VTech 6042 DECT 6.0 Two-Handset Cordless Phone System with Digital Answering Device and Caller ID

I bought this phone without doing any research because of my previous experiences with VTech products. I used to have two older VTech 900 MHz phones that I loved, so when my wife insisted that we re-establish our land-line, I went straight back to VTech. Unfortunately, that was a mistake, as battery performance has rendered this phone almost useless just a year after we bought it. I followed the factory recommendations when setting up the phone, installing each battery and then charging each handset for about a day before use. At their peak, these batteries would only allow the handsets to be away from the cradle for about four hours, and that was assuming that you didn't use the phone at all. Actually talking on the phone reduced that time severely, and using the speaker phone cut the life down to about fifteen minutes. A year later, those times are reduced even further. Leaving a handset off the cradle for even a few minutes all but guarantees that the battery will die the next time it rings.

I've considered buying new batteries so that I can give this phone another shot, but at $25 each, I might as well just buy a new phone (after doing more research this time!). Besides, there's no guarantee that the new ones will perform any better than my old ones ever did.

The phone goes dead very quickly and needs a new battery after just a short time of owning it. Not worth a single penny that you pay for it!

I almost didn't buy this phone after readig the negative reviews...poor battery life, etc. I have had the phone for three months and it has performed flawlessly. No problem with battery life. It has lasted in excess of 2.5 hours on multiple occasions. Great design, intuitive use, a little pricey, but well worth the money.

This is a great phone. Very stylish. Sound is excellent. Very clear and no interference. I cant comment on the battery life because I keep the phone on the base all the time. But I've never had a problem. If you want a beautiful phone that works great and is easy to use, buy the Vtech!

The phone worked great... for the first year. The batteries have completely died in all of our handsets, despite very normal usage for only about 14 months now. If I bring the handset to the couch so I will have it if someone calls, it dies as soon as someone does call - before the ID even pops up on the caller ID.

I bought this phone because VTech had a good phone reputation and it looked pretty cool, like the original Moto Razr.

This phone battery will die and you can read all the reviews about how if you can get to customer support they'll explain how to reset the phone so it will provide a full charge but nothing deals with the fact that the battery and/or charging system is so completely inadequate that we should all be getting our money back.

I was really STUPID not to return this ASAP, I just thought I had to stop leaving it out of the cradle. I was wrong, you can't even leave the phone off the charger overnight once!

Eventually, one of the phone's simply would reset/die if you turned on the speakerphone.

DO NOT BUY ANY VTECH DECT 6.0 PHONE MODEL that looks like this.

This phone system was functional for the first 12.5 months after we bought it. It seemed to me like it was just waiting for the warranty to run out before the base died, though! About two weeks after the warranty ended (i.e. one year after we purchased it), the base station became completely non-responsive. I tried their website's troubleshooting steps (unplug it, remove batteries, wait five minutes, then put it all back together) to no avail.

There is NO outside-warranty support whatsoever, so we're without a home phone until we buy another one.

Since this is the second vtech cordless phone we've had where this has happened to us, we will not be buying anything else from this company!

This phone worked fine for about a month. After that, the batteries in EVERY handset (we had 4) would last for about 1/2 a day if they weren't on the cradle. That's standby, not talk. You could have about one conversation before they'd start beeping at you.

I noticed last week that they're using these phones on the TV show "24". I can only imagine that they had to give them all away as props, since they certainly look cool and work wonderfully has TV phones that you don't actually talk on.

the vtech 6.o two handset cordless phone is easy to hold and has a great clear sound it's sleek design is great

Everything about this phone and answering system works fine except for one glaring, painful, fatal flaw: battery life is absolutely terrible. It starts out mediocre and gets worse from there. and And AND! the retailers who carry the phone DO NOT CARRY THE BATTERIES. This is a uniquie little double AAA battery that they did not have at Radio Shack or Walmart (where the phone itself was on display) and it was not at either of the two battery stores I visited. One of the battery stores finally saved me and made me a new battery, reusing the connector.

I bought this phone because the old one wouldn't stay charged out of the base for more than an hour. NOw I'm in the same spot I was before with a more expensive phone.

I bought this phone falling for its cool design.

But this phone is not functional. The battery life is awful. It just fails without adequate warning.

