Panasonic DuraMax EB-TX220
Average Ratings
DuraMax is Great!
I got this phone b/c it was advertised as "tough". It is! I spend a lot of time working at sea and I need a phone that can be dropped, rained on, shoved in a pocket and generally abused. This little guy never dials in my pocket (I never use key lock), it has a rubber coating with the batt locked inside. It gets great reception in places my Nokia did not and it has a long batt life. The speaker phone actually works really well.
Panasonic DuraMax EB-TX220
The phone has one outstanding feature... the battery life. Really does achieve around 4 hours talk time.
However, other features of the phone bring it's score down. Buttons are small and very close together promoting mis-dialing. Also text and numeric display lines are smaller than typical displays, and can be hard to read.
The phone lacks a calculator function, which is a typical feature on Nokia handsets, one I found that I really missed!
I also don't like the fact that the port on the bottom of the handset takes both the charger and the hands-free unit. So, if you are charging while driving, you are forced to plug the hands-free unit into a socket mounted to the charger cable. Kinda different, and I don't like that!
Seems to pull better signal than my Nokia 6120 did in similar locations, but all in all, that phone had features I came to appreciate more than on the Panasonic. Durable phone, true to it's name, with a good battery, but I'll probably change out onto a new phone sooner than I would care to due to the drawbacks.
WONDERFUL phone...
I can't say enough good about this phone. I'm going on SIX years with it now and zero problems. The new Cingular network is slowly allowing the TDMA network to degrade but thats not the phone's problem. I live at 9,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies and it's the only system that works at my house. All of my friends that come and visit end up with zero cell coverage and yet my old Duramax works just fine.
I've dropped this phone a hundred times, and it's never left my side in all those years but it looks and performs like new. I just wish someone made a phone today that was as rugged as this one.
Once in a while I'm in an old AMPS (analog) coverage area and this phone still works there too. I was recently in Alaska and NOBODY else in my circle had any coverage. They all borrowed my phone to make calls. Panasonic had a winner here.
The BEST Phone EVER!
This was the best cellular phone I ever had. Too bad it is no longer being supported. This phone had everything I needed. I don't need a fancy camera phone. Just give me something that is tough and reliable. The one feature of this phone that I really liked and have not seen on another phone was the ability to lock the phone and restrict phones calls to only what was in the phone book. So, if some one ran off with your phone they could only call folks listed in your phone book. HEY⦠Panasonic! You should make a GSM version of this phone.
One of the greatest ever.
I picked up the Duramax phone after my blue Duramax which came after my silver Duramax. I have now owned all three in the 'max' series.
Battery life is the best of any phone I've ever had. Standby was like 400 hours and it was true.
This phone is tough, so tough it can probably survive a nuclear bomb. Mine has been accidentally dropped numerous times and it just keeps on ticking.
Sure the phone is a bit dated, but it served its
purpose well. I suspect Cingular is 'quietly' shutting down or failing to maintain some TDMA cell sites. My
reception had always been pretty solid, at least until Cingular took over. They want everyone on their GSM network and I'm not a big fan of theirs in particular.
This phone has no cons. The lack of a color display is not a con on this phone because this is an older phone and color screens were not widely implemented back then.
The phones in the Panasonic 'max' series are definitely without a doubt, the best phones I have ever owned and operated.
Good job, Panasonic.
Tough Little Phone
This is (was) one tough little phone. I am in the military and it meets Mil-Spec and let me tell you I tried it out to the core. What convinced me to buy it? I was in the AWS store one day and the Panasonic Rep was also there demonstrating this phone. He made a call and then threw it at the back wall. Picked up the phone and continued the call. Nuff said! Oooo Rah!
