Another vote for Panasonic. I bought a
KXTG5050W 5.8 GHz model a few months ago to replace a V-Tech 2.4 GHz model. The difference is night and day.
The biggest problem with my old V-Tech (aside from the fact that it was ugly as sin) was that it simply wasn't loud enough. People at the other end complained my voice wasn't loud enough, and I couldn't turn the earpiece volume up loud enough at my end either. It is such a stupid failing. I have no idea why they can't just turn up the gain a bit.
The new Panasonic has no such problem. The volume is quite adequate even when not turned up to maximum. I normally set it to one or two steps from maximum.
I have owned a 23 MHz Motorola, a 900 MHz Uniden, a 2.4 GHz V-Tech and now the 5.8 GHz Panasonic. Only the Motorola and Panasonic were good quality. Actually, the Motorola was the best of all, despite being such old technology. If I had been able to find replacement batteries for it I think I would still be using it today.
The one thing I miss on the new Panasonic is a built-in clock. It shows elapsed time for calls, but not wall-clock time. The capability is in there, no doubt. I think they just disabled it on my model because it is the cheapest of the line. Check the various models in the line for the one that has all the features you want. I think they all use the same basic internal cordless circuitry and vary just according to the number of extra features
One more thing. The Panasonic uses NiMH batteries instead of NiCD batteries. They have good capacity (a long time between charges) and don't suffer the memory effects of NiCD batteries.
cfitz