Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic KX-TCA98 Headset with Dual Wear Options

I was looking for a convienent way to speak with colleagues and clients from my home office without being tied down to my desk. I have a Panasonic cordless phone and decided to stick with the same brand.

This KX-TCA98 seemed to fit the bill. Unfortunately, the over-the-ear option does not allow for use of the enclosed padded "ear muff" - instead, a plastic ring fits behind your ear and a hard plastic speaker enclosure sits directly against your ear ... it's the only way it works, trust me. This arrangement is OK but isn't very comfortable. Also, when used like this, the sound volume is much lower than listening through the telephone itself (yes, even with the volume on headset and phone both up).

The headband wear option utilizes the "ear muff" and offers acceptable sound quality, loudness, and comfort against the ear. Unfortunately again, a compromise in the headband option reveals itself in the mirror ... one side lays flat and snug against your head while the speaker and microphone side push the headband out and away from your head so far that it looks absolutely ridiculous! (Hopefully you work alone)

The in-line volume and mute features work well.

In hindsight, I should have bought a headset-only model which probably fits better, has a better ear muff, sounds better and looks less hodgepodge. Just to top it off - the packaging is sooo difficult to open (even when carefully cut) that it is destroyed in the process - negating any possibility for exchange!

The morale: Don't try to be everything to everyone, just be really good at something.

You would think that Panasonic Cordless phone and Panasonic Hands-Free Headset would work well together, being that they are sold by the same company. Well, that is clearly not the case. I bought this headset specifically for the reason that it is sold by Panasonic to work with their cordless phones. I've tried it a few times and each time I get the same response from the person I'm talking to. They say I sound too far away, that they can barely hear me. This product is clearly not worth it.

I have tried using this headset with 2 different Panasonic cordless phones, one 900MHz and the other 5.8GHz. For both phones, on a variety of calls, the other party has trouble hearing me and says that I sound as if I am very far away. I had been using an old Uniden headset on the same phones and it worked fine, but then the plastic head-band broke and I bought the Panasonic TCA-98. What a waste of money.

I constantly get complaints that the person at the other end of the line can't hear me because the sound of my voice is so low. Otherwise, it is a great headset. Comfortable, good headphone, sunds clear and loud. Just the micraphone seems to have trouble. So I'm not using it.

I have not had any trouble at all with this headset. I like the in-line mute switch because my phone does not have a mute button.

By the way, this is almost exactly the same headset as the Plantronics M175 -- but $5 cheaper. The difference is that the Panasonic does not have a microphone gain adjustment switch.