A review by marcellep on Binatone MD 750 May 29th, 2005
Author's product rating:
Reception & Clarity of speech
Excellent
Range of features
Excellent
Reliability
Excellent
Value for money
Excellent
Advantages:
Look, Syle, Features, Sound, Quality
Disadvantages:
None as yet
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Binatone MD 750/2 Digital Cordless Answering Machine
We bought this phone in August 2004 from Asda at a cost of £29.99. This was a superb price for them as they currently retail at £44.99.
Why this phone
We chose this package over the Binatone 750 (one handset) as we always have to run from one room to another to answer the phone. You know what it's like you walk out the sitting room and what happens ring ring. So we thought this was the ideal solution too our problem. You can basically say that we are very lazy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The look (handset)
Silver on front with the normal buttons and black on the reverse, it's a stylish phone which suits the modern market. Comparing in to many others in the market I would say it looks good. The binatone logo is right below the ear piece on the handset.
Base (main)
The main base is once again silver and black in colour. As you look at the base you will see to the left hand side it has 2 lights (cover them in a bit) and you can also locate your handset from this base too. Simply press the handset locator on the left hand side. It has the Binatone logo positioned to the bottom near the middle of the phone.
1 x Main base 1 x Second base 2 x Handsets 4 x Rechargeable batteries 2 x Plugs for the base (ac adapter) 1 x Telephone socket plug for main base 1 x Instruction guide 1 x Guarantee card
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Its home what now?
Unfortunately like many cordless phones you need to charge them up overnight. So as soon as you have put the batteries in the phones, placed the covers of the batteries and connected the ac adapter to the walls all you can do is pop them on charge for the next 15hrs. Once they are charge you can have fun. *Tip. Do not connect your new phone to the telephone socket, as if you do the phone will die as soon as you answer a call. Complete the 15hrs charging time needed.
Now whilst this is on charge for the next 15hrs you can read the instructions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Instruction Book
The instruction book is full of all the information that you will need to know about he phone. It provides you with step by step guides on many of the functions
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Features
Digital Cordless-
Gives you a clear reception all the time, at times when the reception is not at its best the phone will automatically search for another frequency. Whilst the phone is doing that you are not affected and you can use the phone as normal.
Living in a flat I have not been able to test the range all the far, I have walked down about 15 stairs to my car and the phone has still been as good as ever. Range provided by Binatone is 300m.
I love this feature, when you get a call from anyone as long as there number is not withheld there number will show on your handset before answering. If you have the name and number stored in the handset then the phone will just say the person's name. If someone calls you from an international number the phone says INT, calls from networks where there number is unavailable the phone says UNAV. You must activate this service with you telecommunication provider. I am with Telewest and the charge £1 per month. Well worth it.
The phone book can store up to 40 names and number on it. Which I think is more than enough for a house phone. It is simply to add and delete numbers from your handset simply scroll through and delete. You can have up to maximum of 9 letters per name. Tip: Need more than 40 numbers stored? If so you can put different numbers on the phones. So on the main handset you can have all your numbers and then on the other you can have all your partners. Great
Another great option here for us anyway. We have a 2yr old son and just like any child he loves playing with the phone. Well he can now without the worry that he will call 999 as this phone allows you to lock the handset. Simply press and hold the # button until you hear a small bleep this will confirm you have locked the handset. You will also too a little key on the LCD screen to show the phone is locked. When the phone rings you just need to answer in the normal way
Tip: Make sure you lock both handsets individually
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Built in answering machine-
I have not used the answering machine that often in fact I have used it once. It provides you with 15mins of message time without having to worry about having tapes. You can access it away from your home. Sorry I can't go into much more details with this feature as I still use 1571.
Another superb feature of this great phone is the hands free function it has. The handset has a button which looks like a speaker in the colour red when pressed it will turn your phone in to a hands free set. Quality of this function is great but as usual the caller always says am I on hands free. This is a two way hands free so you are able to continue with your conversation as normal the only difference is that everyone in your room can hear.
Having a 2yr old we always loose the handset or should I say he does, anyway this is not a huge problem as there is a nice little button which you can press and your handset will bleep continually for about 1min. You guessed it hunt the phone.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In use indicator-
If you attempt to pick up the phone whilst the other handset is in use you will simply get a few bleeps in your ear and then the phone will go dead. This will not affect the other person on the call it's just to stop people listening in to your conversations. The main base will also flash green to indicate that the phone is in use.
Not very often this happens as I keep my phone in the charger unit when not in use that way I can find it. The phone will just bleep and if you look at the LCD screen it will be flashing battery similar to a mobile telephone.
The batteries last about 12hrs if off the charger, but please bear in mind it's like a mobile so the more you use it the quicker it will die.
Never used it myself, well I tested it and its cool. You leave your kids with the neighbour in your house. They always sit on the phone calling there friends and giving you a high bill to pay. Well no longer with this phone, you can set the phone to call only 1 number so you programme the number in to the handset. If you're on your mobile put your mobile and that will be the only number they can call other than 999
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name your phone-
When you first get the phones the standard names that the phone will display are "handset 1 and handset2" you can change that to what ever you like. Few suggestions Mines, yours, ours, kids, adults, sitting room and kitchen.
You can adjust the ear piece volume whilst on a call to someone, simply hit the arrow up and the volume will increase gradually.
You can also adjust the volume of the ringer, the selections ranges from off up to 5. When at its highest it can be very loud. I would suggest number 3 bearing in mind the hand set and the base both ring.