Also the phone menu design is also not good compared to panasonic phones. I think the Engineers who designed this phone need to do better.

I can forgive the menu design. But I cannot forgive the battery life issues. This makes this phone a failure.

I have a much older panasonic which gives me much better battery life.

I have decided to stick only with panasonics in the future and will not recommend vtech phones to anyone.

I'll say, first off, that the basic phone system has been fine for my needs. I'm not a power user and have not used any additional functions. I think the phones are sleek and stylish, and they work fine. I bought the basic base station and single extra handset to see how I liked it, and I liked it well enough I wanted to upgrade to more handsets. The product description right here at amazon says: "upgradable to include additional handsets"

But amazon does not seem to offer any way to get additional handsets. So I googled, and no matter what I looked at or where I could *NOT* find additional handsets, which I now need. I finally broke down and called Vtech. They told me you can *ONLY* get additional handsets when you buy the base station initially. You can't add handsets later. I consider that a major rip-off and will never buy from Vtech again.

When first asked to do this review we thought...ah, this is just another cordless phone whose sound breaks up when you walk a few feet away from the base. We assumed it was another 5.8 GHz phone, but learned this cordless phone from VTech uses the new DECT 6.0 digital technology. Have you heard of DECT 6.0? It's a newly available frequency that provides better security and superior quality of voice and sound than older 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz models. We were skeptical but decided to give this phone a try.

The first thing we noticed about this phone was it's good looks. It doesn't have the typical cordless phone "look." The keypad on the handset reminds us of a cell phone, and its slim design means there is less bulk. Less bulk makes it more comfortable to hold in your hands, or even your back pocket. The display window is large and lights up with a blue glow, as well as the keypad. This modern design is very attractive -- but we wondered if this phone had brains to go with these good looks.

The VTech 6042 feature speakerphones in each handset. Holding the handset between the shoulder and ear was not easy nor as comfortable as a bulkier cordless phone, but since each handset comes with a speakerphone, We were able to put the phone down and go "hands free" whenever necessary. We noticed right away that these handsets do not stand upright like other cordless phone handsets. This might be a feature that you require in a cordless phone. Cordless phones that stand upright are more visible and can be placed on smaller surfaces. But the fact that this phone doesn't stand upright turned out not to be much of an issue for us.

Programming the phone was really quite easy -- we were able to program phone numbers into a handset without looking at the instruction booklet. And each handset can be programmed to display whose handset belongs to whom. This is good to have when you are living with other family members -- you each can program your own phone directory into your own handset, and you'll always know whose handset is whose. Speaking of the phone directory...each handset needs to be programed individually. If you have a large list, this might take some time to do. But it's really easy enough, so again, there wasn't much of an issue. A good thing about the second handset is, that it does not require a phone jack. Just plug the smaller charging unit in and you're good to go. Another handy feature is that each handset has an intercom button. No more shouting between rooms -- just push a button and you can reach someone in another part of the house...or even outside. How convenient is that? Very, very useful feature :).

For the most important test of clarity -- this phone passes with flying colors. We've used other cordless phones that were always interrupted by static or other electronic equipment, but this phone stayed clear on every call...even on speakerphone. We were able to walk outside while talking on a handset, and the sound was still was very clear.

This phone system comes as either a two-handset system with a digital answering machine (which we reviewed), or a one-handset without any answering capabilities. The sound from the digital answering machine was very clear, and it didn't have the usual "computerized voice" that we've experienced with many other answering machines.

Below are just a few of the features of this phone system:

* Interference free for crystal clear conversations -- won't interfere with wireless networks and other electronic devices.

* Digital security protects you from identity theft -- your calls are digitized and encrypted, making it nearly impossible for someone to eavesdrop.

* WiFi friendly -- won't interfere with wireless networks.

* Caller ID/call waiting (if you have this service) -- stores 50 calls.

* 50 name and number phonebook directory -- easily store and dial frequently called numbers.

* Remote message retrieval -- call in from anywhere to get your messages.

* 15 minutes of recording time.

* Audible time and date stamp on recorded messages.

* Backlit message counter.

* Handset volume control.

* Selectable ring tones.

* Bilingual prompts -- choose between English or Spanish.

