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The Logitech Lightspeed G604 ($100) brings back many memories for me. From a wired model full of more buttons than typical gamer could use, we now have a wireless accessory with a textured palm rest, two types of connectivity, and a month of life from a single AA battery. Gaming mice have come a long way in the past few years, and comparing the Logitech G604 to the G600 gives an excellent distillation of how and why. This is our Logitech G604 Review.
Of course, the mouse isn’t perfect: A $100 mouse should probably have RGB lighting and a rechargeable battery, and the thumb buttons need a pretty complicated learning curve to use correctly. But if you’re massively multiplayer online (MMOs), multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games, or other gaming genres where you require a ton of commands at the tip, the G604 is one the best options.
Logitech G604 Review: Design
The basic design of the Logitech G604 hasn’t changed since the G602. It is still an ergonomic right-handed mouse, with an excellent thumb rest and 6 thumb buttons. Also, you get an all-black chassis with structure support for your palm and thumb. Two buttons next to the left mouse button set the point-per-inch (DPI) sensitivity up and down, and the scroll clicks in three directions. There are also two distinct buttons in the middle that adjust the tension of the scroll wheel and the wireless connection. (You can switch between USB dongle and Bluetooth).
Overall, the mouse is comfortable to hold in your hand, and perhaps a little kinder to claw grip players than to their palm-like counterparts. The thumb buttons are also better than before, with easily clickable protrusions instead of small prisms. Differentiating the buttons, even without looking, is quite simple, which is suitable for players in the middle of a demanding skill rotation.
Features
A significant difference between the G602 and the G604 is that the latter can be connected via a USB dongle as well as via Bluetooth. And that’s not all: you can switch between the two at the push of a button. This means you can connect the G604 to your gaming system via USB and then switch directly to a Bluetooth connection for a laptop or mobile device.
What’s more, the G604’s battery life is much longer via Bluetooth, so you can even switch between the two for working and gaming if you want to get the most out of your load.
Plus, the G604 runs on Logitech’s G Hub software, which is still a robust service. Since it doesn’t have RGB illumination, most options include DPI settings (up to 16,000) and programming buttons. You’ll have a variety of button options, including Logitech’s convenient G-Shift functionality, which opens up a range of secondary mouse commands. This essentially gives you six to eight additional buttons, depending on how hardcore you want to be.
My only complaint about the G hub is that it’s a little mercury on car switch profiles. I programmed a pervasive set of button commands for MMO Final Fantasy XIV, and then furiously clicked while being beaten up by a battalion of Imperial soldiers. The G Hub software automatically refused to change my desktop profile when I started the game – and would automatically turn back to the desktop setting even if I manually chose the FFXIV profile. There are methods to fix this (using the five profiles onboard the mouse is a potential solution).
Logitech G604 Review: Performance
The G604 plays well across the board. Surprisingly, the six small thumbknobs convinced me, even though I expected to find them too difficult to distinguish from each other. I’ve tested the periphery with Overwatch, Age of Mythology: Extended Edition, GreedFall, and Final Fantasy XIV, paying particular attention to the last title because it needs most of the extra buttons.
In Final Fantasy XIV, I play as a Gladiator, which means I use different skills that build on each other for extra damage and protection. By putting them all on the thumb buttons, I was able to pay more attention to what was happening on the screen, without having to run my hand up and down the keyboard to find the best time to use my gaming skills with the thumb buttons – which all felt distinct enough to be placed without looking. I was able to use my six most common skills whenever I required, leaving my left hand free to use for more techniques such as stuns and interrupts.
The mouse also works quite well for other skills. In the Age of Mythology, a real-time strategy game, it’s comfortable enough to assign standard buildings and control groups to the thumb buttons. At the same time, you can do the same with specialized skills in Overwatch and GreedFall. As a result, you don’t require all the extra buttons for most genres.
Battery Life
Another mild criticism of the Logitech G604 is that it uses a single AA battery for 240 hours of wireless USB life, or 5.5 months on Bluetooth (both claims are complicated to test because we’ve only had the mouse for about a week). The battery life itself is excellent, but using disposable batteries in a high-end peripherals feels a bit outdated and wasteful. Of course, you could invest in a set of rechargeable AA batteries, but it would have been much more comfortable to charge an occasional lithium-ion battery.
Logitech G604 Review: Conclusion
Gaming mice have come a long way since 2014, and so has the G600 line. The G604 is an attractive midpoint between sleek design and a large number of buttons. It’s a bit expensive (the G602 was $80 when it debuted, and now you can get it pretty cheap), and using disposable batteries doesn’t feel right for what else such a premium mouse is. But the G604 is meant to give MMO players a tool that won’t let them down and delivers ultimately on its premise.
As far as MMO mice go, I still prefer the Razer Naga Trinity ($100), which offers interchangeable side panels and RGB lighting. However, that model is wired, so you’ll have to decide how much wireless connectivity is worth to you. If it’s worth $100, then the G604 is a solid bet. For other options, check our list of Best Gaming Mouse