Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, but...
Review: An outstanding product. I recommend it highly to anyone seeking a truely versital telephone system.
We've received only two of the four handsets and already we're taken by the feature set of this system. Most important to us is the room monitoring feature. While there are many baby monitoring systems on the market, the majority of them are no better than a pair of Mickey Mouse Walkie Talkies. Interference with other cordless users (not to mention our 2.4GHz WiFi network) was a major concern and the Uniden system eliminated this fear.
However, there is one small issue I have with this phone system. It has to do with the Phonebook feature. My expectation was that because this is a 'networked' (in a loose sense of the term), data entered into the base station's phonebook could be accessed by the individual handsets. Now, I admit there may be the chance I failed to read the instruction manual thuroughly and skipped over the section that explained how one might envoke this, but I'm a little bugged that I have to enter phone numbers into each handset. I should be able to dip into, or push out, the base station's phone book by single number, or wholesale to any or all of the handsets, and be able to add or delete entries per handset and push or delete entries from the base station using a handset.
Other than this niggly bit, I am quite happy with this phone and can't wait for the remaining handsets to arrive.
UPDATE:
The remaining handsets have arrived. During the interim I've had ample time to get used to this system and don't regret my decision. The phones are solid, the feature set robust, and the audio quality is pure.
The phone's integrated room monitoring is outstanding. We'll be using one of the handsets in the baby's room when she arrives but I've been able to test it while my wife is sleeping to get an idea of it's sensitivity. I was able to hear her every turn of the blankets.
During this time we've had the opportunity to use the built-in intercom. It works well. Being able to select from any of the four handset's or the base station by name is great using the 'Banner' feature available on each handset. 'Banner' allows you to 'name' each phone to make selection easy. Instead of forcing you to remember if you have 'handset 1' in the kitchen or garage, you just label the phone 'kitchen' or 'garage'. It couldn't be easier.
Overall, this has been a very welcome addition to our home. The feature set, functionality, and usefulness make the Uniden TRU-8865 a great value.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent feature-set
Review: As others have noted, this phone system has an amazingly useful set of features. I'm replacing a very expensive Siemens system that has served me well for nearly 10 years, and it's taken that long to find a suitable replacement (which had to be 5.8MHz to avoid interference with LANs and other 2.4GHz devices I need to use).One correction of a criticism in prior reviews -- One user noted that the numbers saved in Caller ID can't be dialed as saved. In fact, the phone will insert or remove the leading 1- for long-distance dialing just by pressing the "*/Tone/<" key, and it will insert or remove the area code by pressing the "#/>" key. This is handy, and it's too bad the annoyed reviewer didn't notice it in the manual (p. 53). Transferring ALL numbers in the phone directory from one unit to another (base or remote) is absolutely essential if you're using it as a home phone, and I was relieved to confirm that it does this. Unlike my excellent Siemens, the Uniden lets any remote perform call screening, so you can listen to incoming messages and pick up the call without sprinting (no pun intended) for the base unit. I have not yet tested the transmission range. Hopefully it's at least a few hundred feet... The higher radio frequency (5.8GHz) means it's a bit more directional (line of sight) than the older phones. In any case, it works very well within my house, with no evidence of powerline or other interference. The sound quality is much better than average. Having each handset operate as a small speakerphone is also a big plus, especially when reviewing voicemail. I'm delighted to have a small red LED on each handset to indicate when there are unread messages. With 5 handsets in my house, it's very useful to NOT have to connect to the base to check if there are new messages. You can disable this LED, or go a step further and have the handsets/base beep every 15 seconds as well. Another thoughtful voicemail feature -- if you try to delete all messages, it won't do so if any of them are still unread. The phone fully supports the new Call Waiting Deluxe features offered by some phone companies -- you get to choose what happens to an incoming call while you're on another call. Room monitoring is better than on the Siemans -- you can choose which handset (or base) does the monitoring, and which does the receiving. Monitoring and answer machine call screening can both be turned off if you don't want these features to be used. The ring tones include a very subdued "Soft Alert" tone, which is perfect for the bedroom. A good collection of tones and tunes is also provided. You can assign any ring tone to any number in the directory; this will be used as a distinctive ring whenever an assigned phone number (with caller ID) calls you. The display is bright
Rating: 
Summary: One Gripe
Review: Great phone from the perspective of features and clarity, ergonomics. The only gripe is that the range is kind of pathetic. I had a 2.4GHz Panasonic before this one that beat its pants off for range. Might have something to do with the fact that it has no antenna on the phone or the base unit. Do these guys test their stuff? I thought 5.8 would actually have better range. One other idiotic aspect I just realized. When someone calls you, caller id shows their number, complete w/area code of course. If you try and just dial from the caller id list, the phone is too stupid to put the one in front. This is also a big nuisance when you go to store the numbers.
Rating:
Summary: Completely satisfied
Review: I had purchased a different phone, which I returned because two of the handsets I received did not work, and purchased this phone after reading the good reviews here.
The phone works very well in my home. There are no range problems, no static issues; in short, this is a very good phone, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Great phone!! Does not interfere with my Wireless AP
Review: I have had this phone for 2 weeks now glad we bought it. I have not had any problems with the phone regarding clarity, ease of use, or interference. The only complaint I have is that the custom ringer feature only works when you store the caller ID exactly as it appears when the person calls, which makes it difficult to recall later in the phone book.
Rating:
Summary: The BEST cordless phone I've found
Review: I looked (and purchased) a number of cordless phones. The Uniden 88xx series clearly one. The phone is just the right size. Nice display. Super handset speaker phone - I set the handset in front of my computer keyboard and you can't tell you're on a speakerphone. Another feature I like is the "do not disturb" - which turns the ringer off for all phones. Great feature when I leave the house for a long weekend and want to turn off all the ringers on the phones in the house so I don't disturb others.
