Rating: 
Summary: Good phone with some cool features
Review: I'll keep my comments short since other folks have done a fine job commenting on this new Uniden model. I've had the phone about a week now and so far so good. I thought I would share with you some comments I have not seen others mention yet: - when someone leaves a message on the machine the orange backlight on the base stays lit. I keep my machine in my office so when I come home I can see from the doorway whether or not I have a message by simply looking for an orange glow on my desk. - One thing I don't like: the caller id list on the base has to be cleared independently from the one on the handset. That's just double work. - On the other hand, you can setup your phone book and speed dials on the handset and automatically transfer them to the base! - volume control is done via menu selections. There are no buttons on the phone to let you adjust volume on the fly. - you can pick up your message from the handset OR the base Overall I really like this phone and would recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Great phone system. Fixed problems from prior versions
Review: I've been wanting to get a 5.8ghz phone system for a while, but all previous models seemed to always have some kind of major shortcoming. Seems Uniden recognized this and came out with a model to beat all previous ones. The 8885 and 8865 models are newer versions of their old 5860/85 lines. It has pretty much any feature you could want. Just to highlight some of the strong points:
1. Nice phone design. Perfect size and not as ugly as the previous model.
2. Perfect reception. Anywhere in our house the phone is crystal clear.
3. Speakerphone in the base and from every handset.
4. Intercom/Paging between phones
5. 100 number phonebook (although it shares entries with callerid). You can keep separate phonebooks per phone, or download the phonebook from other phones.
6. DirectLink mode, where you can use the handsets as walkie-talkies. Although in my opinion the phones are a tad too big to carry around with you everywhere, but it might be nice for specific situations. I haven't tested the range though.
7. You can have the base + 2 handsets speaking on the line at the same time. The previous model was limited to 1 handset per conversation.
8. Customizable ringtones - can assign a certain ringtone to a certain caller so you know who they are. Can only use the builtin tones though.
9. Handsets have a plug to use with a headset for handsfree operation
10. Can access the voicemail from any of the handsets, not just from the base. Those are just some of the major features, there's plenty of other little bells and whistles to configure the phone. My only 2 complaint is that incoming caller ID gets stored on every phone. There is no way to just delete it from all phones at once. You need to go to each phone individually to delete the callerid list. Fortunately there is a delete all option. One other potential complaint is that you can't set up separate mailboxes on the answering machine. I know some of the other brands let you do this. No biggee for me as I wouldn't use the feature anyways, but might be important to some. Those might just be nitpicks though. This system really exceeded my expectations and I give it the highest recommendation possible.
Rating:
Summary: Overall, very good cordless...but please use your head
Review: My 900Mhz Panasonic went kaput last month and it was time to replace it. I chose to NOT buy another Panasonic after all the quirky on-and-off problems I had with the cordless over the years. I ended up getting the Uniden TRU8885-2 and I have not regretted it! For me, the Pros far outweigh the Cons.
Needless to say, this phone would not work well for every household when 5.8GHz doesn't work in certain types of environments. WELCOME TO THE 21st CENTURY! Sorry, but can you really blame a product for one's lack of knowledge on the technology that it uses?
CONS
*The base doesn't allow for a change to the "loud" Ring tone
So, if I don't want to be disturbed or get the bejeezus scared out of me during "quiet time", I just need to press the "do not disturb" button on the base and I won't hear a peep when someone calls. So for those of you out there in the tech world that are "on-call" during nights, this phone is for you! =)
*The volume setting on the base is useless...no matter how high or how low you set the volume, the sound is the same. Uniden should fix this for FREE because it was obviously an oversight on their part! For those of you that are hard of hearing, the volume setting is just right.
*For some functions you need to press a lot of buttons...hey, did Bill Gates have something to do with this?
PROS
*Great range and clarity...at least in my 2100sq ft split-entry household.
*I don't need to look at the base or handset screen to see if there are any new messages...I'll notice the blinking light from across the room.
*When the "do not disturb" button is on I can still know when someone is calling since the phone will light up like a X-mas tree.
*Doesn't interfere with the wireless network
*The numbers light up so I can dial in the dark
*I can select different ring tones for incoming calls.
*Stylish design with easy-to-hold, lightweight handsets
*Babymonitoring capability (aka..eavesdropping on someone downstairs/upstairs..hehehe)
Rating: 
Summary: Base is noisy, can't be turned off
Review: One requirement we have for a phone system is that the ringer must be relatively quiet and unobtrusive. Even with the National No-Call List, we still get a lot of unsolicited calls. And working odd hours, I don't want to awakened just to hear some schlub hawking vacation rentals or long distance service.
So, following the instructions, I set the handset ringers to a nice, low-pitched tone at low volume. That worked well. And I turned the volume off on the base. I was pleased to see "Ringer Off" on the base display. I thought everything was set.
Lo and behold, when we next received a call, the base let loose with a very unpleasant, high-volume clatter. The ringer is most definitely not off, despite the text on the display.
Emailing customer support, it was suggested that various household devices might be interfering with the 5.8GHz signal. So I moved the unit around, moved the handsets around. Just seemed like stalling tactics. Then they said I could UPS it to Texas at my expense, and if I were very lucky, they'd fix it for me at their expense.
Easier just to return it and get a competing product. Too bad, it seems to have a lot of nice features. My only other complaint is that manipulating and removing caller ID records takes a few too many button presses.
I don't know if just my unit was defective, or all TRU 8885-2s lack the ability to change the ringer on the base. I have no confidence that the people staffing their customer support know, either.
