Panasonic KX FPG381 Fax Machine/Phone
Written: Apr 30 '05 (Updated Apr 30 '05)
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Pros: Handy to have fax machine at home. Caller ID,
Cons: No automatic redials locally.
The Bottom Line: It is nice to have a reliable fax machine at home.
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As I mentioned, we had an $800 credit with Circuit City because of a TV that went bad. Hubby and I had always wanted a fax machine. After all, about once or twice a year we would like to able to send a fax, and the copy store that offered a fax service was a whole mile away! Little did we realize just how much we'd be needing a fax machine in a couple of months.
We noticed interest rates were going down, and we entertained the idea of buying another house. If we wanted another house, this was the time. This machine proved invaluable, faxing financial information, contracts, etc. back and forth to the realtor and financing company.
Set up was fairly easy, I made a few false starts, but the machine let me know if I didn't assemble something correctly. The ink source comes in the form of what looks like a roll of black carbon paper. I think I got 25 faxes out of the first ribbon. I don't think it matters if you fax a two line page, or a full page, you will use a "full page" of "carbon paper." I think a mistake I made early on, was I'd always get a written response on the machine, indicating a fax was successful. I really didn't need this information and was able to change this feature.
The fax works well and the print is easy to read, although all fax type gets slightly distorted being faxed. The only problem I've had with it is occasionally the paper feeds a bit sideways, so I have to hold the paper taut. Perhaps if I used new paper rather than having it stand upright for weeks/months at a time, this would solve the problem.
If I send a fax, I put it between two side guides. I hit the orange digital sp-phone button and dial my number. When the fax/phone answers, I just press the fax/start button. When I receive faxes, I ask someone to phone me first. *I then know the next time the phone rings, I should push the fax/start button and my faxed copies start to appear. In reading the online guide, I find I can set the machine to automatically answer on the 4th ring or automatically receive a fax on the 7th ring.
Occasionally when I fax, multiple sheets go through at a time. Perhaps my paper is damp, as I don't fax much. The website states that putting one piece of paper in the machine at a time, rather than a stack of paper at a time, will help solve this problem. The paper does stand up at the back of the machine
As well, the fax machine comes with a 2.4 GHz phone, with a speaker phone option, hold/clear, talk/off, conference, flash, pause, call wait, and redial functions. You can have multiple handsets and only worry about one hardwire to the phonejack from the fax unit. I can see who has and is calling, and also review the numbers I have dialed. Unfortunately when caller ID shows up, it includes the area code, so when I want to redial that number, the phone company will intercept the call and tell me the area code isn't needed. I then need to write down the number and manually redial it. You will need to let the phone charge 15 hours before you use it for the first time. A red light in the base tells you the phone base is active and recharging.
If you have call waiting through your telephone company, a beep will tell you when some is trying to call you while you're on the phone. I never thought I needed this feature until I had it. I was surprised how many times I've had two people calling me at once.
There is also an answering machine feature with 3 mailboxes, holding up to 15 minutes of recording time. We had an answering machine at our old house, but never set up this feature since we moved.
There are buttons for greeting, memo, erase or auto answer. I haven't worked with these buttons. The instruction book got misplaced when we moved. There is a help button, menu button, volume + -, and a navigator button to work your way through the prompts setting up your machine.
One negative I can think of is accidentally hitting "hold" instead of "off," then I have no idea why my phone is making noise at me when I put the receiver in the base unit.
http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PlainPaperFAQ?storeId=15001&catalogId=13401&langId=-1&catGroupId=25046#fax2
* Telephone answering modes:This information is from the Panasonic website regarding telephone answering modes. They can explain it so much better than I can:
Tel receiving mode:
In this mode, any extension in your home can be used to answer a call. If the incoming call is a fax, dial the fax activation code (usually *9, or *#9, or see user manual), hang up and your fax machine does the rest.
ANS/FAX or TAD/FAX or TAM/FAX
In this mode, incoming calls can be set to ring up to 4 times (on most machines 4 rings is the limit; there are some models with up to 7 rings, like the KX-FPG381) before your fax machine answers the call, to give you a chance to answer the phone. After 4 rings, the answering machine will pick up the call. If the unit detects that it is a fax call, then it starts receiving the transmission; if a voice call is detected, it lets the caller leave a message.
EXT.TAM:
This receiving mode allows you to use an External Telephone Answering Machine. You can connect a separate answering machine to your fax machine and set it to receive voice messages and faxes while you're away from home.
Recommended:
Yes
Purchase Price (if leased, monthly payment): 150
Machine age (Months in use): 6
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