avoids interference with a home WiFi network that uses 2.4ghz. Range is somewhat less at this high frequency but this is a worthwhile tradeoff. We had no trouble with connecting to the base. There are no external antennas on the handsets and so the phones look like modern cell phones. These phones use DSS (digital spread spectrum) or frequency hopping to increase security from eavesdropping. There is a red flashing indicator which indicates that a voicemail has been received. This indicator even works for telco voicemail.

This system is a follow-on to the TRU 8885 system. It has all the features of that system which has been extensively reviewed here on epinions:
http://ecoustics.epinions.com/Uniden_TRU8885_5_8_GHz_Digital_Cordless_Phone
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Uniden_TRU8885-2_tru88852_Phone
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Uniden_TRU8885-3_tru8885-3_Phone
This system can be expanded with either the TCX805 from the above system, or the improved cheaper TCX905 from its own line. The TCX905s are available on eBay for $28+S&H. The handsets are similar to the previous system but have a nicer appearance. The main functional change is the larger and more clearly marked Talk/Flash and End keys. A total of ten handsets are supported. If you have two external lines, you can acquire another base such as the TRU9460 and then mix and match the handsets by registering them with the respective base stations. It is an ideal system to use with VOIP service because it does not utilize the phone wiring in your house.

We bought this system at Costco for $75. It has an orange backlighting for both the display and the keypad. It lights up when a call comes in or whenever you press a key. The display has three lines of 16 characters plus a soft key function line along the bottom. It uses the top 2 lines together to display day and time in double height characters that you can read while it is in its base. The base has a paging button to locate misplaced handsets. With 5 hours of talk time between charges, these handsets do not have to spend much time on their bases. The handsets have a good feel, smaller than most home phones, yet bigger than most cell phones with dimensions of 2"x6"x1.25". The speaker is large and on the back of the handset. It is very clear. The battery pack consists of 3 AAA NiMH wrapped in plastic. Each handset comes with a clip-on belt clip so you don't need to stuff it in a pocket when you are away from the base. Each has a standard headphone jack. (Spanish and French are also supported by this system displays.)

http://www.uniden.com/product.cfm?product=TRU9485

A cheaper version without the answering machine is also available:
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=TRU9460&page=2
Expansion units for this system are also available:
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=TCX905
and a waterproof extension can be added for outdoor/jacuzzi use:
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=TWX977

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