Some nice bells and whistles, but can be complex and frustrating to use

I've been using this answering machine for about a year now. I was originally attracted to it's multiple mailboxes and spoken-aloud caller ID feature. It delivers quite well on those two features, but is otherwise frustrating to use.

All of the unit's features are configured by pressing a single 'setup' button, and the options are all voice menu driven. This seems very convenient, but in reality it takes a good couple of minutes to cycle through all the dozens of options available to find the one you want and then set it properly. The prompts are unclear and the settings cryptic.

The absence of a back-up battery means that I lose my outgoing greeting about once a month on average (as well as any messages saved on the unit). I would not recommend this unit if you have regular power outages (even a brief power 'hiccup' will reset the entire unit).

Probably my biggest issue with this unit is that it doesn't always work well via remote operation (when I call home using a touch tone phone). Even when I'm calling the machine from a quiet room using a regular (not cell) phone, I often find I need to enter my passcode at LEAST twice before it is recognized (and sometimes as many as 3 or 4 times). Also, the other remote operation codes are very unfriendly to enter and remember.

I've had about half a dozen answering machines in my lifetime. Comparatively, I'd say that this unit offers above-average quality, but is also by far the most complex to operate.