Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic KX-TG5240M GigaRange Supreme 5.8 GHz DSS Expandable Cordless Phone with Answering System

I tried this phone twice. The first one had a bad battery/display and it would show it was completely charged and then I attempt to call and the display would show nothing. I could continue talking but without the soft buttons, you could not do much in terms of muting or the other advanced features.

I got the second one and it was fine until the first time we used it. I had the phone placed in the middle of our house away from any walls or electrical components. The phone worked fine for the most part far away from the base unit. The big problem was when we got to within 10 or 15 feet of the unit, EVERYONE who we called and tested it with would complain that we sounded garbled and broken up. We could hear them fine though. I attempted multiple tests with different people and even different placements. No luck. It seems like it does not get good reception when the handset is close to the base. I had to return it because it was just not operating correctly. It was a shame too. It is a nice phone with many well integrated features...I just can't have a phone that does not work well. I am probably going for a Uniden TRU8885 since it seems to have much better reviews and I have checked them out in the store. The Motorola phones are nice and one of my friends has it but the style, "non-integrated" phone book, and other annoying features turned me off of that one.

I purchased the Panasonic KX-TG5240M phone/answering machine and an additional handset (KX-TGA520M) after reading several glowing reviews (and one bad one) here and a couple of other places. The one bad review indicated that when using one of these phones, the person on the other end often complained of having difficulty hearing them. A follow-up review from another person scoffed and said they never had any problems, so I dismissed the bad experience as an isolated incident and bought the phone anyway. I should have heeded the warning of that one reviewer. Both my wife and I are completely fed up with these phones. We're pleased with the features of these phones, but sick and tired of having callers complain they can't hear us. It has happened to both my wife and I, and we avoid using these phones whenever possible. I unfortunately can't take the phones back, because I ordered them online (not through amazon.com) from a company that offered only a 15-day return policy. $200 out the window. My advice - if you really are interested in these phones, buy them from somewhere with a more reasonable return policy. Be sure to test how well your callers can hear you. If your experience is anything like mine, you'll need to take them back.

First the good: The features are extensive and relatively easy to use. The user-interface is clean. It does not interfere with WiFi, and it perfect for almost everyone.

Now the bad: The sound quality experienced by the CALLER is dreadful. Syllables are garbled, eaten, and mashed with a meat cleaver. Received sound is fine.

I loved the unit, but all my friends (callers) hated it with a passion, and I returned it for a full refund because it was within the 30 Day period. Forget the 1 year warrantee, which forces you to deal with Panasonic. You will get a refurbished unit with the same design flaws.

I read the other reviews for this and many of them complained that the person at the other end would hear your voice garbled or distorted if you got too close to the base unit. We just bought a KX-TG5243M (same as the 5240 but it comes packaged with 3 handsets) on May 27, 2005, and it does not have that problem. I have even held the handset with the antenna literally touching the base unit antenna, and the person I was talking to could hear me clearly. So I guess either the problem did not exist on every unit, or Panasonic has fixed it.
Other than that, the phone has everything we want, including some features that were sorely missing on our old Uniden TRU-5885: On it you could not have a conference call with both handsets - only with a handset and the speakerphone in the base unit. And every time the power went out I had to get the manual out to find out how to set the clock again, despite the fact that every time a call came in the Caller ID showed the CORRECT time. Panasonic has managed to make their phone smart enough to use the caller ID info to update its clock automatically.

I work out of my home so I wanted a phone that I can sit through endless conference calls and have everything I needed for my telecommunication needs. This phone just about had it all!!!

It is a nice feature to have 3 mail boxes. I don't use them (For accounting press 1, for marketing press 1, for sales press 1, if I owe you money this number has been disconnected....) but it is a nice feature to add if you have more than one person in the house and you don't trust others to take messages for you.

The handset is great!!! I usually just clip it to my hip and use a headset most of the day. The talking caller-ID is great, a feature I didn't know existed until I got my first call. It can really butcher some names, but after a while you get a general idea of who is calling.

The range on this is fantastic. I can get quite far from my house before things start breaking up or things become unclear. When I say quite far, I mean almost a block. That 5.8Ghz frequency broadcasts long and clear.

The 5.8 doesn't interfere with my wireless network. I don't use it much, but it is nice to know that my busy 2.4Ghz frequency isn't as busy anymore.

Since I play music (very loud) while I work I like the fact that the handset lights up when a call comes in. Very nice...

My only complaint (and this is big) is that the speakerphone doesn't work well. If I'm working with somebody on my desk it would be nice to have one that works well but everybody always says they can't hear me (and I've got a pretty loud voice). What I do instead is use a headset and that works fine. But the speakerphone was the biggest thing I wanted and if I could change one thing on this phone... that would be it.

Other than the speakerphone, two thumbs waaaay up!!!