Almost great
Written: Nov 03 '01 (Updated Nov 06 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small footprint, very stylish, good answering machine interface, NiMH battery
Cons: Limited range, somewhat delicate handset construction
The Bottom Line: Limited range and somewhat below-par answering machine sound quality knock it out of the running.
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| tomwatson's Full Review: Panasonic KX TG1050N 2.4 GHz 1-Line Cordless Phone |
Why is it that no one makes a phone that combines excellent cordless function AND an answering machine that doesn't take a degree in Phonitology to use WITHOUT all the extra crap that only two people on the planet will use? Many of the new designs out there look like they were designed by art school dropouts on acid, too. Read the reviews here and in Consumer Reports...you'll find phones that excel in one particular area and suck in all the others.
Panasonic got several things right, though the unit is not without its flaws. The main complaint is range - the limit seems to be about 50-60 feet (especially if there's a wall or two in the way). Manually enabling 'Extended Range' mode helps somewhat, but that eats into battery life according to the manual. I left the main handset on 'Auto' and manually set the satellite unit to 'Extended' since it sits about 30 feet from the base.
It's listed as '2.4 GHz FHSS' or "Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum". One of you EE types will have to elaborate on how that compares to DSS or SS. The unit is Caller ID and speakerphone equipped, plus it can utilize a second NiMH battery to allow phone use during AC power outages.
Pros:
Very small unit and VERY good looking color scheme (something between silver and gold, but not cheesy looking like some of the bright silver units out there).
NiMH battery. There's no reason to use NiCADs any more (are you listening, Sony?). This is very high on my short list of must-haves.
Good answering machine UI - easy to set up, three mailboxes, intuitive to use.
Satellite handsets are identical to the primary one - no more learning the interface for two or more phones. Satellite bases are very compact.
Cons:
RANGE. The base unit does not have an aerial - don't know if that contributes to the range problem, but a three-inch antenna on one side would take away nothing from the appearance.
Handset is nice (very cell phone-like), but appears to be on the fragile side. Don't drop it. No way to set it on a table face-down without contacting the LCD window and eventually scratching the hell out of it.
Extra handsets must be individually programmed - there's no way to synchronize phone lists and/or operating preferences from one to another.
REVIEW UPDATE:
After using the phone for several days, I have decided it's going back to the store. The range issue has turned out to be the deal-breaker, but I've also noticed that the answering machine sound quality isn't what it first seemed. I'm lowering my overall assessment to THREE stars with NOT RECOMMENDED and downgraded sound quality to a TWO.
I'm going to look at other 2.4 GHz phone/answerers and a standalone 900 MHz DSS unit for the remote location.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
tomwatson
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Member: Tom Watson
Location: Orange, CA
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 1 member
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