The VTech 6042 telephone system that we reviewed included the following items:

* 2 handsets, base unit and additional charging unit

* AC adapters

* 2 battery packs

* Telephone line cord

* User's manual

* Quick start guide

MyParenTime.com highly recommends the VTech 6042 Two Handset Cordless Phone System with Digital Answering Device and Caller ID -- if you're looking for a clear-sounding, nice-looking, secure cordless phone, this one's for you. (This review was originally done 8/07 -- we have had no issues with any of the units since then.)

While this phone is aesthetically pleasing and it has a speakerphone worthy of the title 'best ever from a cordless handset' if lacks in two crucial areas: First, the battery life is dismal, giving you at most 15 minutes of talk time, especially infuriating when you are on hold with customer services for 12 minutes and as soon as the representative picks up the battery breathes it's last breath. Second, when it's been sitting on the charger for a while the battery gets hot; not enough to burn you, but ehough to annoy you.

In closing, DON'T BUY THIS PHONE, unless you need an excuse for "accidentally hanging up" on a clingy, psychotic girlfriend.

I liked my original VTech cordless phones for about two days. Then I discovered that they had not been signaling with a ring when I had incoming calls. Manufacturer did "Troubleshoot" and deemed the phones defective. I returned the phones and, unfortunately, requested a new set of the same product. The replacement VTech phones stopped signaling incoming calls after about ten minutes. I returned those and requested a refund. What a waste of my time! I purchased a Panasonic phone system locally and it is great.

The handset is light and cool it works like a dream.. There is no interference with any equipment at home, and you can walk about 1 mile and still receive good signal.

THIS PHONE IS VERY NICE AND SLIM. MY HUSBAND AND I USE IT FOR WALKIE TALKIE. YOU CAN TALK FROM A VERY VERY FAR DISTANCE. I MAY ORDER ONE MORE FOR THE OTHER BED ROOM.... SOUND IS AWESOME.

We were initially very pleased with these phones, they worked quite well the first few months (or so we thought), although we did notice a shorter battery life than our previous cordless phones (although not as extreme as others have reported). They would hold a charge for few days with moderate use.

However, within the last few months we've found that the sound quality has gone to crap (or maybe always was). The phones cut in-and-out, but only the out-going sound. So we, the users, don't notice it. We often talk to others who are on their cell phones and I think they just assumed since they had called our home number that it was their cellular service. One of the handsets is worse than the other, and it occurs even with a full charge on the battery, so it's not due to that.

I printed off and followed about a 20 item trouble-shooting list from Vtech's website, but all it did was prove these phones are crap. Don't buy them.

I purchased this phone system not only for it's design but for the new technology features and the two handsets. Setup was very easy even without using the manual. I was able to navigate the menu and set it up very easily. The sound quality is very good and I like the slim feature. For my purposes, it holds the charge all day when I am not using it and it is not on the rechargeable base. Since I have a separate answering system, I don't make use of the voice mail feature which is easily disabled. If you are looking for a great looking system with many features, this is your phone.

I bought several of these phones so I could outfit my whole house with interchangeable portable phones. Not a single one of them has lasted, and I'm now faced with the choice of replacing all of their batteries, or the phones themselves. To make matters worse, dialing is very slow on these phones. Will probably be the last Vtech I buy for a while.

PROS:
-It looks cool

CONS:
-Zero battery life, unusable after a few months
-Slow dialing!

As I sit here I have the battery out of my phone wondering about the best course of action. On the one hand, batteries DO wear out. This phone is sleek and cool in every way. On the other hand the sleekness means it has a tiny little battery - one that lasted slightly over 6 months.

I came to Amazon to see if they sold batteries cheaper than the $25 + S&H that VTECH sells them for. BOTH phones are virtually dead. Both batteries dying within a week of one another. I can squeak maybe 5 min of phone conversation out of each one. Going to speakerphone kills the unit immediately. But for $50 plus shipping I'm tempted to just buy a more reliable phone. I really hate to trash these things so soon though. Problem is, 6 months from now it'll be another $50...and another...and another.

This is quite a shock to us as we have owned several VTECH phones. The previous pair of VTECH phones we had survived our then-toddler who liked to see how far he could throw them. We had two different colored phones of the same model. Ironically my wife dropped them both, shattering them. When I cobbled together the best pieces out of each (to make a really interesting looking phone) it worked! Alas it did not survive the dunking in the tub, but there is no shame in that.

