Rating: 
Summary: Excellent phone system
Review: I just picked one of these up, and they're really excellent. The system is replacing an old Uniden 900mhz system that was on its last legs, so this is a definite step up.It was easy to set up, easy to figure out, and so far we haven't run into any of the dreaded battery problems other reviewers have noted. Some great things about the phone: * selectable rings for each line. It's silly, but surprisingly useful in real life. * The handset has a speakerphone mode for those times when you want other people in the room to be able to listen/talk to the person on the other end of the call. Very handy. * clarity is great, both in normal and speakerphone modes. The only bummer thing so far is the conference calling feature is a bit weak - on a three-way call my vocals were a bit weak. I was dialing into the unit, then conferencing someone else outbound on the other line, so that may be just how things are. Overall, though, it's turning out to be an excellent phone.
Rating: 
Summary: A flop and not worth the money
Review: Looks good. The specs look good. The phone battery is awful. When I first bought it, September of 2002, the handset lasted a grand total of 2 hours. Now, March of 2003, the handset will last 56 minutes. Call waiting doesn't work at all. Called the phone company, they said it's not them. They're right. It's the phone. Panasonic website has zero info on what to do. Not worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Unreliable answering machine
Review: Amazon.com has a great price on this phone. I bought it and just spent several hours setting it up. I found that the electronic menu would be impossible for a non-tech person to deal with. Manual volume and ring settings would be useful (this is all electronic menu driven).
Once set up my trial calls to leave messages did not always get recorded. Since I am using this for my business I cannot afford to have messages lost. This machine just doesn't make the grade.
Rating:
Summary: Buyer beware.
Review: These phones seemed to be exactly what we needed, but it hasn't worked out well at all. Within days of purchase problems began...each handset recorded different incoming calls (some calls appeared on all handsets, other calls on only some, etc.) After other inconsistent problems, I tried to contact Panasonic, which I've discovered has about the worst customer support as any company I've come across. I tried their web site and found no troubleshooting information. I repeatedly called their customer support line (I mean for days) without getting through. When I finally reached someone, she took the information and said someone would call me back within 48 hours. EIGHT DAYS LATER, I finally got through again to say no one had contacted me and the problems were worse. Again, no response. So I took the base unit back to Circuit City and they gave me a new one (which helped for about a week, then the problems resurfaced and now are getting worse with time.
When brand new,the batteries seemed to hold a charge as advertised. But now I literally get a ten minute call in and the phone is dead and must completely recharge. To make it more frustrating, it shows three bars on the display and then blanks out (unusable) from one second to the next with no warning.
Yesterday, one of the eight handset's display went black and now won't even recharge at all.
The phones are less than a year old and the system is worthless. Unless Panasonic has done some major reworking of these phones, I would stay away.
Rating: 
Summary: More on Battery Problems
Review: I have had this phone system for 6 months and would rate it higher except for the multiple problems I have had with this phone. The features are great and the sound the clarity is good. However, I have the same issues with the battery life as many others have reported. I have 3 handsets in all (one with the base/answering machine and 2 extra handsets). On two of the handsets, I have a continually dwindling battery life. Several calls to customer service have not helped--they seem to be unaware of the battery issues. They offered for me to return the phones for repair, but I am certain the problem is due to battery "memory" and they will not just replace the batteries for me (even with the phone under warranty). They insist I have to send in the phones. That means I will be without my phone system for a few weeks. The phones used to work well, but over the past few weeks the symptoms have worsened. I am at the point where I can hardly use the phones.
This is what happens:
1)After one or two short phone calls, the battery completely discharges and is not back to a full charge for hours as previously reported by others.
2)Countless times I have been cut off in the middle of conversations (including one to Panasonic customer service--after waiting on hold for 15 minutes, I had to call back on another phone and wait again.) Usually this happens without the low battery warning.
3)I can be in the middle of a conversation, and with the least little jostle of the phone (or the accidental pressing of a random button), the connection is lost and the battery display then shows low battery. The phone has to be recharged before I can use it again. I think it is totally impractical to have to leave a phone out of the charger until it "asks" to be recharged so it won't develop a memory. (I want to know where the phone is plus I don't want extra clutter of having to place the handset elsewhere on the desk!)However, now that my phone batteries have developed short "memories", I can't leave the phone out of the charger at all or else the battery discharges even faster. The other problem I had was that my display on one of the phones went black and I had to return it for replacement. They sent me a refurbished phone. That phone is working okay at the moment. I would be interested in finding out about the Nickel Metal Hydride battery (vs. the NiCad) but Panasonic is no help on this. It is too bad this phone has these battery problems. Otherwise it would be a great system.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I've never experienced a home cordless phone like this, it just as easy to use as a cell phone. Thanks to the R&D of Panasonic. They are wonderful. I am enjoy almost every function of this phone. However, if this phone has more varieties of ringer music to choose (just like panasonic cell phone GD88), AND if you can also add muti-language key-in, that will even make this phone the Best-Buy in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing's perfect... but this is close enough for the $$$
Review: Past reviewers have all commented extensively on the features and functions of this expandable system, I can't really add to that. I visited Amazon and many, many, many other sites while researching my purchase -- for the money, this seemed to be the best overall in technical specs, features, functions and user appeal. Certainly, none of the various systems have everything everyone wants and this phone is no exception. My experience thus far: 1) Like the looks of both base unit and handsets (I purchased an additional KX-TGA270S).
