Worst Tracfone Cell Phones

List of the Worst Devices from Tracfone

This post is created by and shares some of the phones we wouldn't recommend for most Tracfone users.

Worst Tracfone Cell Phone - photo from PicJumbo.com

Tracfone is a prepaid wireless cell phone company that provides low cost phones and cell coverage. The phones they offer are usually a few years behind the latest technology, and sometimes have some serious drawbacks.

Here at we provide lots of cell phone reviews, and are generally very excited about the new phones Tracfone releases, because we like the value (cost vs benefits) Tracfone provides and the new phones bring.

However, over the years there have been several phones released by Tracfone that have really been pretty poor, especially as we've had time to look at user reviews and compare them to other devices.

So which Tracfone cell phones are the worst? We're going to share our pick below!

Before we get to our pick, we want to clarify a few things first.

What Makes a Phone 'Bad'

We want to quickly clarify how we are defining a 'bad' phone. Basically any phone that either:

Has issues that the majority of users experience - thus not a case of one defective phone, but all phones being defective.
Or lacks proper features/specs to make the phone usable for the majority of people (and there are other phones available that do).

Both of these points are sometimes hard to recognize in a newly released phone because we either don't have enough input from user reviews, or we don't have other phones to compare the new device to.

Over time we are able to gain a better picture of whether a phone is 'good' or 'bad' based on how it is performing, and how it compares to other phones available.

This brings us to an important point:

'Bad' Phones can Still be 'Good' for Some People

Let's be clear, each person has different needs and expectations for a phone, and so some phones may not meet the needs/expectations of the majority of people, but for a few people it may perfectly meet their need.

Some Tracfone users prefer a smaller touchscreen and don't want the features that come with an Android powered smartphone.

So while we will be highlighting a few phones and designating them as 'bad' phones, they may still be a good choice for some people.

Drop a comment below if you want to add your thoughts on 'good' and 'bad' phones, or if we weren't clear in defining this.

Now, let's get to our picks for the worst Tracfone cell phones.

The Worst Tracfone Cell Phone

There are three phones that rise to the top of the list for worst cell phone from Tracfone. Number two and three are the ZTE Valet and the LG Optimus Dynamic. These two phones are basically tied for second worst phones from Tracfone.

The LG Optimus Dynamic, when it was released, had some of the best and most advanced features for a Tracfone device yet. It came with Android version 2.3 which allowed users access to thousands of apps on Google Play. Until the Optimus Dynamic, Tracfone users had not had access to a true smartphone.

When the LG Optimus Dynamic was only about $20, I picked one up and enjoyed using it for a while.

However, the Dynamic had a major flaw which brings it onto our list - very little internal memory for installing apps (the phone has 1 GB internal memory, but less than 200 MB that is actually usable)

One of the major strengths of a smartphone is the ability to install applications that can do many different things. So when the Optimus Dynamic could only hold a small handful of apps, it was defeating the purpose of being a smartphone. Some users were able to move apps to the external SD card, but not all users were interested in trying this, and were left with a phone that would often have 'memory full' messages pop up.

If you're looking for new apps, take a look at our List of the Best Apps for Android which may contain some new ideas for you!

The ZTE Valet came after the Optimus Dynamic, and improved on it in a few ways, such as a newer OS, Android 4.1. However the quality of the Valet was soon brought into question as many users noticed both poor sound quality when making phone calls, and poor WiFi reception in their home.

The Worst Tracfone is the Unimax MaxPatriot

These issues were prevalent for the majority of Valet users and caused many to look for a new phone soon after getting the Valet. The new and improved LG Optimus Dynamic II was a popular choice. Let's hope the issues with the ZTE Valet are cleared up for the more recently released ZTE Quartz.

And finally, the worst phone released by Tracfone is the Unimax MaxPatriot.

Unlike the ZTE Valet and LG Optimus Dynamic, the MaxPatriot was an inferior phone from the start. When it was released there were several other phones from Tracfone that were significantly better (specifically, the LG Ultimate 2). Plus, user comments and reviews quickly outlined a number of quality issues with the phone, and the phone manufacturer.

It is the only phone that we couldn't recommend for anyone, because there were phones that were both better and cheaper available at the same time. But some people still decided to try out the Unimax, and here are some of their comments:

Comment on the Unimax MaxPatriot

And finally this user was clearly unhappy with the Unimax phone:

Comment on the Unimax MaxPatriot

Other comments were more restrained and merely read, "ditto on all the bad reviews."

To be fair, there were some comments from users who actually liked the phone, or at least weren't unhappy with it.

While there are other phones from Tracfone that do have their issues, none (as far as we know) were as bad as the Unimax MaxPatriot.

Let us know in the comments what your choice for the worst Tracfone would be, or if you have had a good experience with any of the phones in our list.

If you're looking for a new phone, we recommend taking a look at our Tracfone BYOP page where you can learn all about bringing your own phone to Tracfone. This includes a wide variety of GSM and CDMA phones, and even 4G LTE devices. You can find a list of compatible phones on that page as well.

We also recently reviewed the Call Detector App, which you can use on Android devices to block unwanted calls.

Stay up to date with the latest Tracfone news and information by following us on Facebook! As Black Friday and Christmas approach, Tracfone has traditionally released new phones or great deals, and we will share them both on the Facebook page, and here on the blog as we find them.

Thanks for visiting and we hope this post was useful and informative!