Pros: Comfortable; precise; excellent tilt wheel; volume controls; long battery life; long range.
Cons: Non-rechargeable; incompatible with AIM and Thunderbird; prone to interference.
Verdict: Logitech MX610's a great mouse, but shortcomings in software compatibility and occasional wireless issues make it fall short of expectations.
Back in 2004, Logitech released their award-winning MX510 Performance Mouse and MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse, both hailed by professionals and gamers alike as exceptional products. Now, over a year later Logitech has decided to take traits of the two and mix them together to form the MX610, a $60 wireless laser mouse with a few tricks up its sleeve. Read on to see if it's up to snuff.
We were quite surprised when we first saw the MX610, as it's the first high-end mouse from Logitech to break the loveable bean-shaped form factor introduced with the MX500. Still for right hands only, the body bears a sleek black and silver body that's rounded at the bottom, and chiseled above the left button. A mirror black curve is host to the volume and communication buttons, while rubberized sides make for grips and two slim yet easily-distinguishable buttons lay on the left side just above the thumb.
The new design looks more stylish and professional than the bean design, and is just as comfortable to use. Picking up the mouse is without fault, never slipping and for the most part balanced with a little more weight in the rear thanks to two AA batteries. The only real difference between the two form factors is that the MX610 doesn't have the centimeter of space for the ring finger. With only the edge to rest upon, we found my ring finger unable to decide if it wants to sit on the right mouse button or join my pinky finger on the side.
All of the buttons on the MX610 are within reach to use comfortably without accidental clicks or strain to reach any button. The back and forward buttons have a dip in between them to distinguish between the two, and can easily be activated with the tip and joint of the thumb. The two new communication buttons can be reached by the thumb, and the volume buttons accessed by the index finger. Scarred by my recent encounters with the G5 laser mouse and all of the Microsoft Intellimice, we were glad that the tilt wheel actually worked the way you'd expect it to. The wheel is stepped yet quiet for tactile scrolling and gaming, and middle clicking is easy to pull off without accidentally side-scrolling.
Stay in Touch
Logitech has innovated once again with the MX610, making it the first mouse to actually receive information as well as transmit it. Operating wirelessly over 2.4GHz, the mouse is actually told when the computer is turned on and off and put to sleep, powering on and off accordingly to save battery life. This can be further extended by powering off the mouse manually if away from the desk or for computers that are never turned off.
But why stop there? Instead of just cutting cords, Logitech also attempted to the chains that bond telecommuters to their desk. As mentioned previously, the MX610 has two new communication buttons that light up when an email or instant message is received, and clicking one of them will instantly take you to the received message. Finally, making a sandwich or watching a bit of TV is possible without missing that important email from the boss. And since not everyone that emails you or messages you actually has something important to say (friggin' eBaums World), you can filter who the buttons will actually light up for by entering screen names and email addresses into SetPoint's buddy list.
Sounds great, right? Well it would be, if I was a die-hard Microsoft fanatic. I'm not. Unfortunately, the email button only works with Outlook and Outlook Express, and the instant message button with Windows Messenger, MSN and Yahoo! I'm sorry, but that's just pathetic, as it leaves out over 50% of the instant messaging community with the exclusion of AOL Instant Messenger.
As for email, while Outlook is the dominant player of email in a Windows world, the exclusion of the Thunderbird email client doesn't make sense. As proven by Logitech's own G15 keyboard, supporting Thunderbird is indeed possible. One can only hope these issues are resolved in a future SetPoint driver release.
Performance It's hard to give the MX610 a clear rating on how well it performs. On the one hand, its battery life is astounding thanks to standby and auto power-on/off functionality. When it's in a decent range of the 2.4GHz micro receiver, it performs great, able to select pixels with precision in Photoshop and is deadly accurate in games of Call of Duty while keeping pace with the quick turns of Unreal Tournament thanks to the laser optical engine.
On the other hand, like all 2.4GHz devices it's prone to interference. Although the MX610 is able to coexist with the microwave oven and with my WLAN operating on channel 3 and two other WLANs in the area, it had severe problems when used in conjunction with the Walk-Free wireless headset we recently reviewed, and occasionally encountered extreme interference from some unknown outside source in the middle of gaming, causing the mouse to skip horribly and power on and off. If Logitech were to include a desktop USB stand like they do with the MediaPlay or G7 mice, reception would be improved by getting the receiver away from other electronic devices. Plugging the receiver into a keyboard's USB hub or purchasing a cheap USB extension cable should also do the trick.
Still, if it weren't for the wall-penetration of 2.4GHz, the email and instant message buttons would be useless. To put the 2.4GHz to even better use, we used the new profiling functionality in SetPoint to program the tilt-wheel to skip and pause tracks when iTunes or VLC Media Player is the foreground application, complementing the volume controls on the MX610 to create a decent remote control.
Recap In the end we were left with a mouse that fell short of expectations. Cheap, comfortable and precise, the MX610 has the markings of a great mouse. The innovation of two way communication allows for excellent battery life - after nearly a month of testing, the two AA's are still "good". However, the lack of compatibility with AIM and Thunderbird hinder the MX610's usability as a pager, and depending on your setup you may encounter unsightly wireless interference. If possible, try before you buy.
- Scott Clark, Consumer Technology Editor
Where to buy Logitech MX610?
User Review(s)
We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now. MX610 Specs
Interface(s)
Original USB
Released date
August 2005
Platforms
Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP
