Telephone Reviews

Camera does not focus at closer distances. Picture is of low quality and color is terrible. Looks like something cooked up in lab and not ready for production. Their QuickCam 4000 is superb, though more expensive, it is fantastic and worth every penney. This camera, must use some old technology, though I don't know anything about it to have such lousy results. Either buy the QuickCam 4000 or keep your money in your pocket. Also, found that the lense rotates for some reason. Just weird thing.

I bought this camera to use on a Thinkpad. I have always been fascinated with the design since the original came out on the iREZ Critter cameras made for Macintosh laptops a few years ago. Those cameras died because of very poor image quality. After using this camera, I wonder if Logitech just acquired the origianl iREZ and did nothing to improve it. Shame on them for putting out such a camera with such low image quality, especially at the price.

Likes:
I loved the stylish design, but I'm also aware that this is completely subjective. The leg clips on the laptop or flat panel displays nicely. Though it is not as steady as some clamp-based notebook camera mounts, it is more compact and "integrated" as it can be turned over as a lens cover. The camera responds quickly to light changes to adjust exposure settings. It also has decent contrast handling (in spite of the poor images) and high shutter speed. It is very small and light, with a short USB cord true to its purpose as a notebook camera. Very decent construction quality, though the joint where the leg connects to the camera may be a weak link for a travel camera subjective to frequent handling or abuse.

Dislikes:
Very poor image quality. It is comparable to the worst of the logitech line, or the Quickcam Express (which uses very dated technology), despite its 640x480 rating. The image is full of noise produced with high gain, yet more significantly, the resolving power of the imager or the lens is abysmal (yes I adjusted the focus ad nauseam). The color is also terrible, with very poor saturation and hue no matter how I adjusted it. The image in short, is grainy, pixelated, blurry and with a grey-ish hue on everything. Even a cheaper Xirlink camera I tried did much better than this.

Conclusion:
Logitech tend to use "gain" function rather than prolonging the shutter speed for low light situations. This contributes to the noise of the images througout its camera line. The reason Logitech do this, I suspect, is so that the camera can "freeze frame" the moving subjects nicely even when under low light situations. The higher end Quickcam Pro 4000 has an adjustment for both gain and shutter, and this theory proved its own validity. Such control is not available for this travel camera, however, and grainy image is the norm. This factor was casted aside, since with better software controls the noise may be reduced and not be a "fault" of the camera's hardware itself. However, the image resolution as well as the color is quite terrible, even with all the controls played, looking more like a cheap 320x240 camera. These faults can be primarily attribued to an inferior CCD. Despite the favorable review on CNET among other sources, it is easily out-performed by a cheaper Xirlink made IBM Net Camera we also tried for comparison due to its comparable size and notebook clamping capability. The difference in image was phenomenal, so much that it truly put the little cute spider camera to shame. I sincerely do not want to reject the camera, but for this kind of price and image quality, even its innovatively designed and high quality plastic body cannot save it for becoming a very poor value indeed.

First of all, this is my first Webcam, but so far it's better than I expected. Yes, the quality isn't great like that of a digital camera, but it's more than fine for video conferences. You just need to adjust the image a little so the colors look better.
I'm a student in high school, and have friends and family in different countries, and this webcam works great for me! So no complaints here.

Breaks up, rings after all other phones stop ringing! What a nightmare-get a Panasonic 2.4 gig, this phone is horrible. I have had other Vtech's and liked them, but this one is junk!

I have had two of these beauties and am looking for a 3rd. It is the best, yet simple, cordless with CID I have used yet.

I bought this phone and it works just fine. I have been all over the house with it and have not experienced any static. I have not even had to extend the antenna. I was shocked to see that Ameritech sells this very same phone! The only drawback is that you cannot see the time and date of a call unless you press the 7 key when the name and number are displayed.

I am going to return my phone. The sound quality is not adequate. Friends and family claim I sound 'tinny'. I notice a lot of hiss when using the handset.

I had this phone for about 2 years before it died. No complaints until then.