2) Handsets are fairly comfortable to hold against your head while in your hand, but difficult to keep in the crook of your neck for "hands-free" operation -- that's where the speaker phone on the handset does come in handy and yes, it would be nice if the volume could go a bit louder.
3) I dislike having to use the speakerphone on the base unit to record answering machine greetings -- the ability to do so from a handset or a external microphone jack would be great. I tried to be creative and have background music while recording the greeting and it sounds horrible no matter how I do it...
4) Both of my handsets came with the NiCD batteries and thus far they've performed OK. Certainly hard to leave them alone during the first 15 hours of "hibernation" (hey, I'm a geek and want to play!). We've been very careful to not place them back in the charger until the handset asks to be recharged. Time will ultimately tell and we're researching which NiMH batteries can be used instead just in case.
5) The Caller ID has worked fairly well. You have to get used to the fact that Ring #1 won't yield CID info -- it does consistently appear with Ring #2 for us. We especially like the storage of the last 50 phone calls -- nice to see who's called and be able to instantly return their call if no message was deposited. At the end of the day, and when compared to other 2.4GHz expandable systems, we're pleased so far -- of course, it helped that we were able to find the base system and an additional handset for just slightly more than [$$]. We've tossed the stand-alone answering machine (orig retail [$$]) and an AT&T 900MHz cordless (orig retail [$$]) and feel the Panasonic combination has been a reasonable expense.
Rating: 
Summary: NIMH Battery
Review: This isn't exactly a review because I haven't purchased the phone yet but am seriouly considering it. I am writing this to dispute some information in the review by a reviewer in San Diego. He says that to avoid the problems with the battery mentioned by several reviewers, he purchased the NIMH battery that was available for it. Since I couldn't find such a battery I called Panasonic directly and was told that there is not a NIMH battery available for this model. They do claim that the problems with the NICD battery have been addressed and corrected as have the problems with Caller ID.
Rating:
Summary: best phone out there - if you buy the NiMH battery!
Review: People have complained that this phone has a short battery life. So when I bought this phone I purchased the separate NiMH battery which is available for it, and it works perfect! The phone has gone with no charge for 3 days now, under heavy usage, and the battery has still not run out. Features:
- GREAT audio quality, on the phone AND answering machine.
I had the Vtech 2 line 2.4GHz phone before this, which had very poor audio quality, and which I returned.
- Panasonic thought of everything when designing this. Everything works very intuitively and no features were left out. There is nothing about this phone that is a pain to use, unlike the Vtech, which for example makes you go through all kinds of menus to call back a caller ID number. The Panasonic does it for you, and remembers which area codes need a 1 in front. Another example, with the vtech you have to set the time manually, the pansonic gets the time automatically from caller ID.
- Very nice buttons. These are easier to operate than any other phone I have used!! the vtech's buttons were these small rubbery keys that were hard to press causing digits to be easily missed or duplicated when dialing. The only bad thing about the phone is you do have to refer to the manual a few times before you know how do do everything, but considering the great features and design it's well worth it. I would say this is the best 2line phone out there, but spend the extra money for the NiMH battery.
Rating:
Summary: So much better than Siemens
Review: I had a Siemens phone system that I dumped and replaced it with this one. I recommend reading the other reviews; here's some notes to fill in the gaps: 1. I haven't had any problems with battery life. It seems "normal" --i.e. I probably get several hours talk time and many hours standby, but I keep the phone in the charger at night and most of the day when I'm not using it, so it's not like it's ever far from being charged 100%. 2. The phone is solid and well-designed (unlike the Siemens). The base unit does not have a headset jack, but the handset does (as do the add-on handsets, a separate product). 3. The add-on handsets, BTW, are almost exactly the same as the handset that comes with the base station: slightly (very slightly) different form factor, but the same buttons and interface. 4. The directory on the hanset is a bit clunky to use, I agree, but it works. 5. The caller ID seems to work great for me. No problems. 6. The interface is very clear and easy to use, unlike the Siemens. 7. I can't comment on the answering machine as I don't use it. 8. In addition to the speakerphone in the base unit, the handset has a speakerphone! Yes, the HANDSET-- it's like a portable speakerphone. Kind of an odd feature but I find myself using it occasionally. Neat. 9. Anyone on an extension phone can join into a conversation (unlike the Siemens). So if I am on Line1 and want someone in the kitchen to join in the call, they can just pick up that phone and press Line1 and be there with me. Hope this helps. best
Eric
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