The receiver for this mouse is one of my top favourite features. The mouse itself operates in the 2.4ghz frequency range. Is that better than the wireless mouse I have now, you ask? Yes, as most wireless mice on the market today operate in the 27mhz range of frequencies. There are many advantages to using 2.4ghz that many users may not see. Standard 27mhz mice can only communicate one way with the computer, and that is from mouse to computer so the receiver can pickup all movements and translate them into moving the cursor on your screen. However, 2.4ghz brings the advantage of two-way communication between the mouse and computer. Now, not only can the mouse send information to the computer, but the computer can send data back to the mouse! This is definitely taken advantage of by Logitech and they have added many great features to this mouse using that ability. The biggest one is the fact that the mouse can notify you by lighting up one of the two buttons when you get a new email or instant message. For those worried about interference, the MX610 can automatically change channels if something else begins to interfere with it;s operation. Another thing I love is the power management feature of this mouse. It will automatically go into sleep mode when the computer is put into sleep mode or turned off entirely. This will greatly improve the life of the batteries in this mouse and I'm happy to see Logitech has made such a great feature like this. Changing batteries every couple of weeks on my old wireless mouse became a pain.
The receiver itself isn't much longer than your thumb, and is about as wide and thin as the USB port itself. Not having a large receiver near the mouse like my old 27mhz mouse is another big plus!

To manage all this incoming and outgoing data the MX610 is equipped with an internal processor running at a speed of 8 MIPS.

Installation:
Installation was very quick and easy. The minute I plugged in the mouse Windows XP detected it and it started working, however without the included SetPoint drivers the mouse is only recognized as a standard two button mouse. The drivers were installed and setup within a matter of minutes and the mouse was then fully functional.

The drivers also give you the ability to fully customize the options of all the buttons on the mouse, or just leave them as default like I did until the testing stage.

Testing:
To test the mouse I made sure to try out all the buttons and features on it, as well as just giving it many days of regular day-to-day use.

The first feature I noticed right away when testing the notification buttons is that the email one does not work with Thunderbird and the IM one doesn't seem to work with Trillian or AIM either. I found that to be slightly disappointing as many alternatives to the build-in Microsoft communication software are starting to gain popularity and having this mouse support them would be all that much better.

The volume buttons were very handy, and when using them a large green volume indicator would appear on the bottom of my monitor, much like the one on a TV. Having access to volume with the slight move of a finger sure saves time reaching for the speaker's volume dial or even finding the volume button at the top of your keyboard if you have one.

The back and forward buttons work excellent in Internet Explorer, however I had some troubles when I tried them in Firefox. This seemed to be another case of the buttons only working in select programs, and with Firefox being one of the most popular web browsers on the market, having native support would be nice. But, I'll also tell you that I found an easy fix that makes them work in both Firefox and Internet explorer. In the Logitech SetPoint software you can assign the backward and forward buttons to the key assignments of Alt+Right for forward and Alt+Left for backward. These are generic forward and backward commands that will work in most internet browsers and computer software. Problem solved !

The scroll wheel also worked problem free. I was happy to see that it was designed firm enough that when used as a button it would not activate any horizontal or vertical scrolling, but it was also still very easy to use as a button at the same time.

Just for you to keep in mind, the MX610 is designed more as a communication and media oriented mouse. Although it performed excellent in games, I found there to be one or two occasions where I went to make a very fast movement and noticed a very slight lag that occurred. For the most part though, I was able to play games just fine with this mouse.

The overall ergonomics of the mouse were also excellent. My hand always felt very comfortable when using the mouse for long and short periods of time.