Panasonic GigaRange KX TG5240xx 5.8 GHz 1-Line Cordless Phone

I swore to myself the last time I bought a phone that I would do two things the next time I bought a phone: 1) Know and remember that it takes a relative long period of time for all the things to show up that are important to you as an individual - at least a month. So buy accordingly and don't put much work into your phone (like entering all your phone numbers) until you are sure you are going to keep it. and 2) Buy at the top-of-the-line, price is no object level - which can be a pretty expensive proposition because you need more than just a base phone. You need as many extensions as you need for your particular situation (in my case, three) and there seems to always be extraneous wires, plugs, etc that have to be purchased. A cheap phone is just never going to cut it, and the main purpose - voice transfer - doesn't sound good. You get what you pay for. So, in my mind, a home phone "system" is a major purchase.

At the time of purchase, over a year ago, this was the single most expensive phone that Best Buy sold, and they have a wide selection. I didn't buy by price alone, but since I've been burned by buying cheapie phones before, I didn't want to go that route. It also had several features that I wanted, and a couple of features that I didn't know I wanted or needed - or that I knew even existed - until the phone advertising sold me on them. Talking Caller ID is an example of those types of questionable features.

But where I didn't stick to my word was allowing sufficient time to adequately judge the phone itself. I made a quick decision to keep it - mostly to get my phone numbers in there as I was lost without them - but now wish I hadn't spent the several hundred dollars total that I spent and had taken that particular phone back.

I probably can't think of ALL the things I dislike about this phone and no doubt will think of something else as soon as I've sent this off and it is too late! But here goes:
1) Although number of rings is programmable from 2 to 7, the most rings you can set in my particular situation is four. (That's because I subscribe to a phone service that has voice mail that picks up on five rings that I don't use. If I don't set it for four, the phone doesn't answer, the phone company voice mail does. Enough people have alternative phone accounts now with inflexible voice mail options that this is a real issue - and no, you can't turn the voice mail off!) That is not enough time to leisurely get to the phone - so every time the phone rings (if you want to call it ring - more on that) it's a mad dash to try to find....
2) an extension. For some reason, these phones seem to get misplaced more than any other. Each extension maps back to it's own base, and only stores numbers that you enter IN THAT PHONE. Every single phone is different. Very confusing . There is some way around that if you purchase something off the web called, variously, OpenLCR and/or CIQ - somehow you enter all your numbers in one central list and then synch and download them to all the phones - but there weren't any clear instructions on how to use it and when I called that company they acted like I was a nut. Also, it costs extra, like $20 or something along those lines.
3) Only the handsets give you the caller ID info on the handset display - none of the base units even have a display. So as you run to get the phone, if it's not on the base, which it is not a great deal of the time, at least in my home, you can't see who is calling until you find the phone. That is unless, it actually functions as it was designed (and as you pay for).... and you get the
4) Talking Caller ID. "Attempt at a machine with poor translating abilities trying to pronounce some of the acronyms that seem to come in on caller ID" would be more like it. You wouldn't have an idea in the world of what it is saying most of the time. It is true that you get used to it for places that call a lot, like it tries to say my mothers full name, and completely butchers it. I have learned now, though, that when I hear "oklin bug guzunder" it is my friend named "O.K. Zunder" - at least that is what the called ID says (he's just Kyle Zunder to me). Even worse, the talking caller ID doesn't even attempt to speak until AFTER the second ring. By then you're getting dangerously close to the call going to voice mail, so you have to answer any way.
5) There are only a few preset ring tones and they are particularly annoying. Not a good one in the bunch, in my humble opinion.
6) Don't be misled by this whole "gigarange" thing. I have tested this up against my old 2400 range phone and it doesn't go a whole lot further, some, but not a lot. Furthermore, at least with the old phone, it would sort of start fading out when you began to get out-of-range. This new "gigarange" just drops it instantly. One second you can hear loud and clear, and the next, the call drops because you walked the one further foot out of range than it could handle.
7) Each phone can only hold 50 numbers in memory. You'd better remember this or you'll be very frustrated when you repeatedly enter new numbers to store in the phone and it goes through all the motions as it if were storing it, and then it's just not there. No message of any kind to tell you that it is full and can't take any more numbers until you delete some.