Rating: 
Summary: Solid construction, feature rich!
Review: After going through cheap cordless phones faster than a pair of sneakers, I decided to part with some extra money for the Uniden TRU-8885-2. I was floored by the features: big bright backlit displays, crystal-clear sound (both earpiece and speaker-phone), synchronized handsets (day of week/time, phonebooks, conferencing), sophisticated but easy to use menus, as well as access to the same features from all handset menus. However, a little extra money also gets you good, solid construction. Both handsets and base have solid buttons that are easy to push yet are rigid and don't feel like they could fall out or misfire. The handsets are compact and contoured for your hand. The internal antennas add to their aesthetics. During calls, features are easy to access with a single click, like volume up and down buttons, mute, and speaker-phone (if you need to put the phone down and continue the call). The selection of ring tones and tunes are actually pleasant and far less cheesy than the ones in my Nokia cell phone. Only drawbacks noticed so far could be some sporadic reception issues depending what kind of structures are between you and the base. I can get great reception in one distant room, but not another. This could be the case with any phone, and with the newer 5.8 GHz band (and shorter wavelengths), articles suggest there may be a very slight trade-off with reception for the extra security. Nevertheless, it appears that a little common sense and strategic placement of the base could work wonders for any reception problems. I've also noticed that the answering machine seems to be a little dodgy in detecting early hang-ups; they tend to result in the "please hang up and try your call again" messages. But if you limit your incoming messages to 1 minute (and not four) then this problem should be kept under control. I otherwise love the answering machine set-up and operation. This is a handsome, well-built, and feature-packed phone that, at least in homes and apartments less than "sprawling", should offer good reception and performance. Finally, the "true" 5.8 GHz receive/transmit was a must as I am a wireless network user.
Rating:
Summary: The One to buy
Review: After years of living with my Siemens 2415, I had to replace them with a 5.8ghz due to interference from a neighbor's wireless network (so annoying). I was disappointed with the 5.8 ghz models on the market (big antennas and poor design) and was waiting for something upto the level of Siemen's, but tried the Uniden based on the rave reviews here. After a few weeks, I would say they are quite good with flaws. Good reception. Good design. They have all the features you could want. A big plus not mentioned elsewhere is the "do not disturb" button on the base which will shut off all ringers and call screening, perfect for napping. Plus all phones clearly say Do Not Disturb so you won't forget about it later.
Orange LCD is very bright and readable (not my favorite color but you get used to it). Handsets are attractive. The Base is another story, not as attractive and buttons are really small and hard to decipher.
Handsets are comfortable to use and you can easily adjust volume when on the phone. Caller ID on Call waiting is a pleasure as the name doesn't disappear as soon as you take the receiver away from your ear, it gives you a chance to see it.
Also a nice bonus is being able to call screen on any handset even though it is done through the speaker phone.
Retrieving messages on the Handset is also a good feature.
Many Minor Flaws, the first is Caller ID. Caller ID must be reset on each phone and base separately. It will tell you how many times a number has called but then that info disappears after you read it once on that handset. Most odd. Keep that info and put a star next to the new Caller ID's instead.
Time and Date must be set manually for answering machine and not taken from caller id. Answering machine annoyingly tells you what time it is when you call in first. Then tells you how many new and old messages you have, then repeats that info when you press the button to actually play the messages. Beyond redundant.
Most bizarre is that when you retrieve message from the handset you press single digits, but when calling in from outside, you must press 2 digits, you must press a preceding 0. Ridiculous.
You pick your security code but it is only 2 digits long. Again ridiculous especially in this day and age.
Answering machine doesn't correlate to Caller ID so you can't easily see number of hangup or person leaving message. You must go into Caller ID and correlate the time and number yourself.
There is no way to delete the entire phone book in a handset, you must delete each entry separately. Kind of dumb.
The alphabetizing of names in the directory is also dumb, as non letters are placed in priority after letters. There is no easy way to force someone at the front of for example the B's with B1: Name B2: Name as I used to do. The only way now is by BA1: BA2: etc. Too cumbersome. And any symbol used is also placed after z for alphabetizing, so preceding symbols don't work either.
Caps are the default when typing in names. So you must press button 4-6 times just to get lower case. Very annoying unless you like all your names in all Caps.
You can't edit phone numbers without deleting numbers first, text however is fully editable.
The ringers are acceptable but on par with the cell phones of 2 generations ago. Where are downloadable ringers or more normal ringers. And why do we have only low and high and off settings? Where is a midground of medium?
The delay when distinctive ring is on is way too long. Phones light up and you wait and wait for it to ring. I had to turn this feature off to get phone to ring when it lights up.
I would prefer a base with no buttons at all more like Siemens and everything in the soft menus.
Also a higher price with more memory would be better. More minutes for messages and give me 100 memories for both Caller ID and Directory. I need 100 just for the phone book alone.
Even with all these minor/major annoyances and flaws, the phones seem to offer much more than the competition at a fair price and in my opinion clearly the only game in town so far...
Rating: 
Summary: Great phone system
Review: Had to buy new phones with 5.8 GHz technology as my old 2.4 GHz were interferring with my wireless router. These phones are great. I especially love the intercom feature so that I can now phone the kids downstairs for dinner instead of having to yell for them. I wish you could sync all the phonebooks at once instead of individually and wish the buttons on the base unit were bigger but then again that would make it bigger which wouldn't be good.
