A Quality Cordless Phone System

I purchased the VTech VTI 5866/ VTI 5803 Twin Cordless Phone System in 2005. Up until this purchase, it seemed every cordless phone I had purchased had been a disaster. They all started out great, but would cease to function correctly after a few months. One phone lost all battery capacity; to the point where it could only be used for 15 minutes at a time. Another phone started to get static-y. The buttons stopped working on a third phone.

Purchasing Decision
At the time of purchase, I did not have high hopes for this phone. I purchased it simply because it met a few basic criteria. It was 5.8 GHz, which would prevent it from interfering with my 2.4 GHz wireless router. It had 2 handsets and an answering machine. I had found out all I needed to purchase the phone. Further proof of how little faith I had that this equipment would last was evident in the fact that I also purchased a two year Product Replacement Plan from Best Buy.

Phone Design and Use
This phone has a sleek design. The exterior is black and silver, with an orange, light-up screen. Each phone is moderately small and comfortable to hold. The buttons are well-placed and large enough to accommodate most fingers. The buttons light up orange, just like the screen, for easy dialing in the dark. The buttons are laid out very similar to those of a cellular phone. The volume control is located on the side of the phone, while buttons under the screen bring up and navigate the menus.

One phone comes with a small base for charging purposes only. This base does not need to be hooked up to your phone line. It is designed well enough, but be sure the power cord is tucked in the appropriate grove. If it is not, the base will be off balance and the phone will not charge. The larger base serves as the answering system and hooks up directly to the phone line.

The menus are easy to navigate and the controls are intuitive. You won’t find yourself having to consult the instruction manual often to alter settings. Both phones come with a belt clip to clip on. The battery compartment is located on the back of each phone, toward the bottom. After being dropped a number of times, the battery compartment in one of my handsets became damaged and no longer locked in. Tape has solved the problem. Sometimes being dropped also causes the battery to loosen. This will prevent the batteries from charging and result in a lightening symbol appearing over the battery indicator. This can be fixed by removing the batteries and re-installing them into the compartment. Luckily, the batteries are not jammed too tightly in there so this is an easy task.

Features
This phone has a number of features that are standard on most phones. Each handset has Caller ID, recording 50 calls at a time. This phone also has call waiting. The two features are supposed to work together, but most times this does not work for me. Often when a call comes in on the other line, I am not able to see who is calling in. 3-way-calling is also a feature, as it is on many other phones. There are mute, redial, and hold options on this phone.

Speakerphone is another common feature that this phone comes with. I use this one a great deal. This feature is better than ones I have seen on most other phones. The volume on the speaker reaches quite loud. It does require you to speak a little loud into the microphone, as the speakerphone’s attempts to cancel out background noise sometimes cancels out your voice. The answering system has a speakerphone of its own, allowing you to answer calls right from the base if the handset is not readily available. There is a handset locator feature that rings the corresponding phone to help you find it.

A headset jack is provided for easy hands-free listening with most headsets.

An intercom feature allows easy communication between the handsets. The answering machine was very easy to set up and holds up to 15 minutes worth of messages, recorded digitally. No media is required. It’s a vast improvement from the days of those tiny little tapes. I found the space to be sufficient for my purposes. A 2-digit display on the base alerts you as to how many messages you have.

This phone offers plenty of options and settings. There are several ringers to choose from, including a vibrate option. You can also load your own musical ring tone to the phone from your computer.

Sound quality
The sound on these phones is crystal clear. I haven’t had any problems with static, nor is the sound at all muffled. I’ve never received any complaints from the people on the receiving end of the audio, either.

Battery Life
The battery on this phone easily provides roughly 3 hours of talk time. After 2 years, I haven’t noticed any decrease in battery life. I’ve been very impressed. This phone seems to charge off of rechargeable AA batteries, which are easy to find in most electronic stores.

Expandability
I only needed this phone with the included extra handset, but it is expandable up to 8 handsets.

Price
I purchased this phone system for $129.99 at Best Buy in 2005. Considering the quality and how well it has worked, I’d definitely say it was worth it.

The VTech VTI 5866/ VTI 5803 Twin Cordless Phone System has performed impressively. The features and sound quality are excellent. It is incredibly durable, having survived being tossed around and dropped for the last two years. This is by far the best cordless phone system I have ever owned.