Logitech MX Brio webcam review: Great video, with some flaws

Best Prices Today: Logitech MX Brio

$199.99

$199.99

Logitech’s MX Brio webcam produces some startlingly good images, even though you’d expect this semi-premium 4K webcam — from industry icon Logitech, no less — to deliver. I’m less impressed with some of its other elements, however — namely the accompanying software and its noise filtering.

Logitech’s MX Brio is essentially the Logitech Brio 4K webcam without Windows Hello, but with an enlarged sensor that promises improved low-light sensitivity. It’s a little puzzling that Logitech excluded Windows Hello, but that choice may have been made with cost in mind.

Further reading: See our roundup of the best webcams to learn about competing products.

Logitech MX Brio design and features

The Logitech MX Brio is a 4K webcam, though it can only record up to 30fps at 4K resolution. If you’d like a more video-like 60fps, you can record in either 1080p or 1440p resolution.

Out of the box, Logitech’s MX Brio feels surprisingly compact, compared to the enlarged lenses used by some rival 4K cameras. The webcam measures 3.75 inches from side to side, and, when mounted, is 2 inches high. The noise-cancelling mics sit on either side of the lens, which measures 4cm (1.57 inches) in diameter. Logitech uses a comfortably long 58-inch cord to connect the camera to your laptop, with USB-C connections at either end.

Is the MX Brio a great webcam? Yes. Is it a polished product? Not as much as I’d like. But with a little care, the MX Brio 2 could be truly superb.

To close the lens, all you need to do is twist the ring on the outside of the lens. You’ll see two halves of the lens shutter close, top to bottom, making it immediately apparent that the lens can’t physically see you. Logitech’s MX Brio webcam does not include a ring light, though a small LED to the right of the lens signals when the camera is on and in use.

However, that won’t prevent a hypothetical hacker from recording the audio from the camera’s mics. That mic remains active, as I confirmed by recording a brief bit of audio through Windows Sound Recorder. The MX Brio’s LED light will light yellow to indicate that the mic is recording, however, which is different than the white LED that lights while recording video.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Though compact, the MX Brio sat securely on both a desktop monitor as well as a laptop. I think Logitech over-engineered it a bit, honestly. As with most webcams, there’s a “tooth,” or lip, that hooks onto the front of the display. Some webcams just mount the webcam on top of it, adding a 90-degree hinge to hold the webcam in place.

Logitech added a swiveling chin that lines up with the back of your monitor and coated the chin with a sticky substance that helps hold it fast. The sticky bit comes covered with a sticker, and I think you can leave it alone — it’s sturdy enough as it is, at least on a desktop monitor. Don’t worry about the webcam falling off in either direction, either. On a laptop, consider using the sticky tape, though! Everything tends to slide around.

The MX Brio also flips down into what Logitech calls “Show Mode,” a top-down perspective that flips the image to show it as you’d see it from the front. Nothing does this as well as the CA Webcam Flex, which has a telescopic arm that works very well. Show Mode feels a little claustrophobic so close to the monitor, but it works.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

There’s one thing, however, that the mount excludes: the threaded 1/4-inch screw hole that most webcams include to allow mounting them on tripods. There’s no threaded hole at all.

We’ll talk more about how well the hardware performs a bit later, but let’s mention something that I somewhat dislike about the Logitech Brio 4K: the software. Logitech manufactures a galaxy of peripherals, from webcams to keyboards, mice, and more. It’s unsurprising that you’d have to download an app to take advantage of the full capabilities of the MX Brio, but Logitech offers two: Logi Options+ and G Hub. Some Logitech executive thought it would be a good idea to try and sell you a Logitech mouse and keyboard alongside your new webcam.

You’ll need to spend more effort than you should examining the Logitech MX Brio product page and finally concluding that Options+ is for connecting various Logitech devices, and G Hub is the utility software that the MX Brio requires — which is also a web app, and which immediately kicked off a firmware update. Oh, and did I mention that Logitech wants a username and password, too? Ugh. At least you can use an existing authenticator, like Google.

What annoyed me the most, though, was that G Hub doesn’t actually control the basics. What if you want to switch the camera between resolutions? G Hub doesn’t offer that option. That’s left to another app, like Windows Camera, to make that adjustment. What G Hub does do is to offer everything else: field-of-view adjustments (65, 78, or 90 degrees), some manual panning or centering of the video, plus automatic or manual adjustments to exposure, HDR, white balance/color temperature, and autofocusing. These options are well organized and intuitive! It’s just odd that the most basic feature isn’t accessible via the G Hub menu.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

(Logitech did supply a mouse and keyboard as part of its review package, which included the MX Brio. Logitech’s MX, or “Master,” series is designed to work together. Although I have reviewed ecosystems like the Samsung Galaxy apps before, I didn’t test the Options+ app and how it interacts with other Logitech devices for brevity’s sake.)

Logitech’s MX Brio includes up to 82 percent post-consumer recycled plastic, and the aluminum in the camera was made with renewable energy. That won’t impact the camera’s performance, just the environment.

Logitech MX Brio webcam performance

Remember, most of the top-tier videoconferencing services don’t support 4K streaming yet. However, you can still stream to a service like YouTube in 4K, and record archival video in 4K as well. A 4K sensor may also let in more light and offer better color balance — that’s part of the value the MX Brio offers.

And images captured by the MX Brio look great, almost surprisingly so.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

I’m really impressed with how well the MX Brio captured me in decent afternoon side lighting — warts and all. That is a drawback of a 4K camera — a blemish on my face was captured pretty clearly, and I’m not sure how well our publishing software captured that. The webcam even captured a few stray hairs from a razer. The color of the MX Brio’s images looks very nice, and flesh tones were captured accurately.

Downstairs, where I use a more dimly lit space with a mix of artificial and natural lighting, my face was a bit too ruddy and the colors a bit off. Here I’m using the tightest field of view, or 65 degrees.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

I’m not terrifically impressed with the noise-filtering capabilities of the Logitech MX Brio’s mics, either. While I don’t think it’s quite realistic to ask for the kind of nearly perfect noise filtering AI PC are beginning to deliver, I don’t think it will be too long before something like that will be table stakes. I test by playing audio back from Spotify on a phone nearby, and see how the mics filter it out. The background audio was clearly audible, and louder than I would like.

Should you buy the Logitech MX Brio?

I’ve seen some excellent, excellent webcams lately. At press time, the Logitech MX Brio is the same price as the BenQ IdeaCam S1 Pro, which delivers more for the money at an identical price. I think that the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra produces better images, though at a $100 premium.

At $199, the Logitech MX Brio fits nicely into that sweet spot between the ultra-premium cameras and the more standard options. I’d like to see it a little cheaper: $149, maybe. At that price, it would be a killer upsell option. As it is, there a couple of things I’d fix before I could wholeheartedly recommend it…but it won’t take much. Logitech has still got it.