Logitech MX610 Laser Cordless Mouse - Testing the MX 610
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Looking at the MX610 in my hand you can see my thumb near the navigation buttons. The index finger can easily hit the audio buttons. Notifications are visible, and are kind of a stretch to click.
The first thing I did when I finished installing the mouse was test out all the buttons to see if they all work. And wow does this thing have a lot of buttons, 10 in all. Of course the standard click buttons work. The scroll wheel is still the same; when I open up a large picture on my computer, when I apply pressure to either side of the scroll wheel it begins to scroll in that direction. The buttons down by the thumb navigate back and forward with the larger button as the back button, and the smaller button towards the front of the mouse to advance to the next page.
The next set of buttons I was interested in was the volume control and mute buttons that are set as the defaults. Right off the bat they work exactly as they say; they completely control the audio. Using the provided Set Point software you can change the buttons to control zooming in and out of documents; the mute button becomes the reset button. These buttons can also become the play and skip tracks button to control your media player. They can also become application switches, to switch between opened programs. Of course, you can define them yourself to open any selected program.
Notifications
The mouse has notification lights, which let me know that I have new email. There is also an Instant Message light. Once pressed, the mouse opens the email or message so you can quickly retrieve the information.
Notifications, what can I say about the notification buttons? If you have a favorite Instant Message program, it probably doesn't work with it. AOL Instant Messenger, arguably the most popular instant messaging program, is not supported; instead Windows Messenger and Yahoo Messenger are the more popular programs that are compatible for notifications. If they do come out with an add-on for AIM, I would be surprised. I've heard it's compatible with MSN Messenger but I hadn't had any luck getting notifications to work.
The mouse has a range like no other mouse I've used; Logitech says five times the distance of the average mouse, and that's about how far away I can get. I can walk around to the other side of the living room and still receive notifications on the mouse, and control the volume; it will let the user control the programmed buttons as well. It had no problems picking up the laser even on a reflective aluminum surface. An optical mouse could never do that. As for hiccups in games, they're non-existent with the MX610.
As for gaming with the MX610, the game detection works great if you want to speed up your mouse speed to quickly whip around and frag an opponent. It's much faster than the standard Windows mouse speed. Once the game exits, the mouse reverts back to the OS-implemented speeds.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Excellent build quality
- Comfortable ergonomics
- Available in both right and left handed models
- Invisible operation; no bright LED lights under the mouse
- Laser performance is great; it works on just about all surfaces.
- Affordable, costs around $50
Cons
- Incompatibility with some Instant Messaging programs
- Once the mouse is shut off, it takes a second or two for it to kick back on.
- I really think those notification buttons should be mentioned twice, it's one of the highlight features, and its compatibility is not advertised on the packaging.
Conclusion
The MX 610 has all the latest tech and new innovations integrated in one amazing package. I would like to say this is the Swiss Army knife of all mice; it simply does everything, it's compact, and it gets the job done, but when your looking for that odd feature it's more than likely included in the MX610. I already recommend that everyone at least goes to his or her local retail electronic store and get your hands on an MX 610 just to get a feel for the mouse; it's the most comfortable I've ever tested. The only con of the MX610 is those notification buttons not working with some IM clients. Even then I think the performance of the mouse simply outweighs those few cons.
I'd like to thank everyone for checking out our review of the Logitech MX610 Cordless Laser Mouse. I would definitely recommend this mouse to anyone who needs extended range, laser tracking performance, and anyone who uses any of the compatible IM programs.
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