The only things they could improve on is: 1) clearing the CID on ALL phones when clearing one phone. 2) The caller ID should pull the name in my address book. 3) Have a history of numbers I called (like a cell phone) so I can just scroll down and hit redial.
All of the improvements are really minor.
I have Vonage IP Telephony and this phone works great with the service. Message indicator lite works with their voice mail. I also can just hit one button and it calls the service and enters my password (you can program in pauses).
Great phone. My sister bought the same one after I recommended it. She also loves the phone.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Phone For Wireless Lan System
Review: I purchased the model with three handheld receivers and I am ready to buy more. The phone not only sounds great it sounds great to the person you are talking to. My computers 2.4 wireless LAN system was very sensitive to my other 2.4 GHz phone. It would cause no end to my network problems. When I purchased the Uniden 5.8 system, my problems stopped. The phone has excellent range and can be used like walkie-talkies to talk with your family or coworkers. Add to that the hundred number memories with answering machine and the best system ever is born. Another nice feature is that I know of no 5.8 GHz scanners that can listen to my calls. I can add up to ten handsets and the answering system base can be used to call from with the speakerphone option. That means you can have eleven phones in your house or office that need no wire except the base unit. I have an all-metal shop that the phone works perfect in. All in all the phone works a thousand percent better than the 2.4 GHz phone that was causing all the problems with my wireless network. The final note is this phone system is necessary buy if you want the best performance with any wireless system. I can give my highest recommendation to this phone system and my family and I are enjoying it.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Phone
Review: I work from home about 3 weeks per month and I needed a great phone. Over the past 1.5 years I've purchased more then 6 base + cordless units looking for the right one from every major phone manufacture (from Panasonic, Sony to Nortel), finally I found it in the Uniden TRU 8865. The engineers must have read my mind. In the past my perception of Uniden has not been so good, and I thought this purchase was a very risky one to take. However the quality of the Uniden phone build, and the voice quality is top notch. But that's just the beginning, after blowing thru so many units from phone manufactures I had an extensive list of what I wanted, and not one had met my feature - functions critera, this phone does. First off it's a snap to setup, even though it does use some soft menu functions they are simplistic, well organized and the soft menu is very fast, real time, no delays. All normal phone functions are accesable thru buttons on the phone (base and cordless)- So shuffling thru the softmenu is rarely needed except for the phonebook (There are other great features, but I seldom use them). Speakerphone on the base is one of the best, not perfect compared to a business phone, but it's the best you'll find on the consumer market. By picking up the cordless it automatically shuts the speaker down and it's seamless to the cordless and no clicking or poping for the other party. You can put your base speaker phone call on Hold or Mute with a touch of a button. The cordless phone has a headset feature, I used it with the Uniden headphones (which are great by the way) and the cordless phone has speaker phone on it also, on the back side. The speaker is great, however the mic quality is poor. I've never found one that was good. You can take cordless phone calls and transfer back to the base for speaker phone, seamless. When plugging in the Uniden headphones to a live call on the cordless it does "Chirp" to the customer, get around this by hitting the mute on the phone, upper left button. Headset only usuable on cordless unit. I didn't test the range, but it = does not interfere = with my WI-FI b+g. Any Button Answering and also you can mute the incoming call ringing for a do not disturb.
Only Minus, phone did not set time and date by incoming call using caller ID, first phone I found in a long time you had to manually set your time and data, however you only need to this with one phone and it updates the entire system. You can transfer phone books between cordless and base, which is a new twist, and it's darn handy. Cordless units can be used (direct)for a conversation without using the phone line. Take them to the mall!
Great phone, you won't be dissapointed unless you have some feature I've not yet needed., I've been waiting years for a robust feature set that does not command soft-menu gymnastics and I've found it in the Uniden TRU 88 Series. Great job Uniden.
Rating:
Summary: Geat little phone system
Review: Right off the bat I can say that this is a great phone system.
It has some great features and some that seem a waste of engineering effort.
Some of the great features are
* Comapct size, compare this to similar Panasonic or V-tech and the size of the handsets becomes apparent. Not only the handsets, but the base too.
* Easy setup, the phone is easy to setup, I liked the soft keys, very similar to cell phones.
* Great sound quality, compared to my previous 900 MHz analog (also Uniden), this is crystal clear and has a great range.
* Speakers in the handsets: great for those moments when you are not near the base and need hands free to type or some other activity.
* I really like the orange LCD lighting and the fact that the keys are also lit - small thing but useful when dialing out at night.
Okay, now the annoyances -
* Why have two versions of the same phone, one without the answering machine. It does not save too much manufacturing costs, but confuses the consumer as to what the differences in the products are.
* The directlink mode - what a waste of engineering effort. This allows you to carry the handsets to a mall (says that in the manual) to achieve a walkie talkie like system. I dont think more than 10 people would ever do this with a home phone.
* Separate phonebooks on each of the handsets and base. It leads to confusion. It might be a good feature on a business phone but on a home system its really confusing. Given that you can sync up the phone books on all handsets and base but thats a manual activity. Just do that automatically.
Rating:
Summary: Great Phone, Terrible Directions!
Review: The phone works generally well. Not as long a range as Panasonic but then again much better battery life than Panasonic. Also it does not have that Panasonic bug of having terrible reception near the base.
The main problem with this is the manual. This is the worst manual I have ever seen bar none. It is black and white with almost no pictues and the print is so small a lawyer would have trouble reading it. Finally it is extremely poorly printed.
Maybe Uniden will get smart and make user friendly easy to read manuals so they will stop losing business to the Panasonics and AT&T's.
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