I use the phone a lot in my job, a whole hell of a lot actually. So over the past couple of years I've pretty much managed to kill the batteries in our current phones (Uniden 5.8ghz TRU-5885). Sure, they'll hold a charge for about 35 minutes, but playing musical chairs between them for 3 hours can be a logistical nightmare.

Plus, when I bought them at the apartment, only having 2 wasn't a big deal, but now with a whole house we're sort of having a phone shortage.

Enter the VtechMI6896 (found localy at costco for $99 bucks)

I've only had them out for a day or so, so i'm still getting used to the ringer and junk, but they seem to be pretty cool. Funny thing is they're so freaking small they feel almost like toys. But they do have some features on them that I think will prove useful. For example to mute on the old uniden phones you had to hold a button down for about 2 seconds, and then the same to release it. On these new Vtech phones they have a dedicated mute button that's instant. That may not sound like a big deal, but when your on conference calls alot it's a pain in the butt.

Also, one other cool thing is you can use a phone to call another phone in the house. Kind of like a wireless intercom system. That'll be cool for when we're working on the house and I have to be up on the roof, or say I'm working on the bathroom and Jen needs to turn on the water. Probably only ever use it once, but it's still really cool.

So far the only downside really is there's no speakerphone in the base. Sure there are speakerphones in each handset, but the minute you put it back in the cradle to charge the speakerphone turns off. I wish I could swap the built in answering machine for a base speaker phone. oh well.