VTech 1511 900 MHz Digital Cordless Headset Phone
See it at Amazon.com for $69.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(5 out of 5)Not as heavy or complicated as it looks!
I bought this phone for my grandmother, who is in a wheelchair. She has a cordless headset that has a cord that connects the earpiece to the dialing piece. She keeps getting the cord caught in her wheels... so I decided to try this one. I connected it at home to test it out, but now I'm going to have to get her a new one... this one is mine! Features I love: it's very lightweight, the infrared dialing pad works great, you can put the charger anywhere in the house and put the desk phone somewhere else, using "flash" for call waiting is as easy as flipping the microphone up and back down. The sound is excellent and there is no interference. I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it out.
(5 out of 5)You'll wonder how you ever lived without it!
Without a doubt my most useful purchase of 2000.
First off, the designers of this phone did a VERY good job. Besides the ability to expand for larger heads, the ear speakers are in perfect range of your year and you can talk normally into the microphone, there is no need to speak loud or directly into the microphone, this baby has great pick-up on voice.
The beauty of this phone is the fact not only does it have a small "remote" for dialing, volume, redial, flash, etc. but there is also a base handset which accompanies this headset so you can use it as a regular corded phone.
I work out of the home a few days a week doing computer work. Used have to deal with the annoying neck aches from tilting my head to hold the phone while I was typing, not any more. The range on this phone is also great, the base is upstairs but I can use the headset in the kitchen, in the basement, even out in the garden.
If you are looking for a truly convienient cordless phone, this is the "better option". One more thing, have had this for seven months and have had NO problems.
(5 out of 5)Pleased
Rarely do you find a product that combines both good engineering and genuine thought on how to make the item fit what the consumer needs. The price is definitely up there but the combination of the two phones, the conventional phone as well as a quality headset justifies the extra expense. Having the regular phone allows calls to be answered quickly without needing to fiddle with the headset if you are not wearing it. If you happen to be wearing the headset activating the phone is just a matter of dropping the mike down to chin level and raising it again to hang up. Neat. The headset itself is easy to use and comfortable with a built in volume control making its design even practicle. I have owned several cordless headsets in the past but this is the first that I have not had some kind of a problem with. I will be looking more closely at VTech product in the future when shopping for electronics.
(3 out of 5)Fabulous overall idea, poor execution of the details
If you, like me, are in the market for a cordless headset that is actually cordless (as distinguished from the myriad of "cordless" phone headsets that actually have cords stringing down from the headset to a beltpack transmitter) then at first blush this looks like the phone to buy. I loved the one-piece construction of the headset, which allows you to actually do things without tangling yourself.
Our friends laughed at us a lot for wearing this phone, saying that we looked like operators or cyborgs. But the joke is on them, as this is an extremely useful phone with an excellent use/feel. Unfortunately, the phone suffers two grievous design flaws that make it difficult to wholeheartedly recommend:
(1) The phone rests on the head using two large, comfortable pads that press the head behind (not on, or around) the ears. This is very clever, and permits long periods of use of the phone without ear fatigue. But by design, this also places a lot of stress at two points above the earpads where the tension is transferred to the band which runs over the top of the head. These two points are made of plastic, like most of the rest of the headset, and BROKE after about 1 year of use. Vtech should have used metal or some other more resilient material for this part of the device. Broken at this point, the headset will not rest properly on the head and is essentially useless.
(2) The second problem is one that is shared by a surprising number of cheap consumer electronics companies. The headset relies on a proprietary rechargable battery pack for all of its power. Vtech chose to use a NiCd battery, which means that the phone's battery has a memory effect which led ours to conk out after, again, approximately 1 year. They cost about $30 to replace; and since they are proprietary, you cannot get replacements from the aftermarket. That is a pretty serious recurring cost given the current street price for this phone. Manufacturers, please take note: enter the modern age and use NiMH or LiIon batteries....
Unfortunately, there are no similar products out there (i.e. no phone headsets I'm aware of that are totally without cords or beltpacks), so it is the only game in town, even with these defects.
(5 out of 5)Ingeniously designed, simple to set up and use
A great design for hands-free talking, with no wires to snag as you walk about. It's easy to set up and program. The headset fits both my 7-year-old's head and my own XXL noggin. The volume control on the headset accommodates those of us who like it loud. The dialing card, which operates much like a TV remote, allows for convenient dialing without taking off the headset. The headset battery is charged by induction; this means that there are no contacts to line up, and you don't have to worry about setting it down just right. A handy feature is the intercom between the base unit and the headset. The little details have been thought of -- like putting a little knob on the "volume up" button to make it readily recognizable by feel. Truly a product designed with the customer's happiness in mind.
(A stark contrast would be the two AT&T/Lucent phones we owned before. The first stopped working after two years. The second never worked to begin with; we never got so much as a dial tone. Getting your average HMO to approve out-of-plan surgery is child's play compared to the challenge of getting AT&T/Lucent to replace a defective phone. We finally just trashed the newly bought bum AT&T/Lucent phone and bought the one from VTech instead.)