So they're cumulative, but it's not just simple addition - that makes sense.

I'm still searching for what behavior in the interface the user would be able to observe to help them set that Integration number. In rules above, I can pick out that:

- When too high, the probe will oversaturate, and start to sometimes report garbage/way-out readings. OK, that's something the user can look out for, and when they see this behavior, know that it would be advised to reduce Integration Time. But... Does this over-saturation behavior happen most often with dark slides or bright ones?

- However, when too low, it says above that "If set too low the results will be 'unstable'" What does unstable look like to me as a user? How can I tell when it is stable vs. unstable?: When unstable, will the little cross dance around? If I take separate readings of the same slide, will they each be different? Should I use a dark blue slide to test for stability, or a bright one? I can guess at how to tell when Integration Time is sufficiently high, and 'stability' has been reached, , but better to know the technically most accurate and most efficient way possible from the most knowledgeable expert around (i.e. you ). Unless there is some way for the user to 'see' instability, then there is no way to tell that the Integration Time parameter is too low. I'm sure that's not true, so thus my question.

No, they are NOT accumulative - you just can set patch time lower than integration time for very obvious reasons!

Over saturation is most likely with bright patches, for fairly obvious reasons.
Unstable looks like 'unstable' - a lack of repeatability.
You may see the cross 'move around', or see variation is multiple reads.
Different displays will show instability with different colours - no rules.

Steve

None of what you said is obvious to me... Very useful, thank you.

So if they are not cumulative then there is a problem in the manual, which only states, without the caveats that you point out here, that longer Integration time can result in longer slide reads. If I understand what you are saying correctly this is only true in that it limits how fast you can put the Time Per Slide parameter (to no less than Integration Time) - as the two processes are happening simultaneously within the same time period. If it is not cumulative then necessarily any Integration time shorter than Time per Slide it has no effect on overall measuring length. If it's not cumulating time, then it is not making anything longer in many cases, so the user can set it to anything below the Time per Slide, without the penalty of waiting longer for the readings to complete (of course without setting it too high to avoid over saturation )

That also of course makes sense but I must say is not clear to the uninitiated, reading the docs.

We're not all as smart as you are!

Oops, above I did not word clearly. What I meant is that in the manual, the relationship between the two parameters is not 100% clear. Integration Time set higher will not lengthen total profiling time if in DIT and Per Slide time is set to any number that is higher anyway, or if in Closed Loop, and the fastest (brightest) slides are automatically taking longer than what is set in Integration Time anyway. Is that correct?