Panasonic KX-TG7872S Link2Cell Bluetooth Enabled Phone with Answering Machine & 2 Cordless Handsets (Discontinued By Manufacturer)

The Panasonic KX-TG7872S, (2 handsets), is absolutely fully optioned, great phone. We still have the old Panasonic cordless, (also with 2 handsets), that we bought well over 12 or 13 years ago and it's going strong. But it was time to get a new, updated version and in particular, one that had the capability of blocking more than just 30 phone numbers.This phone, (with 2 handsets), costs just shy of $100 with prime shipping. Even then, it's well worth it because of all the options and programmability that you get from it. There are literally too many options for me to list here and you can simply go to the Panasonic website, type in the model number, and get their manual if you want to see it before you buy the unit.That said, some of the main things I like about this unit is the fact that I can block up to 250 different phone numbers which I found very valuable. We are inundated with solicitations from all kinds of unknown callers or out of town calls or my favorite, "callers ID hidden".On our old Panasonic cordless, we could only block 30 phone numbers and when those particular numbers tried to call us, the phone would ring once and then display "caller blocked". I can do the same with this new Panasonic unit, (for 220 additional numbers), but I can take it a step further and program it to block the number "silently". That means that the phone won't even ring once if the number is on the blocked list.Another cool feature of this phone is the power backup system. If your electrical power goes out, this model maintains power by using the phone that's in the base as a "backup battery" permitting you to use the other phone/phones to make an emergency call if needed. According to the manual, you'll be able to keep a continued call going for up to 2 hours depending on the options you select while in the call itself.I thought that was great and very unusual compared to many items that have power backup capability. Our old cordless Panasonic needs a 9 V battery placed in the base unit which always seemed to be worn out at the moment I needed it because it wasn't replaced twice per year. But with this new Panasonic, your power backup battery is always being charged because it is one of the rechargeable handsets!We recently signed up for Comcast Xfinity Voice, and this Panasonic not only can do everything that Xfinity Voice offers, it can do it better! Still, you can select whether you want caller block, call waiting, etc. to be controlled by X-Voice, or Panasonic very easily.This Panasonic model can also pair up with cell phones and Bluetooth headsets. My wife and I are not very big on cell phones and we don't have any Bluetooth items so I can't tell you much about that other then what the instructions happen to say. According to the manual, you can transfer all of your cell phone contact lists, and various settings to your cordless phone or the other way around. The handsets also contain a headphone Jack if you want to use one instead of the handset itself.I use speakerphone almost exclusively whenever I make a call or pick one up. The handset speakerphone system on this model is exquisite. According to everyone I've spoken to, they were able to hear me clearly without distortion and no reverberation. However, my wife did say that the speakerphone option when selected on the base itself, did give some distortion/reverb but not very bad. Actually, I believe I can adjust that feature if I wanted to, using the phone’s settings and options.The phone can be mounted on the wall or you can put it on a table or desktop and the range seems to be no problem anywhere in our home, (roughly 1350 sqft condo), including the garage or bathroom, (door closed). Seriously, I can go on and on about the options and capability of this phone but I wouldn't be doing it justice. Go to the Panasonic website if you want to see a full list of details and capabilities and/or want the user manual.About my "Refurbished" version:I've had a great degree of good experiences with refurbished items that I've bought throughout the years. I have a manufacturing background and I'm a machinist by trade and can say that items that have moving parts will eventually wear out as a rule.The key is to buy refurbished items, (at the much better "refurbished price"), that have as few moving parts as possible. That's not to say devices that are ‘motionless’, such as integrated and printed circuit boards, won't wear out because they have no moving parts. The fact is that electronics are subject to wear and overtime, lose efficiency in the form of heat. So a PC board can ‘wear out’ as sure as any hinged or moving part can after repeated use and/or lack of maintenance.But as long as the refurbished unit was refurbished by the manufacturer or by a manufacturer approved facility, items like this Panasonic cordless phone can be as good as a new one! The refurbished Panasonic cordless phone we ordered cost at least $20 less and had free shipping. In addition, the phone was delivered within 48 hours after the order was placed.The refurbished phone came with all the items a brand-new one would have come with. What it didn't have was a shiny box and wrapper. I do feel that the facility responsible for the refurbished unit could have applied some protective films over the LCD panels and they could have packed it a little bit better for shipping.However, you could never tell the difference between this refurbished phone and a brand-new one looking at them side by side. Of course, the warrantee for a refurbished unit is limited but as I said earlier, with very few moving parts it's unlikely you're going to need that warrantee anytime soon. I recommend that you ALWAYS check and make sure you have received all the parts listed in the manual when you order a refurbished unit. If possible, try to get the item up and running at least at a basic level as soon as you can after you've received it.That way, if there's anything wrong, you can detect it inside of that typical "30 day return policy". At any rate, when the price is considerably less for the same item as a brand-new one and shipping doesn't bring the price up to the same as a brand-new one would have cost, I recommend you go for the refurb. As I said earlier, we saved over $20 and there was free shipping in the refurbished units offer. No shiny box but then, I'm not going to be keeping the phone in a box anyway.I strongly recommend this item.I almost gave this phone 4 stars instead of 5 because of the way the phone was packed for shipping. But I decided to give it 5 stars because the seller’s packing job, (good or bad), plays no part in how the phone performed. If the sellers reading this, I recommend you reconsider how you ship your items and for that matter, package them. Hasty shipping practices, (little or no shock absorbing packing material), will definitely reflect poorly as a first impression when buying a refurbished phone. FWIW

It set up easily, and works great. There is an initial delay when connecting to a cell phone on pick up of a call. I would say 1-2 seconds, then it functions fine. My wife finds the pick up controls counter-intuitive. We use this phone without a landline, the instruction for disabling the landline systems, are buried deep in the manual.Finally, I have the base unit setup as a wall mount, the way it's oriented the displays are tipped upwards. I used the existing wall mount, my short wife, is unable to see the displays. I don't think it's all that critical as the handsets repeat all the essential data. I set up a charging station across the room for our cell phones, so we walk in set them down and we are done!Minor quibble, the phone book entries are too short. You can't enter full names, plus if you have multiple entries per user, it's hard to impossible to add what phone is calling. I ended up truncating names, and adding a "M", "H", and "W" to the end. This makes the text to speech function interesting...It would be nice to have a phone type to add to phone book.Overall excellent product, with a complex manual. Makes answering our cell phones at home simple.

I really wanted to like this handset. As many others, we've dropped our "land" line and only have cell phones. This product paired wonderfully with our two cells and rang with our iPhone tones. Very nice...BUT: the sound quality is so bad that we are sending it back. Oftentimes, we have to hunt down our cell phones anyway since the people on the other end can't tell what we're saying. Lots of static. I wish I could say this solves the issue, but good sound quality is obviously a required feature.Note that we do have WiFi in our home, to support our laptops. We're not willing to turn this off, though it may have made the handset work better. So, I believe this is the best product of its kind available now... just hasn't solved all the issues yet.

I would have preferred if there was an indicator for new messages, such as a flashing light. Needs to be more intuitive especially when scrolling through the callers' list

Good and reliable home phone - good range across the entire home.

Works well just a little delay between cell and hand set.

met all expectations

good stuff