Original review: 8/12/04

I finally decided to quit fighting with my 3 incompatible and sometimes poorly-designed cordless phones and get an integrated cordless-phone 'system'. I had an older 900-MHz Uniden, which provided solid sound quality and battery life, but had few extra features...a 2.4 GHz Panasonic speakerphone with lots of features but was often unusable because of static, dropouts, and wireless network interference...and an inexpensive 2.4 GHz GE which generally worked well but had a dim, unreadable LCD display.

I researched expandable phone systems, with my main criteria being:

- Excellent sound quality
- Expandable to 4 or more handsets
- Freedom from 802.11 b/g network interference
- Handset speakerphones & callerID
- Shared phone books
- Bright, readable display and illuminated buttons
- Able to use 2 or more handsets at once
- Loud, adjustable volume
- Clear answering machine recordings.

This Uniden system has come through with flying colors. Not only is it very well engineered for sound quality and durability, the controls are extremely well thought-out and intuitive. I've only had to refer to the manual a couple of times, even to set up extended features. All of the buttons and menus are well labeled, and they do exactly what you would expect them to do. Uniden really did their homework on this phone!

An example - I purchased an additional handset, and when I plugged in the battery it actually told me what to do (via the display) to register it with the system! I didn't even need to pull out the manual.

Transmission & reception quality are nearly perfect, although I have not tested its extended range. It's amazing to have 3 (or more) phones which all work exactly the same, have the same phonebooks, and work as 'remote answering machines'. I tested this unit alongside my 802.11 b/g wireless network, 900 MHz wireless headphones, and various other devices - no interference whatsoever.

Each handset keeps its own copy of the phonebook, and any entry or the entire phonebook can be copied to any other handset or the base. This gives you a lot of flexibility, in case you really want to keep different entries on each handset.

Total integration with the answering machine may be the best feature. Each handset works like an extension to the answerer - it alerts you of new messages with a red light, and allows you to pick up your messages from wherever you happen to be.

Besides my basic requirements, this phone has lots of cool features that really make it a joy to use. Having a different tune play for each caller may be a little kitchy, but it always gets a chuckle! The 'do not disturb' button is a very nice feature that I haven't seen on many products. Great when kids (of any age) are napping.

There are some unexpected benefits to only needing a single phone jack for all of your phones. Most obvious, of course, is that you can put a phone in any room that doesn't have a jack. A more subtle benefit is that you can place the phone exactly where you want it in the room. Remember that kitchen/den/bedroom with the phone jack on the wrong side of the room? No problem...all you need is a power outlet.

This particular model, the TRU8885-2, comes with 2 handsets. You can also get versions with one or three handsets, and buy additional handsets as needed. As far as pricing is concerned, it doesn't matter much whether you buy the handsets individually or in a bundle - but that may change once the retailers begin discounting it.

Although the price seems a bit high, this phone is a bargain compared to inferior competing phones in the same price range. For my money, Uniden is the only expandable phone maker who really got it right.

Besides, that orange LCD display just looks so cool! ;-)


UPDATE: 9/9/04

I have had the phone for about a month now, and I now own a total of five handsets. Three of these were purchased in a buy-2-get-one-free deal at OfficeMax. I still love it! The real test was talking to my folks, who have always had trouble understanding me on my other cordless phones. They hear me loud and clear now, just like with the old wired phones.

Also, I did some simple range testing. I live on an average-size suburban lot, and was able to walk about 2 doors down before the signal began breaking up. This is probably about 150 feet from the base, through interior and exterior walls. It's perfect for my purposes around the house. But if you live on a ranch, or in a house the size of Stallone's, you'll probably need a cordless with better range (probably 900MHz) or a cell phone.


Recommended: Yes