There are 5 different rings to choose from, but to my ears they all seem the similar. You have two that are continuous rings and then the others are made up of intermittent ringing and bleep bleep.
No faults as yet. I do have a wee problem with the phone when I scroll through the phonebook to call someone it often tells me number no recognised. I know the number is correct. I telephoned binatone and they said it's because the phonebook is dialling the number too quick. To solve the problem all you need to do it's when you find the number you want to call wait a couple of seconds before calling it. Problem solved
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Conclusion on this phone
I definitely got a good deal here when I bough this phone. The features are great on the phone especially the hands free I love it. I have never had a phone that has been a clear as this whilst on the phone. Quality is superb I would say it's the best phone I have had in a long time. Battery life is better than I thought I would get from it bearing in mind I only paid £29.99. A stylish number here I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a nice little phone to give you good benefits.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact details and buying info:
Binatone Help line is: 01325 30 4473 office hrs
You can still buy this phone from asda, argos, currys, comet and eBay
Prices range from 0.01 just listed on eBay and £44.99 brand new at comet.
Advantages: walk around and out of house! Disadvantages: none yet
I bought these 2 cordless binatone phones in june of 2003 as a birthday presie for myself! I paid £50 for them including p&p from ebay. I thought I had a bargain but realised afterwards I only saved about £10 on the current price at the time. Have just had a look and they are selling on Amazon for £50 at the time of writing (feb 2005). So perhaps I had a bargain after all.
I went out and bought these basically because whenever I went around a friends ... ...etc...and whenever she had to call a company and invariably ends up going through to a call centre, she just put her phone on to the speakerphone facility and went off and made a cuppa., while the hold music tinkled away... Well I began to see that this type of cordlless dect phone is very convenient for these reasons. I knew I did not want non-digital cordless (analogue) as a friend had one at his house and when he called me, whenever he moved there ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Speaker phone and nice design Disadvantages: A little complicated
I can't say I'm involved in the telephone selecting decisions in the house, however I think it's fair to say I am involved in using it. Binatone's slogan is 'innovation you can afford', costing £39.95 back in 2005 for the MD 750 Twin set - called that because it comes with two phones, duh. I've just spent the past half an hour rummaging through the boxes under the stairs and finally came out all dusty with the box, so now the review can commence.
... ...looking slightly stylish in design, showing the product and then having something written about the product beside it.. as well as in four different other languages below that. 'Digital cordless telephones with answering system'. Now I'm sure in my household we don't take full advantage of the many features this phone apparently has, because whilst we already have an answering machine with NTL - it wasn't until just now I knew you could set up an ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Good value. Cordless. Good battery time. Disadvantages: Can't send SMS messages to mobiles
...many times. I spotted the Binatone MD750 Twin advertised in the Argos catalogue and it seemed like a good idea, as we could have a the second phone in the bedroom without having to repair the extension socket which had stopped working.
The Binatone has digital reception, which gives it better reception and sound quality than an old analogue telephone. The reception is equally as good on both the main phone and the extension. As it is cordless, it ... ...realise that you can’t send SMS messages to a mobile phone, which is a bit of a drawback in this day and age, when most people have mobiles.
At £54.99 in Argos, I think that this Binatone dual phone cordless system is a good budget buy, and well priced. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Good looking phone at a cracking price Disadvantages: Display a little difficult to read
...the manual I phoned the Binatone help number and a very helpful woman immediately confirmed that there was a fault. Took them back to Comet and had them replaced no problem. So far the second set has performed perfectly.
Signal range is 50m indoors (established this with Binatone, doesn't tell you this on the box) and outdoor range 300m, so unless you have a very large property you shouldn't encounter any problems. Sound is good and amazingly for ... ...think Binatone will have the market to themselves for a little while. It's a shame my first set of these had a fault (which is why I have marked them down for reliability) but overall I must say I'm very happy with these phones and would definitely recommend them. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Good price, long life Disadvantages: looks a bit cheap
...looked the part and the Binatone less so. Binatone was a brand I'd had before and not rated and Bt being the brand which had just failed. Features on the two equivalent models, I chose the twin packs as I considered two cordless phones and the existing corded phone (emergency use in power cut) in the study to be best-suited to our needs.
There was a huge price difference £60.00 in favour of Binatone and as the experience was less recent I decided ... ...from the usually helpful staff at Asda, if the quality was poor.
The units arrived at home and after a small concern about which charger went with which base unit (the writing was tiny), the initial overnight charging began.
Setting up of the phones was minimal, choosing different ring tones for internal/external calls and setting a answerphone message, all other settings I felt were well set as defaults.
Plugged in the units one in the ground ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: excellent battery life, good size Disadvantages: None found
...Having previously had a BinatoneMD750 phone, we decided to buy a new phone and chose the Panasonic KXTCD200EB. This is an excellent phone.
Battery life
The manual claims that the phone has a stand by time of 170 hours and talk time of 20 hours, which is pretty good in anyones book. Charge time is 7 hours, which is a while, but with this kind of power usage, it shouldn't need charging too much anyway.
The phone comes with 2 x AAA (the very small ones) rechargable batteries, so no need to buy them.
The handset
The phone is Matt Black and comes with the following features:
Navigation Key
Speaker Phone (loud enough to use)
10 number Redial
Caller ID (subject to subscription from BT)
50 Call Log
Key Lock
3 line 16 digit LCD display
Night mode (can prevent handset from ringing for set times)
10 Monophonic ring tones...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
02.09.2005
