Almost Perfect Cordless Phone - CLT-A230M. Review on Sanyo CLT-5980

Note : This is a review for CLT-A230M incorrecty posted here. Sorry for the error Cannot remove from this place hence a note added.

This is a phone I have been using for more than 5 years now. Got it from the grey market since it was still not available in white market.

Was checking out cordless phones of GE, Beetel, Panasonic before I picked it up.: Reason why I picked it up and why I still use it are :

Pros :

1, Base station and handset have very comfortable and well lit button. The back lighting is especially not that great in GE, Beetel and Panasonic. Sony however did have an almost similar model with more features, but was on higher side.

1. The intercom facility between base station and handset is really useful when you have to communicate from say terrace to ground floor. I found it so useful many times.

   
   




2. Your can transfer an active call from handset to base station and vice versa.

   
   




3. Has an amazing long range, I have seen my neighbors struggling with that kind of ranges on their cordless. Works great even at around 100 ft.

   
   




4. Standby and battery backup time is really long. Never remember the phone having died on me.

   
   




5. Has a very comfortable feel when gripping the hands free, I remember Sony had a uncomfortable grip since it was quite large.

   
   




6. Has facility to use 4 alkaline pencil cells to keep the base station charged when there is a power failure so that your handset does not get disconnected in between calls.

   
   

Cons:

1. Has no answering machine on this model.

   
   




2. Can store only 10 numbers in memory.

   
   




3. Base station does not have a display panel.

   
   




4. Has only a single default ringtone which rings really high if there is a power failure. Guess it resets to the highest level and then you have to manually lower the volume.

   
   




5. Does not offer sending sms etc. like some other models support.

   
   




6. No speakerphone facility on the handset.

   
   




7. Does not support conferencing.

   
   




8. Difficult to find the replacement battery for handset once the original dies out. say after 2-3 years.

   
   

So all in all it is a phone which gives real good value for money if your are looking for only basic features. However if you are looking for features mentioned in the Con then this phone may not be a great buy.

But it is like a workhorse and keeps going on and on.. if you are ok with the features in the pros. If you buy it you will not be disappointed.