In the past (v. 4.5.x) I tested CiviMail for bulk mailings and had lots of trouble process bounces via the return channel.  I know there is a wonderful plugin for transactional emails, but for bulk mailing, Mandrill is very reasonable and provides some great complimentary reports.  I expect it *should* work with Mandrill's SMTP functionality directly.

**So before I dive in, I'm simply asking if anyone has gotten this to work and if so, could you please share your config.**