But this model is pathetic. Mind you, it looks cool and does everything I wanted it to do. We have a media room that is usually kept dark so we can watch TV etc etc and this baby is easy to read and use in the dark. But the wimpy battery is a pretty bad stumbling block. I'll see if another manufacturer sells a better one. Lacking that, I'm pitching this setup.

A few days later:
I found a cheap pair of replacement batteries. For a pair of them shipped to my front door it was only $12.50. If that fixes the problem, spending $12.50 a year on batteries for two otherwise great phones is not terrible. I would have expected more use out them before they died, but so be it for the cool factor.

Nice looking unit,have all hooked up and works great,great sound.would suggest this phone over several out there being sold,great buy from amazon.

This phone is sleek, comes with the satellite base and has great reception. Normally I couldnt get reception to far outside my house this phone was crisp and clear.

This is a nicely packaged, good looking phone, but totally unusable. After setting it up, I called the number from my cell phone. It rang three times, the answering machine picked up, and that is the last time it worked correctly. Thinking it was the one unit, I returned it to Amazon for a replacement. Same problem with the replacement. Bad engineering I guess.

Oh, I wish I had read these reviews before I paid $90 for this!! Within 6 months the handsets started losing charge. I thought for a while it was that I wasn't letting it charge long enough but even after charging them for a whole day I get maybe 2 calls out of it and it dies EVEN when the battery indicator says it has charge. Grrrr.. So frustrating! And my service contract (not thru Amazon) won't cover it saying it's the batteries. Don't buy this phone. Not worth the aggravation!

I bought this phone almost a year ago and loved it.

That only lasted until the phone charged and i used it. Sound quality is 2 out of 5.

This is the most used cordless phone on tv. Not because it is a good phone, but because it is sexy.

Dont buy a phone solely because it is sexy.

It just isnt worth 50 bucks...20 maybe.

I liked the design, but it is very badly made phone. I owned it for approx. 6 months, and the batteries on the handsets died completely. (When receiving incoming calls, the handsets shut itself off after 3 rings or so.) Also, CallerID and your phonebook does not link (sync), so in most cases, you will just see bunch of numbers, even if the phone knows / recognizes that it is a phone call from your friends or relatives. I think I am fairly generous when evaluating the elecric appliances, but this one is certainly not my favorite.

I bought this good-looking phone late December, i just plugged it a few weeks ago, I'm no very concerned about the battery issue it may have, I'm not home that much often (during the day!), but when i get home it happens, that this phone, does not rings at all.. i have to turn it on either by the speaker or by pressing the green key.

I don't know if its some kind of manufacturing issue or what but it just does not ring!!

i went to their site and what they suggested was raising up the volume! -.- wtf it is all the way up, it rings once everytime i do the things with the keys and i doesn't ring anymore until i do it again!! sooo???

if anyone has a problem similar or so please, let me know!

Thanks,

cp

The phones look really nice and are easy to use. I have not talked long on them but have noticed that after using it for a few minutes and put it back on the base it show it charging which I would not expect for the amount of time it was used. Have not run out of battery yet. My favorite is being able to check messages when not home.

Let me first say that I initially LOVED this phone, however - don't buy this phone! We've had it for less than a year and the charge that it will hold gets less and less every day. We're down to less than five minutes when not cradled. I'm currently replacing this phone!

This is about the 4th or 5th V-Tech phone that I have owned, and I think so far the one that I have gotten the most compliments on. In addition I have to say that with each V-Tech phone that I have had to purchase they keep getting better and better. The sound is great, easy to program, and as I stated very stylish, small and compact. I am a Mom who actually starting buying V-Tech phones because of the way the toys held up and in 12 years I have yet to have been disappointed.

I bought the version without the answering machines, but I thought it might pertain so the review for that phone follows. Take it or leave it.

=====

I was so happy to find this phone here so I could review it! In a nutshell:

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PHONE. As it happens I am actually on Amazon at this moment looking for a replacement for this piece of junk.

Huge battery issue like so many others are clearly having. Phone is dead in ~ 4 hours. May as well have cords on them. I won't even bother talking about the phone itself because that is a tremendous deal-breaker and should have been a show-stopper long before the phones were released to manufacturing. I'm actually pretty angry that these phones even shipped with these batteries.

I hope someone at VTech is reading this because, though you have succeeded in stealing my money this time, I will stay away from your products from now on and happily tell others about my experience. Thanks for the soapbox, Amazon!

/rant

After reading all of the previous reviews here about this phone, I decided to risk it since the price was right and a good number of people found that they worked great for them.
After a couple of months, all I can say is that they are fantastic! I'm glad that I bought them, and would recommend them to anyone who is looking for a dependable basic phone with some nice features.

Don't do it! The phone seems like it would be great, features are nice, think handset, HOWEVER, it does not hold a charge. From the very beginning this phone only provided about 1/2 hour talk time before I had to put it on the charger. Even when I wasn't talking on it but it was left off the charger for minimal time it would die, both handsets gave the same problem. Also, it doesn't have speaker on the base of the phone so when I would lose a call I couldn't even save it by talking on the base speaker.

I've owned my vtech for 6 months and absolutely love it. It's very lightweight and comfortable to hold...especially during long phone conversations, and the sound is crystal clear. Unlike other reviewers, I have NOT had any problems with the batteries holding a charge. You do have to go through a lot of sub menus to store numbers in the directory, change ringtones, ring volume, etc...not a major deal though. The answering machine is just that...nothing exceptional. One thing I do like about the answering machine is the toll saver setting. I also like the fact that it comes with 2 headsets. (At first I didn't think two would be necessary but with a teenage daughter, one is usually in her room.) I would definately recommend this phone to anyone looking for a good quality cordless phone.

The phones did not work when I received them. To avoid time and return postage I went to a local store to purchase another set. Of the new set one of the batteries did not work. After switching out the batteries I finally got the phones to work. The phones are stylish and look good. The only issue I have is the choice of ring tones and volume. Three of the tones sound exactly the same and all the tones leaves a lot to be desired. The volume level only goes to five and with the tones that sounds the best you can barely hear the ringing. The rep that came to hook up my service told me that one of the homes he went to the day before had the same phones and they did not work....

I purchased this phone to replace my panasonic. I was used to walking from room to room and talking on my old "cordless" This just as well have a cord attached. More than 2 feet from the home base and I would get a "connecting" message and the person I was talking to would get cut off. I liked the sleek design, but apparently it needs and antennae.

This phone is clear, and good on the battery , I charged and let it run down, took 3 days, then recharged. Great battery life and great clarity.
The only downside is having to enter into EACH phone your directory of numbers

I ordered this phone to replace my corded phones and tape answering machine. It is an excellent telephone in almost all respects. It has a very good range permitting me to carry the phone into the garage while I work. When the phone rings in the family room, I can take the phone to another room to speak without having to turn the television off for others. However, it does not work real well with hearing aids (unless you use the speaker function) and the digital answering machine will lose messages in a power outage. I looked, but could not find a digital answering machine that had battery backup. Overall, these are small problems.

I love these phones. I just wish I had ordered one with more handsets. I have not had any problems with these phones. They are so light you forget you are holding anything. Very easy to set up. Very modern looking.

VTech 6042 is a VERY Bad phone. The Dect technology seems to be over the head of VTech in it's first Dect phones. The phone will stop signaling incoming calls after 1 hour. The return process with Amazon is very good though. The first phone failed after a day, I called VTech (VTech HQ only 20 mi. from my house, Big plus I thought then!) Not much help there, so I returned phone to Amazon for an instant replacement. Replacement phone had the same problem. I called VTech support again & finally found out that "Version 1's" had a LOT of these problems & Amazon does not have Version 2. (and VTech NOT pulling Vers. 1 off the market, WHY NOT?) I was then told to ship phone to the Texas service/support center for replacement (at MY expense) with a Version 2 model which would take 4 to 6 weeks, No Thanks, I returned it to Amazon for a full refund. Onward to different Brand/Manufacturer. Oh Well!

This phone exceeds my expectations. All of its features work perfectly and I give it a 5-star rating.

Had to send the vtech back because the phones would not hold a charge they sent a replacement but these phones will not tell you when there is another phone in house is on line,they are replaceing it have not rec'd it yet.

