The BT Elements phone is certainly durable, easy to operate, and gives a good range far better than the usual household DECT phones. We live in an old farmhouse with thick stone walls but with the antenna box in the right place the phone can travel around the house and maintain signal, which is exactly what we need. The hands-free feature is great, so we can talk and work at the same time. Being able to program numbers and scroll through the list on the screen to call is a perfect timesaver. It's a winner with us.

I purchased one of these phones for use by my MD, to use around the office and also around the grounds of our site. In the past he has used BT DIVERSE handsets and found that the range was weak in some areas so we were hopeful of the improved range.

The range and audio quality appears to be very good, but unfortunately the badly designed chassis has some more dissapointing features. The Torch feature is activated by a large button and this is frequently being knocked accidently and would have been better fitted with a sliding switch or a push button switch with higher resistance.

The other downside is that the belt clip, although it appears sturdy offers no flexibility and causes the phone to slip off of the wearers belt when he/she sits down. There isn't even a notch in the clip to help it stop slipping off the belt. This is a major flaw in the design of the belt clip and in truth, the phone would have been better equipped with a swivel 2 piece clip such as those found at theclip.com As there are also no phone cases etc available for this handset, it seems daft that a phone designed for wearing outside and in rugged conditions - can easily just drop of the belt and have no protection against scratches and the elements.

On a positive note... well done BT for making a handset with a seperate charger and base. (The base is simply designed as an antenna unit, and cannot be used as a charger). This is a great idea, as it means we can position the base in the most appropriate place, and not have to worry about charging the handset in that same location.

Hope this helps you make your decision?