Rating:
Summary: Addition to other reviews
Review: I agree with the positive reviews. This is a great phone. I would add that you can alter CID to add the 1 before you save to the phonebook. Just have the CID on the screen and then press the * (tone) button on the handset. Then save. Enjoy the phone it works well and the base footprint is small. Great improvement over the very expensive Panasonic I had. It will be on ebay soon!
Rating:
Summary: Great Phone--Works Well with VOIP
Review: I bought this phone before going through Vonage and it worked great. Now, I have it running through Vonage's VOIP service and I can't tell a difference. Only thing I don't like is the redial service, . Other than that great unit, considering buying a 3rd expandable unit for the bedroom. Solid phone for the money and not had any issues yet. TOTALLY AGGREE with point 4 of Xlrq's review:error message from the phone company informing you that area codes must be preceded by a 1. Having to store an initial 1 is annoying enough when you input the number manually, but it's worse when you try saving numbers from Caller ID, which do not include the initial 1. Worse, you can't even edit the number manually to include the initial 1, without first erasing the entire number and then having to re-input it from scratch. A better design would be to add a setting that causes the phone to dial 1 automatically before any long distance numbers (i.e., before any area code not expressly programmed NOT to be preceded by 1). That is not a good feature but only minor issue, in my opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: Works great whenever I sit in exactly the right chair
Review: I got this phone to replace a Radio Shack phone with half the Gigahertz, because this one is supposed to be a true 5.8 GHz phone both directions and have much better reception than other phones rated the same or lower. The Radio Shack cheapie phone worked better. Everyone I talk to always asks me if I'm on my cell phone, and if I sit in the wrong spot, there's no reception at all. My house is only 1400 sq. ft., so nowhere in the house should have a problem. In fact, sometimes, only about 10 feet from the base, I get an out-of-range message on the phone.
It's too bad really, because the phone just feels great in my hand. Hefty, but not too heavy to hold comfortably on a long call, or a series of long calls, and fitting just perfectly into that rectangle your hand forms naturally when you grip it. For that alone it gets two stars, but it also has some amazing features, like my favorite, a do not disturb button that when pressed, suppresses the ringers on all the base sets and handsets and diverts calls directly to the answering machine. It's wonderful. The only thing that would make it better would be a little remote to turn it off so you could lie in bed awhile longer and still get calls when you've just woken up. It also has all the usual other features you'd expect, lists of in-going and out-going calls that you can use to call a number from either, phonebook of stored numbers, caller i.d. display, etc., etc. I'm keeping it because it's a cool phone and I just can't be bothered trying to find another one that works better, so I just avoid the chair in the corner of my bedroom and the one nearest my front door and am prepared to move on a moment's notice when someone asks what's wrong with my phone. At least I know that if I get cut off, as long as they don't have caller i.d. blocking I'll know where to call them back.
Rating: 
Summary: Short Range and Cheaper Quality than TRU 58xx Series
Review: I had high hopes for the new TRU88xx series after having owned the 58xx series which I really liked (only problem was that it could not expand past one remote handset). So I bought their new 5.8Ghz phone system and tried it out. In summary, I like the new features, but the phone quality (especially the sound) and the range are not as good as the older one. If you have a small house this will work fine, then what's the point of having a multi-line system in the first place?
Rating:
Summary: Uniden is on the right track
Review: I have used the Uniden TRU8885-2 for a month now and both myself and my wife are happy with the product. I would suggest to Uniden's production line to make the handset more grip friendly. Take a look at Motorola's models to get some ideas. Part from that I love the sound quality as a speaker phone or not. People I have had on the line has only had good things to say about the quality of the sound. I even had one person had to lower her volume on her ear piece ...
In short why you should pick this model over other cordless packages are;
* Expansion (up to 10 handsets)
* Crystal clear sound
* Great speaker phone
* Battery life
* Ease of use
* Price (it's cheap for the quality of the product)
* Wireless usage (works perfectly along with wireless headphones, routers etc)
Rating:
Summary: Great phone
Review: I love the phone, haven't had any problems with it, and it works great.
Rating:
Summary: no power failure issues for messages?
Review: I wrote to Uniden support asking about what happens to the messages if the power goes out. I also was curious if the direct link phone functionality was different than when talking to the base. You would think the range would have to be decent for walkie-talkie usage; the manual talks about using them while shopping for example. Also I did unplug my phone (very briefly) and saw that time reset but then it came back to the correct time soon afterwards. My outgoing message was also intact. So I'm not sure how that works... a capacitor or small battery? I guess the announcements/messages could be written to some type of memory that doesn't need power (like a CF card?) I would have to say though that the answering machine is a little hard to get used, especially when my old Siemens 4215 had such a nice interface (it said the caller id and time when listening remotely and showed caller id on the display when accessing through the handsets. It seems especially odd that the Uniden says the time of the call after you play the message rather than before! The Uniden voice is also a lot more "robot-like" than the old Siemens. Here was Uniden's reply: "The range of the phone will depend on your environment for both using the handset and also in direct link mode. With out any interference and a direct line from the base to the handset, the range is up to 6000ft. In direct link mode the range is line of sight between the handsets. If there is a power failure, the messages will be restored regardless of how long the power was out."
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