Only one of the 2 phones work. The other phone keeps getting disconnected during conversations.

Purchased this phone when my older (must have been over 10 years old) wireless VTech performed a nose dive onto the floor and could not recover. I stayed with VTech and bought in to the new DECT technology even though I didn't seem to be experiencing any issues with my wireless router and phone sound quality.

The VTech 6042 is a nice phone with good feature set. The base has a much smaller profile than many older phones and the handsets sit upright in the cradle, so you'll save on some desk space with this new cradle.

The handsets are light, sleek and comfortable and easy to hold. The audio quality is very good, the mute button easy to find when you need it, volume controls for ringer and handset work well and the headset doesn't interfere with hearing aids.

The only fault I could find was with the lack of a headphone jack on the handset. If you are one of those that have long conversations on the phone and have come to rely on a wired headphone attached to the handset, look elsewhere - the VTech 6042 does not provide headphone jacks, so you'll have to live with the built in speakerphone feature. If headphone jack is a MUST HAVE along with DECT technology, look to the Uniden DECT2080 instead.

Many of these phones are defective and will not hold a charge. Vtech replaced mine in two days (sent me new phones first with prepaid shipping to return the old ones.) The new phones work great.

Do not return them to the store. You are going to get more from the same batch of bad phones.

Every company has problems at one time or another. It is how promptly and courteously you handle the problems that really matters. I'm happy with the phones.

I admit I was taken in with its sexy design and slim handsets. Fortunately, this phone does the basics fairly well. The sound, both from the handset and from the base unit, is very good -- clear, crisp, realistic. The backlit handsets are easy to read, which makes the operation easier and the blue color makes it quite attractive. The LED display is clear and bright, with a blinking number for messages, illuminated button for whether the answering machine is on, and a charge light (on both the base unit and satellite base). The answering machine works very well and is intuitive to set up, so this is the phone's best feature. (It comes with a built-in message that is permanently saved, so it can be recalled at any time.) The microphone must be a decent one, as it records pretty well, although my voice sounds a bit muffled. However, it is better than some other phones I've used. Speakerphone is excellent.

The handsets are slim, so fit into the hand easily and comfortably and the base unit and satellite are small, so they take up little space. The base and satellite each have large, silver-colored toggle buttons that take you to the various functions.

There are some design problems. Headsets are not possible. The slim handsets are comfortable, but sit in the base and satellite units at an angle large enough that you must be careful how you replace the handset. I've dropped both handsets a couple of times and as another reviewer has mentioned, it doesn't appear that they will withstand many more trips to the floor. The slim design also means you cannot rest the handset between your shoulder and ear. Setting up a directory is non-intuitive, requiring going through a sub-menu selection process that is irritating. Redial isn't simply a matter of hitting the redial button -- you must hit call, then redial. However, I've found this doesn't always work. I unplugged both the satellite and base unit during a lightning storm and had to reset everything, meaning I even lost my entire directory and had to re-enter it. Very annoying. I don't know if V-Tech has designed the ring feature this way, but I haven't figured out how to adjust the rings so they are identical. I'd rather not have two different kinds of ringing at the same time, but apparently this is something I must live with. Deleting messages must occur while a message is playing and cannot happen while the message and its date/time stamp is being announced. The lack of a keypad on the base unit was something I didn't think I'd need, but now I wish this phone has one. If you're listening to a recorded menu of choices ("Press 1 for customer service...", etc.), there is often no pause once you press the number on the handset, so you've missed part of the next message during the time it takes you to get the handset back to your ear.

Although the phone does basic things pretty well, there are enough design issues that I simply cannot recommend it. 3 stars is generous.

Tired of your old house phones. Well now you can have these awesome phones for the right price. They handle just like a cell phone and are very high tech. Very nice looking and very convinient

This is a great phone. I ordered it when my husband came back from Germany and it arrived with in a couple of days. It's not bulky and looks great. The only problem is that there is not a slot for a headset. But great phone and would surely recommand it to everyone.

Phone looks flashy and all, but Battery Life is EXTREMELY Bad, I cant even leave it off the hook for 1 day with little or even No calls made on it. Aside from that, nothing overly great about features either. There's better phones out there for the same price that can handle more than a day's use.