my little talking friend
Written: Apr 08 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: small footprint, well-designed, efficient and reliable
Cons: not a lot of added features, but c'mon, it's a bargain anyway!
The Bottom Line: If you don't want an answering service or voice mail, this smart, simple little device is the next best thing. Affordable to most budgets.
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| seric26's Full Review: 1717 Digital Answering Machine |
Well, I had no idea I'd be writing an epinion on this product tonight. I'd never thought of reviewing it before, and just randomly came across it while trying to decide to add someone to my WOT.
They were right in all they said, but I noticed the negative reviews and felt I had to defend my little buddy! Really, sometimes negative comments are fair and accurate on this site, and sometimes people are just grousing because they paid a bargain price and expected something far more classy.
I'm only putting out this review now because when I go to the stores, these little guys are still available in all of them. At two+ years old, that's a sign to me that it's selling well.
I bought this model to replace a non-digital machine that I had literally kicked to the floor (by accident) a few too many times, also an AT&T (which is really Lucent Technologies for their hardware like this). I'd had that machine, w/two tapes and lots of largeness, for almost ten years. It was a good little boy, and at first I was hesitant at switching to digital. How would I save messages this way?
Well, I decided dispensing with tapes was worth it, and who needs to save phone messages forever after all? I'm already doing that with my e-mail to a sufficient extent. :)
What I Like about 1717:
1) time stamp, a pleasant male voice identifies the time and day [of the week] of each call
2) ability to save and delete easily
3) clarity and symmetry of design and button placement
4) the ability to control remotely from a phone call, not just hearing the messages but deleting them AND changing your outgoing announcement as you choose (my last model could NOT do this).
5) sound quality: it's surprisingly good, a great improvement over the first clunky, distorted all-digital machines
Suggested improvements:
1) the little voice should also tell me the date, I get quite confused with saved messages sometimes (depending on what you save, one "Tuesday" and the next could be the same day or weeks apart)
2) the LED display is only one digit: it has to blink from one to the next when you have more than 9 calls. This is just silly.
3) And, as others have said, any power outtage throws off the clock. It will offer a blinking "C" until you fix it, but that means whatever calls until you do are stamped "Noon, Sunday" no matter when they arrive.
Those complaints are minor tweaks, though, and in no way overbalance the scales from all the positives. I am not one to choose or desire voice mail. I like to see my little blinking friend when I come home (and I like people to receive busy signals when they call me if I'm already on the line).
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
seric26
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Member: Eric
Location: Boston, MA
Reviews written: 176
Trusted by: 47 members
About Me:
What's it all about? Home entertainment (including reading) and cooking.
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