Review & Giveaway: VTech CS6829 Cordless Answering System And $100 Giftcard

Most of you know, I am a collector of old things. My VCR sits next to my NES, which sits next to my tube television. Something I really don’t have a collection of is old telephones. I do have a rotary phone we use as a decoration, but as far as land line communication, it isn’t something I dip my toes into. I might poke fun at pay phones, pagers and GameBoys, but they’ll always hold an 8bit place in my heart.

Recently I was asked to review a cordless telephone as part of a giveaway/review. I’m always about informing and rewarding our readers, so I decided I’d go ahead and give it a shot. When I received the VTech cordless phone, I realized that nowhere in my home or office is a landline. We rely completely on wireless technology. My walls are littered with phone jacks, but they are dead to the touch. No information is flowing through them, in turn I am left wandering the streets of Portland in search of someone with a landline I can abuse for a few hours. I finally found someone (thanks Father-In-Law!) that still pays a company to provide something as old as a fax machine. So I set out for his house and spent a while on a sunny Saturday testing out what VTech’s latest and greatest is…This is what I thought…

Design

So, as far as cordless phones go, VTech has always been a company I enjoyed looking at. Being a technology manager at a big box retailer years and years ago, when landlines were a thing, I used to push VTech on people. It wasn’t necessarily because they had a dying technology figured out, but it was because they looked freakin cool. Their designs were always a step above the rest. As cell phones started taking smaller shapes, VTech started slimming and making their phones longer. They always stood out on the display of cordless phones. This really hasn’t changed in 2013, yes, I know I said a cordless phone in 2013, but seriously, clean your drink up and keep reading…

The phone is actually quite comfortable to hold. The buttons all over the handset are quite easy to access and control from really any gripping angle. A speakerphone is located on the rear of the handset, something I found a little hard to use if I was attempting to utilize the front of the phone while talking to someone via the speaker. Not that most of you will attempt this, but still, thought I should mention it. The handset has a gorgeous display that gives you the time and date, as well as displays the caller id on whomever is calling. The base of the phone is small and will really fit anywhere you could think. It features the answering system, as well as the handset locator as well as some volume buttons.

Performance

If you can recall 7 years ago before you gave up your landline, you’ll remember it was hit or miss with cordless phones. A majority of the devices I used when selling them, I always had some complaints I would reveal to my customers. Static and overall distaste of use would come to mind, and sometime VTech would fall into that category. But the CS6829 actually gave great call quality. Both on the receiving and sending end, both sides could adequately hear and speak with no interference. The phone lived up to everything you’d expect from a cordless phone in 2013, except for the fact that it didn’t make me waffles every morning. The backlit display shined epically in the night, and the backlit buttons made it easy to dial in the harshest of darkness scenes.

I did have some issue with volume on the Full Duplex speakerphone, it seemed it was a tad on the hallow side, creating an unpleasant echo and noise issue when using it. It wasn’t a big problem, but it was something both my wife and I noticed in our tests. I’m somewhat disappointed in the quality, considering it was Full Duplex.

The base displayed the 1 message I had, which was sent by myself, because no one knows of a landline anymore… The volume on the base was actually quite pleasant. In previous cordless phone models and answering machines, I remember always having to struggle to hear what people were saying. I would have to put down my Sega Saturn controller and walk over to the base to listen what my friends were saying about the latest and greatest in 3 Ninjas trailers had to offer. This isn’t the case with this VTech phone, all is crisp and clear, and easily pausable, repeatable and skippable.

Conclusion

With our smartphones being able to schedule us meetings, restaurant reservations and able to give us step-by-step directions wherever we want to go, it doesn’t really make sense to own a cordless telephone. I honestly don’t really know a selling point a company can give that would make me pay at least $14.99 a month to own a phone that makes me get up and walk to get it. But, if you are one that needs it, for whatever reason, VTech does have you covered. I’m assuming Caller ID is still a coveted technology that isn’t available in all phones, DECT 6.0 technology Digital Technology is another feature I probably won’t see as well. In an age of a dying technology, how can a company do it to the point that will make you purchase their hardware. I honestly don’t know, based on what I need my phone to do, no cordless maker will do that, but based on what I remember wanting my home phone to do, VTech does it well. They give me a glimpse into the idiot trying to call me, all while conveniently saving my messages.

The design really has it for me, it’s simple, comfortable and not over the top. It isn’t a 5.5″ Samsung Galaxy SNote4 with Face Hatred and Swords of Omen, it’s a cordless phone with answering machine. If I was forced to use a landline day in and day out, I wouldn’t really have a choice after using this for the couple hours I did. I can’t speak to the rest of the offerings out there, but even though this phone has exclusivity at Walmart, there really isn’t any reason you should go grab yourself one, if you still own power to that odd looking tiny ethernet port in your wall. This review is hard for me to write, I’m always attempting to know the latest and the greatest, to review something of the past, I don’t know what to say. The only real gripes I can have are the fact that this technology isn’t something we tend to talk about. No one knows anyone other than their parents that own a landline, but, this is the phone for them. I actually have lent this out to my Father-In-Law since reviewing it and he is loving it. So I guess if you are in the market, this is the phone for you.

Giveaway

So along with thanking you for reading this review, we’re teaming up with the folks over at VTech to offer a lucky winner their own VTech CS6829-2 as well as a shiny Walmart $100 Giftcard. Yes, that’s right, you get a cordless phone and a $100 bucks good at Walmart or Walmart.com. Rules are simple:

1. Leave a comment below telling us why you or your grandparents deserve a new cordless phone.
2. Tweet the following: VTech still owns the cordless phone market in 2013! #GSGiveawaysEra1999
3. Like this post on Facebook so all your friends and family can see how old school you can keep it.
4. Send me a message on my pager.
5. Friend me on LiveJournal
6. Okay, the last two were landline era, but seriously, you’re still reading? Get on with entering the contest!!!

We’ll run this until the end of day Tuesday. A very lucky winner will be announced on Wednesday and will have a VTech cordless phone and $100 Walmart Giftcard sent to them straight away. Only USA residents are eligible for entry, all International readers are stuck in the future, sorry!

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