I have the older version and like it so much I'm buying this one for my mother-in-law. It has great quality for the speaker phone part and is so handy if you end up having to be on hold for a long time and don't want to sit there with the phone pressed up to your ear. The volume controls are helpful too when you have that relative with the really loud voice. I've owned my first one for almost 6 years and it still working great.

This phone doesn't works properly, the audio level when speaking on the phone (i.e. the level that the caller hears) is much too low. I guess the amplifier design is faulty as you can hear the noise level increase at it vainly tires to compensate. I brought two models back to the shop for a refund. It is disapointing at it is the only phone I can find that has the all features I want.

I have purchased three of these phones now in an attempt to get one with acceptable handset audio quality. (I bought one in an attempt to upgrade my phone service; it was bad - terrible handset audio quality. I returned it to the store, replaced it and bought one extra thinking that the problem was solved. I have two phone lines, hence two phones. Also it is a 40 mile drive to the store!)

All three are essentially unusable. When you are speaking into the handset microphone, properly designed telephones provide some audio feedback to the handset speaker so you can hear yourself as you would when speaking normally in, say, a face to face conversation. The feedback on this telephone is terrible; it is highly distored and it overloads easily.

All in all, a 0 on a scale of 10 for human factors. For $... you expect some quality.

We tried to replace our old speakerphone with a newer model. This one has a very soft speaker volume and makes loud noises if you get too close to the speaker. I like the old version better.

This phone has a much better range than my crappy old 900MHz phone, and I can walk all through the house, and around it and still get good reception.

However, the sound quality is poor, with lots of quiet but disturbing background static. I have also experienced this in the only other "digital" phone I've owned, so I suspect a problem in the conversion from analog to digital and back.

I also noticed some of the fade-in/fade-out effect while listening to some nice hold music, and some pops and clicks.

The phone has a headset jack, but my standard 2.5mm headset doesn't work with it. My headset works with my two other cordless phones, so either there's a problem with this particular phone, or it takes a special proprietary plug.

I presently own a 900DSS and a 2.4DSS which allow me to walk to my mailbox and around the garden (several hundred yards). I figured the 5.8DSS would give me even more range. Not so! I can go about 80ft, from my workshop to my back door, before losing the signal. I located and returned the unit to the manufacturer and received a replacement - which performed no better. It's an attractive phone, has good features and clarity - but not range, which is important to me.

I bought this phone to replace my old RadioShack 900MHz phone (i will never buy another phone from radioshack again! all three different models that I have owned broke with in 1 year). It looks cool and has caller id, but I really got it because it sues the 5.8GHz range because I have read that 900MHz can receive a lot of interference and I already know that my wireless router and microwave would interfere with anything I had in the 2.4GHz range. (That microwave cuts out my internet all the time!) Here I will get to the point(s).

Pros:
-Looks cool
-Good range, despite other reviews, I have been able to talk on the phone while I get my mail at the bottom of my dirveway which is about 400ft from the house, none of my other phones can do that.
-Easy to connect headset jack
-Caller ID

Cons:
-The battery isn't the best.

I specifically wanted a Panasonic phone since I had been very pleased with their products in the past. Not any more.

I purchased this phone for my elderly mother so she would have a reliable phone with all the features she needs. The phone was barely a year old, and it would not dial out. We assumed the problem was with her phone service, but it was the phone.

This is not a cheap phone. From the start, the clarity and ease of programming were only so-so. I see no point in having it repaired, because I can't trust it's future reliability.

The signal often breaks up even when you're very near the base and you have to keep pressing the channel button to find a clear one-- something that in a phone for this price should be automatic. The flash/call-wait button is on the back of the phone next to the caller id window and it's very easy to press this button (and hang up on your party) if you brace the phone against your shoulder. Sometimes when you pick the handset up off the base and then quickly press the Talk key (like a normal person would when you're trying to make a call) the phone gets confused for five seconds and then beeps at you after failing to give you a dial tone.

Speaker phone sound quality and operation is excellent though the base only has 5 speed-dial slots. Range seems pretty good once you've found a channel that isn't plagued with static. I have not used the answering machine capabilities so I can't comment on them.

I would not recommend this phone, and generally regret purchasing it.

