diff --git a/common/format.go b/common/format.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..119637d2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/format.go
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The go-ethereum Authors
+// This file is part of the go-ethereum library.
+//
+// The go-ethereum library is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// The go-ethereum library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+// GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+// along with the go-ethereum library. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+package common
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// PrettyDuration is a pretty printed version of a time.Duration value that cuts
+// the unnecessary precision off from the formatted textual representation.
+type PrettyDuration time.Duration
+
+var prettyDurationRe = regexp.MustCompile("\\.[0-9]+")
+
+// String implements the Stringer interface, allowing pretty printing of duration
+// values rounded to three decimals.
+func (d PrettyDuration) String() string {
+	label := fmt.Sprintf("%v", time.Duration(d))
+	if match := prettyDurationRe.FindString(label); len(match) > 4 {
+		label = strings.Replace(label, match, match[:4], 1)
+	}
+	return label
+}
diff --git a/core/blockchain.go b/core/blockchain.go
index 7657fce78..07a9e91f4 100644
--- a/core/blockchain.go
+++ b/core/blockchain.go
@@ -769,8 +769,12 @@ func (self *BlockChain) InsertReceiptChain(blockChain types.Blocks, receiptChain
 
 	// Report some public statistics so the user has a clue what's going on
 	first, last := blockChain[0], blockChain[len(blockChain)-1]
-	glog.V(logger.Info).Infof("imported %d receipt(s) (%d ignored) in %v. #%d [%x… / %x…]", stats.processed, stats.ignored,
-		time.Since(start), last.Number(), first.Hash().Bytes()[:4], last.Hash().Bytes()[:4])
+
+	ignored := ""
+	if stats.ignored > 0 {
+		ignored = fmt.Sprintf(" (%d ignored)", stats.ignored)
+	}
+	glog.V(logger.Info).Infof("imported %d receipts%s in %9v. #%d [%x… / %x…]", stats.processed, ignored, common.PrettyDuration(time.Since(start)), last.Number(), first.Hash().Bytes()[:4], last.Hash().Bytes()[:4])
 
 	return 0, nil
 }
@@ -947,7 +951,7 @@ func (self *BlockChain) InsertChain(chain types.Blocks) (int, error) {
 		switch status {
 		case CanonStatTy:
 			if glog.V(logger.Debug) {
-				glog.Infof("[%v] inserted block #%d (%d TXs %v G %d UNCs) (%x...). Took %v\n", time.Now().UnixNano(), block.Number(), len(block.Transactions()), block.GasUsed(), len(block.Uncles()), block.Hash().Bytes()[0:4], time.Since(bstart))
+				glog.Infof("inserted block #%d [%x…] in %9v: %3d txs %7v gas %d uncles.", block.Number(), block.Hash().Bytes()[0:4], common.PrettyDuration(time.Since(bstart)), len(block.Transactions()), block.GasUsed(), len(block.Uncles()))
 			}
 			events = append(events, ChainEvent{block, block.Hash(), logs})
 
@@ -965,7 +969,7 @@ func (self *BlockChain) InsertChain(chain types.Blocks) (int, error) {
 			}
 		case SideStatTy:
 			if glog.V(logger.Detail) {
-				glog.Infof("inserted forked block #%d (TD=%v) (%d TXs %d UNCs) (%x...). Took %v\n", block.Number(), block.Difficulty(), len(block.Transactions()), len(block.Uncles()), block.Hash().Bytes()[0:4], time.Since(bstart))
+				glog.Infof("inserted forked block #%d [%x…] (TD=%v) in %9v: %3d txs %d uncles.", block.Number(), block.Hash().Bytes()[0:4], block.Difficulty(), common.PrettyDuration(time.Since(bstart)), len(block.Transactions()), len(block.Uncles()))
 			}
 			events = append(events, ChainSideEvent{block, logs})
 
@@ -991,24 +995,27 @@ type insertStats struct {
 	startTime                  time.Time
 }
 
