Northwestern Bell Cordless Phone Bundle (35858-M1) (35858M1)

My wife and I purchased this phone set in 2008. Very decent sound quality - both incoming and outgoing. The answering machine aspect of the phone is a bit disappointing in that there is no way to record a greeting using the unit's microphone without it sounding . . . muffled and tinny. Signal strength: We live in a 2-story home with a small yard. The phone's cordless "reach" is good enough to use the phone anywhere in the house or yard without problem (i.e., no static). That's the benefit of the 5.4 GHZ strength. Features: It's got a few. We use the headswet feature. My wife uses it for multi-tasking and long conference calls. Battery charging function: Here's the Achille's Heal. The base with the answering machine has a blue light that is activated when the phone is in its craddle and charging. After some time, I noticed that the light would flicker - suggesting the contact between phone and base was less than 100%. We've nearly gone through 2 batteries for each handset since we got the set in 2008. Is that a reasonable period of time? Relacement batteries are about $10.00 - maybe less. That's a factor I considered. As I was searching online for our second set of replacement batteries, I found the phone set itself for sale - new - for $25.00/free shipping. I bought the new set rather than a pair of off-brand batteries.