Set of features is perfect, but what's most important for phone -- how it sounds. This phone distorts the sound, use of callerID is complicated (reverse side of the receiver), answering system, time setting are complicated and not user-friendly.

I plugged it into the Macintosh. I selected it in the Control Panel. It worked the very first time. I have not loaded any software.

Been using this on Win2K machine for over a year. Does pretty good job for voice recognition in Dragon, and it's not the most expensive USB headset. Recognition with this is definitely better than analog (non-USB) headset going thru a soundcard. Only drag is that the Plantronics software is not up to snuff -- fairs poorly in comparison to the headset (which is of pretty good quality). I initially had trouble getting the software to recognize the headset at all, and Plantronics support was unhelpful -- as mentioned elsewhere their knee-jerk response is that "it must be your fault, go away." Have overcome their software problems by ignoring their configuation software and just setting up in target application (e.g., in Dragon).

So sorry to hear all the bad reviews from PC users. On a Mac (as usual) you simply plug it in and it's available for whatever software you're using. The DSP-300 ($...) has 2 earpieces which is obviously much better for music, but if you're using this for video conferencing or speech programs this is a great deal for $...

I have used many cordless phones and concur with Jason 100%.

This is a phone to stay away from.

I still have this POS and am tossing it and moving on to a higher end Panasonic.

This phone works, but it is just ok for the money. There are better priced phones with more features on the market.

This phone has a lot of features. My only real problem with it is the volume control. I can hardly hear people when I'm on the phone with them. They seem to hear me just fine. Eventhough the handset volume is turned to "High" it's still hard to hear the ohter person.

after minimum use touchpad failed...i use back of a pencil to dial thus putting 5 pounds of pressure to dial keys 3, 6, 9

Handset and touch tone dialing work well. Speakerphone does not function consistently, Caller ID name removal is tedious and repetitive. ATT Customer Service website and 800 number do not provide support nor answers to questions. Phone manual is very limited and does not provide thorough troubleshooting answers.

I have used this phone for a year with no technical problems. Sound quality is OK. LCD display has good contrast, which is also adjustable. Good features besides those mentioned in other reviews are a line status light to let you know if the phone line is available without picking up the receiver, and a "Directory" function that can capture caller ID names and numbers and display them sequentially in alphabetical order for later retrieval and automatic dialing. Lots of functionality for the money.

I was really looking forward to this phone. I needed a caller ID phone that didn't use an AC outlet. There aren't many out there. I respected the Panasonic name but what I got was awful. First, I hung it on the wall but I couldn't read the display while I was standing next to it. I had to stoop down to about 5 feet above the floor to read the display. To program the phone I had to get a chair and sit in it to perform the program. That's when the big problem was discovered.

The LCD is about three lines tall. But only half of the middle line was "lighting" up. The LCD was busted! I waited a week for this? So far the Amazon return process has been friendly, but I dread looking for another phone.

Other drawbacks: no short cable for wall mounting, no free AA batteries.

When I read the reviews before buying this phone, I was thinking maybe some reviewers were just being too picky about the caller ID LCD display. Now that I've bought it myself, I totally agree that it's caller ID display is a pain to read. If you just sit at your desk looking at it, what you see is 888888888888888, and everything that the LCD has on it. The only way to read the display is to hold up the phone in ONE particular angle; any slight change of angle will make it impossible to read. In addition, even if the angle is right, the readings are too tiny. This is in contrast to the large dial buttons which is a good thing about this phone. I like the small size of the phone. But the settings and display are very frustrating. It's better to buy a cheaper phone without caller ID and buy a separate calelr ID.

I really like panasonic phones in general - I have 2 cordless phones & an answering machine which are panasonic. When I went looking for a corded phone with caller id, I was excited to find this one - the size and design were exactly what I was looking for. However, the display is difficult to read unless you're standing above it and the caller id feature is lacking. Specifically, I found that I cannot recognize cell phone numbers - it displays them as "out of area" with no number attached to them. By contrast, my other panasonic cordless phone displays "out of area" AND the phone number for cell phones. This is important because I like to distinguish between telemarkets and my friends with cell phones. With this phone, I can't.