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Why may you ask well I have been contacted by several people who say it’s not as easy as it should be. Doro have made their name on ease of use and while in the past I have just reviewed base units often people want to attach other units to the same line with remote phones. Normally the Doro instructions are ‘bullet proof’ and also clear and easy to read. Here however once the initial phone was installed I hit a problem it surrounds a very clear instruction to press and hold either the < or the > key and the handset does not have any such key, it does have up and down arrows but no < and > keys. The problem is aggravated by the ability to move on to the next instruction and this appears to work only for the linking to fail.

I contacted Doro technical support and – being generous – I assume I got someone who knew very little who kept having to go and ask someone else. Eventually the problem was solved and while it seems obvious now it’s not clear from the manual as the < and > keys are on the base station and not the handset. Another user said one satellite was easy but the second and further stations were not. I can say that if you link stations one at a time and take your time I found no problem linking a second satellite.

The base unit is also an answering machine on the Doro Magna 2005 its footprint including the base is 12x18x5.5cm. The additional Handset (DECT units) are for the Doro Magna 2000/2005 and their dimension in their charge stations are 9x17.5x5.5cm. The actual handsets are identical at 16.7x5x2.5cm and weigh 150grams.

The sub stations have two purposes first they provide power for the DECT unit and second a far better place – and easier to find – than under the cushion on the sofa as if they are in the charging station they can only be a few feet from a power point. Once you remove them from the docking station you should have a good amount of talk time, I don’t however suggest you take them to work as while the DECT range is good it’s unlikely to work once away from home, it is not a mobile phone.

The main unit with the answer machine has the ‘magic’ < or > on its face hidden by the handset when docked. While you can recall the answer machine messages from any handset they can be monitored while the recording is taking place by a setting on the base answer machine unit so if the person calling is someone you want to speak to at that time you can pick up, if it’s your boss and you are on a sickie then maybe continue to let the machine monitor the call.

Like most things the answer machine is far better than it used to be and I looked out an old machine from a lot of years ago when Doro first came to the UK in this is far better and far smaller. The remote units work at greater distances and remain in good contact providing you stay within a sensible distance to the reception point.

Finally another reader commented that Doro units do not change the time for Summer/Winter and having looked yesterday I can confirm they do not, and a simple switch off/on does not solve the problem, however time and settings are easy to change.

The Doro Magna 2005 Answer Machine unit is available from Amazon for £54.98 with free delivery.

The Doro Magna additional cordless units are £29.99 each with free delivery, again from Amazon.