The Logitech G604 Lightspeed is an interesting successor to the G602, following up on the design and performance of that wireless gaming mouse while incorporating some of the design and features of the G502. Carrying the torch of both lineages in one device, it also carries a high price at $99, albeit in a similar ballpark to some of the best gaming mice and a sizable chunk cheaper than the wireless Logitech G502 Lightspeed. Let’s have a look at all that it offers.
Design and Features
The Logitech G604 Lightspeed carries over the basic design of the G602, with a swept out thumb rest and six programmable thumb buttons in two rows. It has the same split triggers for the right and left mouse buttons, but has upgraded to a metal, notched scroll wheel with a physical toggle that can let the hefty wheel spin freely. The wheel also features middle, left, and right clicks.
To the left of the primary mouse button are two more buttons, which default as DPI controls. In case you weren’t counting, that 15 programmable controls. There’s a power switch on the bottom of the mouse, and a wireless pairing button on the top. The mouse connects via a small USB receiver for full performance, but it also supports Bluetooth connections.
The design is much sleeker than its predecessors. It has a two-tone, black design, with a minimal soft-touch coating along its mid-section. Despite the lack of grippy materials, the curvature of the thumb section offers a solid hold, making it easy to pick up and move around.
The simple aesthetic obscures the fact that this is a proper gaming mouse with a sensor that goes from 100 to 16,000DPI while handling accelerations more than 40Gs and max speeds more than 400 inches-per-second. That’s gaming grade performance when paired with the Lightspeed dongle supporting a 1,000Hz polling rate. By contrast, Bluetooth connections support 88Hz to 133Hz polling rates.
The USB receiver tucks conveniently away in a compartment in the rear of the mouse, where the single AA battery also goes. Logitech claims the G604 Lightspeed gets 240 hours of life in its high-performance mode and 5.5 months in Bluetooth mode. I haven’t tested it that long, but it definitely hasn’t died yet. I can’t say the same for the SteelSeries Rival 650’s battery.
The rear compartment does leave the G604 Lightspeed feeling a little hollow, but that’s simply because it is. The clickable scroll wheel’s weight also leads to some rattling, but the mouse still feels sturdy, even under some excess pressure. And at 135 grams (with battery), it has decent heft, though the balance leans toward the rear and there aren’t any custom weights to remedy this.
The only thing that feels like it’s missing here is RGB lighting. As a wireless device, it’s reasonable to omit, since that would suck up battery. But, for a device that supports multiple profiles and DPI settings, it can be very handy to have some kind of indicator to show that information, if only briefly.
Software
The Logitech G604 Lightspeed uses the G Hub software for loads of customization options, naturally including many DPI settings. It allows for numerous profiles, including game-specific ones, and plenty of macros. Settings can be saved to the mouse and even carry over to Bluetooth connections with other computers, though the process for moving G Hub profiles onto the mouse was somewhat confusing.
While the options are ample, I found it inconvenient that I couldn’t get the Back and Forward buttons to serve as Mouse 4 and 5 – controls that many games now accept as inputs – as Logitch doesn’t specifically offer either as a bind. Instead I had to rely on unused keybinds like semicolon and apostrophe. Games did recognize Forward as Mouse 4 and the DPI Shift as Mouse 5, but the simultaneous functions of the latter was undesirable.
The large number of buttons and macro options give the mouse plenty of utility outside of games as well, as you could set it up to have the hyper-fast scroll wheel repeatedly backspace or delete, or set up Copy and Paste functions on the thumb buttons.
Gaming
Once I got the G604 Lightspeed’s thumb buttons all properly bound to controls I’d actually use in games, the mouse performed stunningly.
Logitech nailed its wireless performance for gaming mice long ago, and that stays true in the G604 Lightspeed. Gaming in Apex Legends at more than 100fps, the mouse movements stayed perfectly smooth. I leapt into several hours of Destiny 2 strikes, and the tracking was incredibly easy to rely on, letting me consistently pop off hand cannon shots into enemies’ weak spots.
As far as aiming goes, I didn’t find the first hint of a fault in the Hero 16K sensor on the G604 Lightspeed. The buttons all have a consistent feel as well, making it comfortable to go from one to the other. The firm DPI switch buttons are a notable improvement over the G602’s, which were squishy. They’re also less intrusive to the index finger’s territory than the same buttons on the G502, which I often would accidentally hit and suddenly wind up with a dramatically different DPI.
The thumb buttons were also easy to tap in games. Jumping into Heroes of the Storm, I didn’t find myself using all of them, as it’s a bit easier to split some tasks between each hand. But, macro users will have a lot to love here, as the buttons are almost all within reach, are well separated, and support secondary functions using the G-Shift feature. I generally attached voice chat, grenades, and other important abilities to the thumb buttons, and that made it far easier to perform in tense situations.
Games that think the V key is reasonable for quick melee attacks are begging to have it reassigned to a thumb button on this mouse. For games like Rainbow Six Siege, the thumb buttons or left and right clicks of the scroll wheel can make otherwise complex movements (like strafing and leaning at the same time) much simpler. There are so many potential options, it would take ages to explore them all.
When it comes to gaming, the G604 Lightspeed holds up to any of the gaming mice I’ve used, whether the SteelSeries Rival 650 or even the wired G502 Hero.
Purchasing Guide
The Logitech G604 Lightspeed is available for $99 on Amazon or direct from Logitech.
Source: IGN.com Logitech G604 Lightspeed Gaming Mouse Review