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Binatone MD2000
by HelenDK
We had a bInatone phone before this, we weren't impressed so when we need a multiple handset device my husband decided to buy the multi handset product from this company for my birthday...
Background
I always thought Binatone had something to do with BT however when I reserached this, I found that this is not the case. ... Binatone has been around since 1958, co-owned by Gulu and Partap Lavarni, initially importing and exporting electronics before moving on to transistor radios. It the main shirts sponser for the Queens Park Rangers Football Club. They also launched in 2012 Kids Starz -which is an android tablet.
Answermachine
Anyway it is mulit handset phone with an answermachine integrated within. Our old answermachine used to flash a red light if holding a message as well as beeping every few minutes, unfortunately the binatone range doesn't have this, it has a small symbol on the phone which flashes but is not obviously unless you pick up the phone. Therefore i have become dreadful at noticing if we have messages (especially from my father in law!). We are generally not very techy and I cant tell you how many messages my husband has deleted by accident much to my frustration
Plugging it in
Its cordless, with a base that just needs plugging in with the main set needing plugging into the telephone socket. Therefore it is very useful if you just have 1 BT socket as you can still have handsets around the house as long as there is a plug socket. We have one in the hall and one in the kitchen with a seperate BT line in the bedroom so an old phone attached to that.
Signal
We have an above average sized garden and I can only get a signal to the first of my washing lines, as frequently have a child come outside with a ringing phone and I have to walk back to the house to keep the signal, which I would imagine would be ok for most household sized gardens. However this functionality is very useful when Im doing the ironing and chatting, as can prop under my ear and carry on with no problem.
Sound Quality
I struggle to hear through this phone and vice versa frequently they can not hear me and have at times had to ask the caller to hold whilst I run upstairs to take the call from the bedroom (non-binatone) phone.
Looks
It looks like a nice phone, black and silver, with good size buttons.
Battery Life
It recharges when placed back in base (makes a annoying "a-ha" noise when returned which reminds me of Ralph from the Simpsons) and I have never had an issue with low battery.
The positives
It was reasonably priced and although models are everchanging, you can buy between £20-30 with options to the number of handsets you want. My husband bought ours from argos but most retailers seem to sell these products.
I personally wouldn't buy another Binatone product, I think the above review says it all however I wouldnt be surprised if my husband did, however next time Im sending him back.
Sorry but I'm giving this a DY rating of 1/5 as to me it has far more negatives than positives.
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Philips ID5551B
by Whizz11
The Philips ID555 is a cordless telephone and we bought ours as a twin cordless phone meaning we got two handsets and two docking bases. This was really helpful as we have one downstairs in our lounge and one upstairs in the bedroom. We've had the phones for well over 5 years now and they are still working perfectly well so I think in ... terms of longevity they have been great. I can't remember what price we paid for them but I see from a quick web search that they are in the £100 region which I think is reasonable.
The telephone features quite a slim, smart looking handset in the colour black. There is a small display screen which will tell you if there is a new call on it by showing "new call" on the screen. It also shows you the battery life that you have left and on the bottom left hand corner is the word View. On our telephone handset upstairs the word bedroom is writing on the display unit so I find this very handy when it comes to knowing which telephone goes where. Upstairs there is just a small charging cradle but the main one is a bit bigger than that and is the one that contains the answer messages.
The handset obviously has the number 1-9 and a 0 and also what I really like about this handset is that there is a button you can press which locks the keys so my little children cannot call someone in China or lock the phone themselves and do something to it that makes it useless! The phone has a simple green telephene handset icon which you press to answer the phone and a red telephone icon to hang up the call. The phone will activate if you just pick it up from the cradle so you do need to make sure that you press the green button.
There is a phone book which allows you to store your favourite numbers and apparently this holds up to 200 names and numbers although we don't have anything like that amount. The phone book is easy to get to, you just press the book icon on the phone and it takes you straight to your names and numbers and you just need to scroll through to find the one you want.
There is an answer machine on this phone which I really like and this is a 30 minute digital answer phone so it really will hold a lot of messages. On the cradle there is a little blue LED light that shows you how many messages you have. When you get a new message this will flash until you press the play button on the cradle and then you can listen to your message. I find the flashing really handy as I can take a quick glance at it to see if I've had any messages whilst I've been out.
The phone also has a redial button which I find quite handy as it lists all the numbers you have recently rung and as its the same sort of people I usually always phone this is an easy way to get to their numbers.
The phones stand up when you put them in the charger and you need to make sure you put them in the cradle properly and hear the little noise that lets you know you have put them in properly.
The charge on these phones lasts for quite a long while. We often take them off the cradle in the day time to keep them away from little fingers but they always have charge in them throughout the day and hold it well until we can charge them again in the evenings.
All in all a good set of cordless phones.
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Tesco Value AWB001
by sas87
We bought the Tesco Value landline telephone as we needed something quickly after moving house, and didn't have a lot to spend. I try not to be a brand snob (we have the Tesco own brand slow cooker and love it), and was quite happy to buy this model for a mere £12.
This telephone is about as basic as you can get for a ... cordless telephone - the cordless aspect being the best thing about it. I must say, it looked far more stylish than I was expecting given the price, with matte and gloss back finishing and a good sized handset. However, it's INCREDIBLY light, which makes it feel cheap and not very reassuring to hold. The charging base is nothing special, just a plain black plastic "lump" with a dock for the handset - but it does the job it's meant to and it relatively slimline, although I have found the handset doesn't place easily on the base and is easily knocked out of it.
The display on the handset is very small, but fairly typical of basic models (even more expensive ones), and it has no back lighting so very difficult to read in poorer light conditions. It has a 10 hour talktime and 100 hours standby time, which is very basic, and space for 20 contacts which is minimal - but all expected for the price. There are no "bells and whistles", such as a paging function, which I personally find invaluable and something I missed. However there is a speakerphone function which is a pleasant surprise.
Where this phone really loses points is with the sound quality. It is absolutely awful. It's too quiet, with muffling, crackling and even voice echoing which is incredibly distracting during a call! It is for the sound quality alone that we replaced this phone with one of a higher price and quality - which in this case proves (sadly) that if you buy cheap you buy twice.
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