Rating:
Summary: Solid, good multi-handset phone
Review: Positive:
- Very good sound quality
- Great handset speakerphone function, good quality
- Good looks, better than Panasonic and others
- Good phonebook function, shareable across handsets
- Useful key and menu setup
- Good voice mail setup and base station
- Big blinking LED on every handset shows unread voicemail, also a periodic beep can be programmed for this. Very thoughtful.
- Sturdy handsets, most of handset body is not painted but black plastic, so it won't look bad after years of hard use. Negative:
Here I'll be a bit more specific, because these are just tiny details.
- First, the caller ID support seems a bit haphazard. If a caller ID service doesn't transfer the name, the phone won't match the number with the phone book and display the name from memory. The phone does find the entry from the phone book, because it plays the customized ring tone. It looks like an oversight from the developers. Secondly, the caller ID history shares memory with the phone book and has to be manually deleted. Information which CID has been read and delete them has to be done for every handset and base separately. Also, the voice mail doesn't correlate the calls with caller ID.
- Phone book entries can be max 20 digits. This is too short for international numbers when combining it with services like 1010987. My 5 year old Panasonic could do this.
- The phone book synchronization across handsets is great, but has gaps. First, custom ring tones and speed dial keys are not synchronized, also, when changing a number and then synchronizing it, the old numbers stay in the phonebook.
- The belt clips are really big. This makes them sturdy, but it's still weird that they are almost as wide as the phone. I am really happy and would always buy this phone again, as the competition is weak. Panasonic fell through because of its bad design and big antenna. I dislike painted phones as the paint will be eventually rubbed off the corners and the phones look beaten up. I almost bought the Siemens 4215, but dropped it because it had no headset jack (what an oversight!!!) It's also way more expensive than the Uniden.
I always thought of Uniden as a cheap, generic brand, but I am really hapily surprised with this phone.
Rating:
Summary: fine features
Review: Pros:
- can coexist with WiFi network
- good phonebook features. You can transfer phonebook entries among baseset, handset - yes, the phonebook is not centralized.
- u can save entries from your call log to the phonebook
Cons:
- harder than Panasonic to dial with calling cards. Speed dial toll-free number, then browse phone book to select the entry and then dial the number. If you have Panasonic just 2 steps: speed dial toll-free number;speed dial desired number.
- hit talk->dial number->(cannot switch to speakerphone until the set completes the dialing)
Rating:
Summary: Phones don't work if you have wood walls!!!!
Review: These phones work great in our son's home that is all drywall, but we are very disappointed that they only work in our home if you are in the SAME ROOM as the base station! We have double wall construction, with soudboard insulation in some walls, and UNIDEN Customer Service just informed me that the 5.8 gig frequency does not go thru wooden walls! They said a 900 meg phone would work the best for us. They said, "you know, we test all of our phones in an open field with no obstructions!" So it is VERY MISLEADING that UNIDEN advertises these phones as "the most powerful cordless phone ever built!" Live and learn, people!
Rating:
Summary: Great phone system, lots of features
Review: This is a great phone system! It's expandable to 10 total handsets, although I haven't found the TCX800 handsets anywhere besides Uniden's website for $50 each at this point. Although I'd love to say I got it from Amazon, unfortunately they didn't stock it at the time I was shopping. I found it at Costco w/3 handsets for $179.99. It has lots of great features, including: Room/Baby monitor (automatically listen to a handset in another room without it having to answer first); DirectLink mode (2-way walkie talkie w/o needing to be near base or connected to phone line - you can actually take the handsets out with you and use them on camping trips, etc); conference call and forwarding to other handsets; retrieve messages from any handset; multiple ring tones (including musical tones) and the ability to set distinct rings for specific incoming phone numbers; plus too many other features to list. The handsets are very ergonomic and easy to understand and use. The backlit display is orange which is very easy to view in the dark. You can give each handset a name ("banner") to make it easy to remember where each one goes. This can be important since each one stores its own independent list of numbers and callerID history (so you may want to keep each phone in its specific room). I have had absolutely NO problems with it so far!
Rating:
Summary: Great phone system, lots of features
Review: This is a great phone system! It's expandable to 10 total handsets. Amazon didn't stock it at the time I was shopping, but I found the "TRU8885-3" version somewhere else for $179.99 (3 handset version). It has lots of great features, including: Room/Baby monitor (automatically listen to a handset in another room without it having to answer first); DirectLink mode (2-way walkie talkie w/o needing to be near base or connected to phone line - you can take the handsets out with you and use them on camping trips, etc); conference call and forwarding to other handsets; retrieve messages from any handset; multiple ring tones (including musical tones) and the ability to set distinct rings for specific incoming phone numbers; plus too many other features to list. The handsets are very ergonomic and easy to understand and use. The backlit display is orange which is very easy to view in the dark. You can give each handset a banner name to make it easy to remember where each one goes. This can be important since each one stores its own independent list of numbers and callerID history. The reception is crystal clear so far, including the speakerphones on the base and each handset. I haven't had any problems with it yet. Definitely worth the money to me.
Rating:
Summary: excellent new player in the 5.8ghz market
Review: Uniden has finally done it. They thought they had a good product with the 5885, but they have outdone themselves. All the problems with the 5885 have been corrected with the 8885 system.
the hightlights
1. expandable to 10, i repeat, 10 handsets (not the 2 of previous)
2. can use 2 handsets at one time on a phone conversation
3. can retrieve messages from answering machine using the handset
4. phone number storage database can be transferred from handset to handset.
5. nice aesthetics and internal antenna I think that Uniden listened to all the gripes and made corrections in this new model. If you are in the market for a new cordless phone and have a wireless network at home, this is the one for you. Should solve your problems. If you can find it....buy it!!!!
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