Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic KX-TG6074B 5.8 GHz Digital Cordless Answering System with 4 Handsets

My previous phone was also a Panasonic, a 2.4GHz model whose speakerphone feature had gotten to where it was pretty much unusable. Note that I use the phone company's voice mail instead of this phone's message system, so I can't comment on any aspect of that feature.

What I like:

- This phone doesn't interfere with my Wi-Fi signal.

- The handset speakerphone feature works really well. Volume is plenty loud and everyone I've asked has said it's very clear, some even being surprised to learn I'm using a speakerphone.

- General interface design is pretty good, which makes it easier to use all those fancy features than products that make you wonder if the person who designed them ever actually used them. ;-)

- Something I've wanted for a long time in a phone: five-number redial history (ten would be better ;-).

- Smaller and lighter than other phones I've used, and no external antenna. Not too small, just more convenient to carry in my pocket when I'm outside.

- Back of handset is flat opposite the keys, so you can use the keypad when it's lying flat, but the speaker is higher up where a curve in the handset puts it off the surface. Nice thinking on their part.

- Handsets have an LED that blinks for an incoming call, glows yellow when charging, and green when handset is fully charged.

- My old Panasonic's power adapter used about 4 watts according to my P3 International Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor and was hot to the touch (about 130 degrees), so I was concerned this system would use 16 watts or so to run all of the power adapters. Turns out that all of them combined only use about one watt total, which saves me about $0.25/month on my electric bill over my old single-handset phone. Nice. (Every little bit helps. ;-)

- The Talking Caller ID is nice. It's not perfect, but it's nice if it's taking me a while to get to the phone. Lets me know if I should hurry or not. Of course, with four handsets I never have very far to go anymore. ;-)

- Did I mention there are four handsets? Sooo much more convenient that one.

What I wish were different (why I'd dock it half a star):

- I wish there were lighted keys on the handset keypads. Dialing in low light conditions tends to be a bit challenging.

- In what seems to be a downside of those really energy efficient chargers, these are not rapid-charge systems. If you run a battery down (easier to do on long calls using the speakerphone mode) it will take several hours to recharge fully. This is just a minor quibble, though, as you can always switch to a different handset during a call and you get four of the darned things, and it's a reasonable tradeoff to get the power consumption down to such low levels. I use the speakerphone mode almost exclusively, and it hasn't ever caused a problem, I just noticed that it takes a long time to do a full recharge.

- There's no "master" phonebook. You can add one handset's phonebook to another handset, but you have to do that three times to get it on all handsets and if you add a number to one it doesn't appear on the others. However, I like having separate phonebooks, as I keep business phone numbers on only one handset to speed access to personal numbers on the other handsets.

These are all minor quibbles, though, and overall I'm very happy with this item. Don't know why Amazon doesn't seem to stock it, though. I wonder if it sells out fast. As I write this the description says it ships in one to two months. I had to wait a good while for mine as well.

So far, it works very well. My husband loves the talking callerID, and always waits for the phone to ring twice so he can hear it. The reception is crystal clear, even on the speaker phones. The batteries seem to last for days, even after the phone is used and left off the charger. They are NiMH, so you can recharge at will, no memory problems. The answering machine is easy to use. The buttons so far seem to be solid. I've not used the intercom feature yet, so no comment there. There are a few features that my old cordless had that I wish these had: battery backup of the base units; the answering machine indicates there are messages, but not how many; you can't assign a name to each phone (den, dining room, etc.); and you can only assign one volume on the ringer. My old phones had a option that would shut off the ringer after whatever nighttime hour you chose until morning. This allowed sleep at night. I have to totally shut off the phone in the bedroom so we're not disturbed at night.

I can't say enough about this phone system; it is -- BAR NONE -- the best phone system I've ever owned, and I wish I could double the number of stars I give it.

My office is in my home, so this system serves double -- and heavier -- duty because of that. Let me tell you what I like about this system.

First, and least important, it just flat-out looks good. This is a well designed system aesthetically.

More importantly are the functions, so let's take a look. The base unit can be located anywhere, but every single extension acts just like another base unit. The entire system stays synchronized, but you can glance at whatever unit is closest to you and see whether or not you have any messages (a blinking light on the remotes, or a blinking light on the base), what time it is, charge status, any incoming call info (caller ID), play back your messages (and on speaker, no less) on the extension, call waiting, and on and on and on. For all intents and purposes, every handheld unit acts just like a base unit. It's terrific!

In dealing with calls, it functions very similarly to a cell phone: dial your number, then hit "Talk". Or hit "Speaker". Whatever! Same with answering.

In my house, I have three handhelds: one in my office, one in the kitchen, and one in my bedroom upstairs. Total communications blanket in my home. It's even capable of another handheld if I needed it (which I don't), plus the base unit ALSO has full capability as a speakerphone.

Sound quality is flawless. Each unit has an independant volume control, they all have synched access to your call list and stored numbers, and each has Caller ID logs, too.

This system does about anything except make my breakfast. I've had this system now since last Spring, and I am constantly impressed by it.

This is the best phone setup I've ever owned in my life. I'm not overstating that.

This phone had to go back. It had a couple of annoying features that I just didn't feel like I could live with. The first was that it records every single missed call, regardless of whether or not the person left a message. That means if you got 18 calls and three people left messages, you will have to listen to 15 recordings of dead air. Huge waste of time. The other thing I didn't like about this phone is that there is no digital display to tell you how many messages you have, just a little red arrow that flashes when there is one or more message. I can live with that, but not with all the recordings of dead air.

I got these yesterday and here are some first impressions:

Negatives:
1.No backlit key pad. C'mon, how much would that have cost the manufacturer to implement?
2.Handset speaker volume on it's loudest setting is what I would consider about a 5 on a 1-10 scale. On low, it's difficult to hear. And I have pretty good hearing.
3.Menus are a bit complex and not very intuitive. Oh, well.
4.After listening to a message, the message light goes off. This implies to me that there are no messages to listen to on the answering machine.
5.No numerical readout showing how many messages there are on the answering machine.
6.Base recharging stations are a bit light and therefore susceptable to being knocked over.
7.When using as an intercom, only the called (not the caller) can use it in speaker phone mode.
8.There doesn't seem to be a place for a belt clip and none are included. I would assume if there is a headphone jack, there should be belt clips for the handsets.

Positives:
1.Good reception and no interference on Wi-Fi, and 2.4 GHz baby monitor. FHSS is definitely the way to go.
2.I can turn off the ringer on any of the phone handsets for sleeping baby (or parents, rarely) Side note: base ringer can NOT be turned all the way off, only down.
3.Phone books can be easily transferred to any phone handset and phone books can be different in each handset. When copying entire phonebooks over to another handset, it only adds new numbers, not deletes numbers that exist in target handset and not in sending handset.
4.Four handsets are so much better than just two. We only have two jacks in our house and before this phone, we could only have two phones. I do worry a bit about what happens if the base unit goes dead in x# years, but that's why I'm not tossing my old phones.