Generally speaking, Panasonic make great cordless phones. What they’re not so great at, though, is naming those cordless phones. If you've already taken a look at what they have to offer, you'll know that their phones all have strings of letters and numbers instead of "proper" product names. To the average customer, this can be more than a little confusing.
Not to worry, though, as we’re going to explain it all to you. Believe it or not, there’s actually a method to Panasonic’s naming madness, and those codes can even tell you useful information about the phone itself. So, without further ado, let’s explain Panasonic model numbers!
Related: Top 10 Best Panasonic Cordless Phones
Why are Panasonic model numbers so confusing?
Panasonic are a huge multinational corporation, who produce an enormous range of different products. Since they sell these products across the globe, they need to ensure that they can keep track of them, no matter where in the world they are on sale. So, rather than give each product a localised name, they assign them a code which can then be used worldwide.
Panasonic aren't the only company to use this naming method. In fact, they aren't even the only cordless phone company to adopt this- Gigaset have much the same approach. However, since Gigaset primarily just make home phones, they can use shorter model numbers that are easier to remember. On the other hand, Panasonic produce everything from TVs to microwaves. If they limited themselves to shorter codes, they would quickly run out.
KX
Every Panasonic product starts with a two-letter code indicating what sort of product it is. For instance, every Panasonic TV begins with the letters "TX", while "NN" indicates a microwave. “KX” is the standard code used by Panasonic for cordless phones.
TG
The next part of a Panasonic product name indicates when the model was first manufactured. For TVs, where new models are produced frequently, this section changes every year. However, cordless phones tend to remain on the market for quite some time, since the technology behind them is essentially fully evolved by now. "TG" means that the phone was produced after 2006. Admittedly, that's not especially useful now, 15 years later. There's a good chance, though, that Panasonic will update this code in the next couple of years.
Not all Panasonic phones have this section of the product code. Their more designer phones may have "PR" here- for instance, the KX-PRW 120.
H123 (or J456, or F789…)
The next three numbers indicate the product family. Usually (but not always), there will be a letter before these numbers, too- that's also part of the product family code. Unlike other brands, Panasonic individually number their multipacks of handsets. That means they all have technically different names. However, all of the products in the same family will share these numbers- for instance, the TGF32 series.
The final number
The last number in this sequence tells you how many handsets there are. Somewhat confusingly, Panasonic don't use “1” here. If the phone you are looking at is a single handset, then this digit will be "0". In the past, they used "1" to indicate that the phone had a built-in answer machine. This is no longer the case, though- so a model ending in "1" is a little older than those ending in "0".
EB or EW
Finally, a nice easy one to finish off. Some (but not all) model numbers end in "EB" or a "EW". This simply tells you that the phone is black (if B) or white (if W). Note that not all model numbers will necessarily end with a letter. They are generally only added if the phone is (or has been) available in a different colour. Sometimes these other colours won't be available in the UK.