Panasonic KX-TG5212M GigaRange Supreme 5.8 GHz DSS Expandable Cordless Phone with Dual Handsets and Answering System

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

Great phone

We've had this phone for only a few days now, but it seems like Panasonic has really paid attention to all the criticisms of its past phones, and addressed them.

I have always liked Panasonic cordless phones, but it always seemed like one or two things on the phone could have been improved, or, worse, were intentionally left out to save money. These phones have all the right features -- slim profile, digital spread spectrum, handset speakerphones, NiMH batteries, mute function, intercom -- and their ease of use is really great.

Previous Panasonic phones I've had did not allow you to turn the ringer off completely (only lowered the volume), and the phone memory took so long to scroll through that it wasn't worth the trouble to use the phone book dialer if you knew the number. These phones scroll as quickly as you can press the buttons. You can even send phone book numbers from one handset to the others, so you don't have to program each handset's phone book separately. Oh, and you can listen to your answering machine messages on the handset speakerphone (previous Panasonic models only allowed message playback through the handset earpiece, not on the speakerphone).

The only limitations I see so far are that this system only expands to four handsets, while the previous 5.8 GHz models expanded to eight, and you can only conference up to three handsets on a call, not the full four that the system supports. All in all though, we are very pleased with this phone system. It is a keeper.

(2 out of 5)

Some Good Things, but Too Many Bad Things

I got this set and 1 extra handset for a total of 3 phones. For the price, the voice quality just isn't there. It's not that it's terrible - just not as clear as my old 900 MHz phone. It also doesn't have the range that my old one did.

There is also a "Feature" on this phone that will be the reason I send it back. When you have multiple handsets the phones only recognize that you answer a call on the handset you use. In other words, if you answer a call on one handset all the other handsets display that you missed the call. It doesn't know that you answered the call on the other handset. If you don't use a handset for a couple of days, you go to pick it up and it says you missed 15 calls... What? Oh... I just missed them on this handset. I called Panasonic and was told that this is a "Feature", and they could not change it.

There are some nice things about the phone, but there are also some "Features" I can do without.

(5 out of 5)

This phone does everything!

I've been looking at expandable systems for a while and they all have what I consider to be major drawbacks like NiCd batteries, limited to 1 handset at a time (what's the point of multiple handsets?), marginal sound quality, dual band (using 5.8GHZ and 2.4GHz), no speaker phone, etc.

The first reviewer was right - Panasonic seems to have listened to customers on this model. I can't think of a single drawback. After the initial charge, it's ready to go and easy to use. If you have caller ID, even the date/time is set automatically when you receive a call. That's great if you lose power a lot. My wife was able to save a number from caller ID to memory and copy it to the other handset without reading the manual.

I get no interference from the microwave or wireless LAN like with my old 2.4GHz phone. Sound quality is good on the handset and on the speakerphone. I haven't had it long enough to test battery life or range yet.

There's a lot of features I'll probably never use like making a call private from other handsets (a teenager must've asked for that), callerIQ, multiple mailboxes, and probably others I'll find after reading the manual.

(5 out of 5)

It's PERFECT!!!

I must say I was somewhat nervous about purchasing this phone after reading the Amazon reviews. People either loved it (5 Stars) or had nothing but bad things to say. There was (literally) no middle ground. The Amazon price was far below other retailers (yes--even Walmart) so I ordered it.

I don't have any of the problems mentioned by negative reviewers. The sound quality is excellent, all of the features work perfectly and it seems well-made. The menu functions are easy to understand and use, the intercom funcion is handy even though I didn't think I'd use it and the ability to check and delete messages from the handset is also useful. In fact, once set up, the base unit almost isn't necessary except to charge the phone.

It is possible that problems may occur. I've only had the phone for a few days so I can't address longer term issues such as battery life or durability. I'll be sure to update my review if problems occur. Otherwise, especially at the current sale price, it's a "no brainer".

UPDATE: Now that I've had the phone for a while, I can report that it is still perfect!! Battery life is more than adequate and even my wife who hates gizmos can't get along without it. If you knew her you'd know what a "ringing" edorsement that was. It's still a no brainer at Amazon's low cost.

(3 out of 5)

Best of a bad bunch?

This phone replaced a 2-4 yo 900MHz Panasonic Gigarange phone. The old phone's number pad stopped working after about 2 years of use -- 1 or 2 buttons would enter double digits or required excessive pressure to work.

The old phone did everything I wanted. It did quite a bit more, but I mostly ignored those features. It didn't interfere with my 802.11b network. Like most post 1997 consumer products, it was not made to last. I find that very annoying; I hate the hassle of replacing things that work. When it came time to replace that phone I'd have chosen a non-Panasonic brand -- if a better alternative existed.

Unfortunately, there's no alternative in this market. All the products are cheaply made, everyone's quality control and customer service is poor, everyone produces a dizzying array of minor product variations that make comparison shopping pretty much impossible. So I bought another cheap Panasonic phone. I'd have bought a 900MHz phone if one were available, but the vendors evidently decided those worked too well.

I gave this product 3 stars because it feels like it will last about 18 months and be replaced when the batteries die. However, I don't think there's really anything better on the market.

In our small house the range is adequate. It doesn't interfere with my 802.11b network, I haven't tested it with an 802.11g network (we may see problems there).

One key note: this model's base station doesn't have a speaker phone or keypad. There's another variation of this phone system that DOES have a speaker phone and keypad on the base station. I'd recommend that variant instead of this one. That other model also ships with two handsets. With a speakerphone base station you can always find a phone. There are endless variations on this phone from Panasonic, good luck sorting them all out and figuring which is the most recent.

A good feature: the phone directory list works well and it's easy to copy the list from one handset to another.

My next wireless phone (2007) will presumably be a VOIP handset; so this is probably the last phone I buy that will have such an odd mix of wireless protocols and features. Overall this phone reminds me a bit of the pre-PC dedicated wordprocessors, but they were better made.

Bottom line: Buy the version with the keypad, look for a good price, if it doesn't work don't bother with customer support -- just return it and order another one.