Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic DECT 6.0-Series 3-Handset Cordless Phone System with Answering System (KX-TG1033S)

I just received this set with three handsets and it is chock-full of useful features. Here are some that are important to us: mute button (as opposed to muting thru a menu which is impractical when on conference calls), rechargable batteries with a long charge hold (7+ hours),
call waiting caller id (with subscription to this service thru your carrier), shared phonebook, three handsets, fantastic price, message retrieval from the handsets, belt clips, and Amazon's quality assurance policy. There are other features less important to us, but great nonetheless like conferencing, caller ID edit, etc.

There is one flaw, and I actually returned my first set, only to have the same thing happen on my replacement set. When I speak into the handset, I occasionally get feedback that is a hollow, tinny sound. This is at a normal speaking tone. I'm female, and it may be my higher-pitch registers some feedback problem, but it's obviously a bug. I'll live with it, because the merits outweigh this annoyance, and I find that using my headset eliminates the problem, which will force me to take care of my neck and use my headset.

All in all, I recommend the phone for the great features and great price, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else is getting this strange feedback, or maybe I don't realize I squeak like Minnie Mouse and that's the problem!!

I bought 2 kx-TG1033s and linked them all to one base. The sound quality is great. Finally a phone that works with my computer network and has the range to go all over my house (upstairs and downstairs). I love the intercomm feature. The positives written here are true.

BUT.. the speaker phone is useless for others to hear clearly. It drops words if your not right on top of the phone. The caller ID takes a long time to show-up if it every does before 4 rings (seems to be for calls not in your directory). This caller id feature worked better before we started adding alot of our phone numbers into it. I really would like the buttons to be backlit.

After reading all the positive reviews here, I had to get one. I've only used it for a day but soundwise, it's the best I have heard in a long time. I used to have an answering machine and separate cordless phones around the house but now, I can access messages from any handset anywhere in the house. Some people have complained about lack of now familiar number flashing in the answering machine showing number of messages. But you do have that on the handset and once you get used to checking messages from the handset, you will not check messages from the base anyways.

Menu was not as complicated as some have mentioned, I found it intuitive and navigated through all the functions without reading the manual. Phone is well designed, in terms of ergonomics, and is very comfortable to use. Handsets have speakerphone option and headphone jacks. Mine only has 4 ringtones and I don't think you can add more. Buttons are large but are not backlit. However, you can see the number being dialed on the lighted 3 line display, so it is possible to dial in the dark.

Update (9/16/2007):

I wanted to address some issues other reviewers have brought up. One have mentioned DTMF not being recognized, you may need to hold down the keys a little longer or increase the keypad volume setting on your cell phone before the answering machine "hears" the tones. Another reviewer said you can't erase individual messages from the handsets, not true. When you play back the message, push "clear (mute)" key and you have the option to delete that particular message only.

5/10/07 -This is an excellent cordless phone. Easy to use, very clear reception. I have had the phone for about a month and couldn't be happier thus far. A couple of small negatives, small font on the phone screen and no amount of old messages indicator on the answering machine though there is an indicators on the phone itself so it took me awhile to get used to. All in all, a great phone at a great price.

6/30/07 UPDATE: After 1 1/2 months one of the handsets is not charging properly. Overheats and never shows as fully charged. Good luck finding warranty info. on www.panasonic.com. VERY DISSAPPOINTED !

7/10/07 UPDATE: Received a refurbished replacement phone pretty quickly to replace the bad one. So far so good.

Although I'm not easily impressed, I really like the Panasonic DECT cordless system. If you have never used a multi-handset style cordless phone system, you'll be impressed how convenient it is to only plug in a phone line to the base station and have other chargers throughout your home.

The voice quality is great. I've never had static or lost any calls. I assume this is because DECT is using a different frequency which doesn't interfere with WiFi devices. Even with the speaker phone, it sounds really good.

It uses standard Ni-MH AA rechargeable cells. Nice when the batteries wear eventually wear out. I haven't really tested the battery life, but being on conference calls all day doesn't seem to bother it.

It supports either private phonebooks for each handset, or you can copy between them easily to keep them up to date. One minor complaint is that the phonebook only permits 100 numbers.

The integrated answering machines works well and you can check messages from the handsets.

It includes some nice to have features like belt clip and a headset jack.