-const (
-	statsReportLimit     = 1024
-	statsReportTimeLimit = 8 * time.Second
-)
+// statsReportLimit is the time limit during import after which we always print
+// out progress. This avoids the user wondering what's going on.
+const statsReportLimit = 8 * time.Second
 
 // report prints statistics if some number of blocks have been processed
 // or more than a few seconds have passed since the last message.
 func (st *insertStats) report(chain []*types.Block, index int) {
-	limit := statsReportLimit
-	if index == len(chain)-1 {
-		limit = 0 // Always print a message for the last block.
-	}
-	now := time.Now()
-	duration := now.Sub(st.startTime)
-	if duration > statsReportTimeLimit || st.queued > limit || st.processed > limit || st.ignored > limit {
+	var (
+		now     = time.Now()
+		elapsed = now.Sub(st.startTime)
+	)
+	if index == len(chain)-1 || elapsed >= statsReportLimit {
 		start, end := chain[st.lastIndex], chain[index]
 		txcount := countTransactions(chain[st.lastIndex : index+1])
-		glog.Infof("imported %d block(s) (%d queued %d ignored) including %d txs in %v. #%v [%x / %x]\n", st.processed, st.queued, st.ignored, txcount, duration, end.Number(), start.Hash().Bytes()[:4], end.Hash().Bytes()[:4])
+
+		extra := ""
+		if st.queued > 0 || st.ignored > 0 {
+			extra = fmt.Sprintf(" (%d queued %d ignored)", st.queued, st.ignored)
+		}
+		glog.Infof("imported %d blocks%s, %5d txs in %9v. #%v [%x… / %x…]\n", st.processed, extra, txcount, common.PrettyDuration(elapsed), end.Number(), start.Hash().Bytes()[:4], end.Hash().Bytes()[:4])
+
 		*st = insertStats{startTime: now, lastIndex: index}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/core/headerchain.go b/core/headerchain.go
index 0f9dd7208..8ca06d9b4 100644
--- a/core/headerchain.go
+++ b/core/headerchain.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package core
 
 import (
 	crand "crypto/rand"
+	"fmt"
 	"math"
 	"math/big"
 	mrand "math/rand"
@@ -321,8 +322,12 @@ func (hc *HeaderChain) InsertHeaderChain(chain []*types.Header, checkFreq int, w
 	}
 	// Report some public statistics so the user has a clue what's going on
 	first, last := chain[0], chain[len(chain)-1]
-	glog.V(logger.Info).Infof("imported %d header(s) (%d ignored) in %v. #%v [%x… / %x…]", stats.processed, stats.ignored,
-		time.Since(start), last.Number, first.Hash().Bytes()[:4], last.Hash().Bytes()[:4])
+
+	ignored := ""
+	if stats.ignored > 0 {
+		ignored = fmt.Sprintf(" (%d ignored)", stats.ignored)
+	}
+	glog.V(logger.Info).Infof("imported %d headers%s in %9v. #%v [%x… / %x…]", stats.processed, ignored, common.PrettyDuration(time.Since(start)), last.Number, first.Hash().Bytes()[:4], last.Hash().Bytes()[:4])
 
 	return 0, nil
 }
diff --git a/eth/downloader/downloader.go b/eth/downloader/downloader.go
index fb63757aa..526ecbeca 100644
--- a/eth/downloader/downloader.go
+++ b/eth/downloader/downloader.go
@@ -952,7 +952,7 @@ func (d *Downloader) fetchNodeData() error {
 
 				// Log a message to the user and return
 				if delivered > 0 {
-					glog.V(logger.Info).Infof("imported %d state entries in %v: processed %d, pending at least %d", delivered, time.Since(start), d.syncStatsStateDone, pending)
+					glog.V(logger.Info).Infof("imported %d state entries in %9v: processed %d, pending at least %d", delivered, common.PrettyDuration(time.Since(start)), d.syncStatsStateDone, pending)
 				}
 			})
 		}