diff --git a/src/main/java/com/redhat/trie/PathNode.java b/src/main/java/com/redhat/trie/PathNode.java
index e57c663..245465f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/redhat/trie/PathNode.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/redhat/trie/PathNode.java
@@ -194,20 +194,29 @@ public class PathNode {
     /**
      * same number of children with the same names for child nodes
      */
-    public boolean isEquivalentTo(PathNode that) {
+    boolean isEquivalentTo(PathNode that) {
+        // same number of children with the same names for child nodes
         if (this.getChildren().size() != that.getChildren().size()) {
             return false;
         }
 
+        if (this.getId() == that.getId()) {
+            return true;
+        }
+
         for (NodePair thisnp : this.getChildren()) {
             boolean found = false;
             for (NodePair thatnp : that.getChildren()) {
                 if (thisnp.getName().equals(thatnp.getName())) {
-                    found = true;
-                    break;
+                    if(thisnp.getConnection().isEquivalentTo(thatnp.getConnection())) {
+                        found = true;
+                        break;
+                    }
+                    else {
+                        return false;
+                    }   
                 }
             }
-
             if (!found) {
                 return false;
             }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/redhat/trie/PathTree.java b/src/main/java/com/redhat/trie/PathTree.java
index 5476cec..c1e62b2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/redhat/trie/PathTree.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/redhat/trie/PathTree.java
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ public class PathTree {
             for (String name : this.byteArrayToStringList(baos.toByteArray())) {
                 this.pathDictionary.add(new HuffNode(getHuffNodeContext(), name, weight++));
             }
-            this.pathDictionary.add(new HuffNode(HuffNode.END_NODE, weight));
+            this.pathDictionary.add(new HuffNode(getHuffNodeContext(), HuffNode.END_NODE, weight));
         }
         return this.pathDictionary;
     }
@@ -234,7 +234,12 @@ public class PathTree {
             }
             value = bais.read();
             while (value != -1) {
-                String someBits = Integer.toString(value, 2);
+                String someBits = Integer.toString(value, 2); // string of binary for the byte
+
+                // ensure there are zeros to fill the space,
+                // such that each 8 positions is a single node
+                // XXX if the mapping for nodes is confined to 8 bits,
+                // then we can't have more than 255 unique nodes?
                 for (int pad = 0; pad < 8 - someBits.length(); pad++) {
                     this.getNodeBits().append("0");
                 }
@@ -243,7 +248,7 @@ public class PathTree {
             }
 
             for (int j = 0; j < this.getNodeCount(); j++) {
-                this.nodeDictionary.add(new HuffNode(new PathNode(getPathNodeContext()), j));
+                this.nodeDictionary.add(new HuffNode(getHuffNodeContext(), new PathNode(getPathNodeContext()), j));
             }
         }
         return this.nodeDictionary;
@@ -408,7 +413,7 @@ public class PathTree {
          *
          * -- vbatts
          */
-        //condenseSubTreeNodes(endMarker);
+        condenseSubTreeNodes(endMarker);
         return parent;
     }
 
@@ -536,6 +541,10 @@ public class PathTree {
         }
     }
 
+    /** Return the weight of the smallest weighted node of the nodes list.
+     *
+     * You can pass a index of the list to skip (-1 will not skip any index)
+     */
     private int findSmallest(int exclude, List<HuffNode> nodes) {
         int smallest = -1;
         for (int index = 0; index < nodes.size(); index++) {
diff --git a/src/main/resources/log4j.properties b/src/main/resources/log4j.properties
index 8967405..d3e623d 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/log4j.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/log4j.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Define the root logger with appender file
 #log = /usr/home/log4j
-log4j.rootLogger = DEBUG, stderr
+log4j.rootLogger = WARN, stderr
  
 log4j.appender.stderr= org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
 #log4j.appender.stderr.Threshold=DEBUG
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/redhat/trie/TestPathNode.java b/src/test/java/com/redhat/trie/TestPathNode.java
index 6edbe53..a8d4e0a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/redhat/trie/TestPathNode.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/redhat/trie/TestPathNode.java
@@ -26,11 +26,10 @@ public class TestPathNode {
 
     @Test
     public void testEquivalent() {
-        NodeContext ctx0 = new NodeContext();
-        NodeContext ctx1 = new NodeContext();
+        NodeContext ctx = new NodeContext();
         PathNode endMarker = new PathNode();
-        PathNode pn0 = new PathNode(ctx0);
-        PathNode pn1 = new PathNode(ctx1);
+        PathNode pn0 = new PathNode(ctx);
+        PathNode pn1 = new PathNode(ctx);
 
         assertTrue(pn0.isEquivalentTo(pn1));
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/redhat/trie/TestPathTree.java b/src/test/java/com/redhat/trie/TestPathTree.java
index f261dac..b004915 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/redhat/trie/TestPathTree.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/redhat/trie/TestPathTree.java
@@ -164,7 +164,6 @@ public class TestPathTree {
         pt1 = new PathTree(bytes);
         contents1 = pt1.toList();
         
-        // FIXME These next two fail when condenseSubTreeNodes is used ..
         assertTrue(TestHelpers.cmpStrings(contents0, contents1));
         assertEquals(contents0.size(), contents1.size());