GeemarcAmplidect 295 Photo - Loud Cordless Telephone with Answering Machine and Large Customisable Photo Memories for Seniors - Low to Medium Hearing Loss - Hearing Aid Compatible - UK Version

I bought this phone for my mother who has Alzheimer's and forgets how to use the normal phone. The idea of having big, visual buttons to press sounds ideal. However, it was not as easy to set up as I had hoped:1) The instructions for setting up the picture buttons are wrong! It took me several wasted hours and the use of 2 different phone lines to realise that it was not me being stupid, but a lack of clarity in the manual, which I had to phone the helpline to find out!2) The process of inserting photos/names proved to be very fiddly. Getting the plastic cover off each button was bad enough, but replacing them without damage was extremely difficult.3) A word of warning - don't try to use your existing phone cable - you must use the one that comes with the phone, or you won't get a signal.All-in-all, a bad experience that could have been avoided with correct instructions in the first place. I'm told the error/s have now been corrected?A further point that you might need to consider if you are buying the phone for an elderly person with memory problems, is that the big buttons on the base have to be held down for a few seconds, until the red light comes on, and, then it must be released for the call to go through.There is a market amongst those with memory loss for a very simple to use cordless phone, but this one tries to appeal to too wide a market (presumably to make it economically viable) and thereby becomes rather complex to set up.

This is a standard DECT phone (so you can link any DECT2 phone to it), with the number buttons on the receiver having a dual purpose, being held down to dial a memory (and have a photo) or just being used as numbers. It's not as easy to use as it looks, as there are key combinations to pass the call to the handset, which defeats the object of the simple picture keys for people with disability, so the person I bought it for can only use the picture keys and hands-free at the base station.It is also very over priced for what it actually is. You are paying for the feature of being able to put pictures on the memory dial/number buttons. There are other DECT phones with larger number buttons that also do memory dialing when holding down a number key, and you can just stick a picture on the buttons.

This has been ideal for my dad, who has increasingly struggled to type phone numbers in due to Alzheimer's. He now just presses a photo button to get his calls out - just brilliant. The setting up takes a bit of patience though, as the instructions are long but not necessarily clear - eg: when setting up the memory buttons you need to type the number in with the memory buttons on the base unit NOT the ones on the handset. Geemarc to have a UK number to call and the engineer was pretty helpful.

We had big hope with this product which would help my mother communicate with the family, however not the case. The prolonged presseing of the photo button was something she would forget and transferring that call to the handset was temperamental and over complicated. In 2021 this should be a simple and easy thing to do. Why is there not a simple product out there that doesn’t scare the elerdly off? We just need a handsfree phone with photos that dial and take calls with no other complications

I bought this for my 97 yo father who although frail is very capable and doesn’t have dementia. I found it very difficult to master as did his 45yo carer and Dad found it impossible. Although it is a very smart looking phone I definitely wouldn’t recommend. It did my Dad’s confidence no good at all. It’s in the cupboard and his old BT big button phone is back in service.