diff --git a/cmd/sender.go b/cmd/sender.go
index cf4d3c5..7fa2e0f 100644
--- a/cmd/sender.go
+++ b/cmd/sender.go
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ var (
 	promShipperMongoSent = promauto.NewCounterVec(prom.CounterOpts{
 		Subsystem: "shipper",
 		Name:      "sent",
-		Help:      "Items successfully committed to mongo",
+		Help:      "Log lines successfully committed to mongo",
 	}, []string{"filename"})
 	promShipperMongoSentError = promauto.NewCounterVec(prom.CounterOpts{
 		Subsystem: "shipper",
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ var (
 		Name:      "lines_parsing_errors",
 		Help:      "Errors while parsing log line suffixes",
 	}, []string{"filename"})
-	promShipperQueueItems = promauto.NewHistogramVec(prom.HistogramOpts{
+	promShipperQueued = promauto.NewGaugeVec(prom.GaugeOpts{
 		Subsystem: "shipper",
 		Name:      "queued",
-		Help:      "Items in queue to be batched and sent to mongo",
+		Help:      "Log lines in queue to be batched and sent to mongo",
 	}, []string{"filename"})
 	promShipperSynced = promauto.NewGaugeVec(prom.GaugeOpts{
 		Subsystem: "shipper",
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ func (s *submitter) sender(name string, sendQueue <-chan mLog) {
 		go func() {
 			baseName := filepath.Base(name)
 			for {
-				promShipperQueueItems.WithLabelValues(baseName).Observe(float64(
+				promShipperQueued.WithLabelValues(baseName).Set(float64(
 					len(sendQueue)))
 
 				timer := time.NewTimer(time.Second)
diff --git a/cmd/submit.go b/cmd/submit.go
index 24b30ea..b1a8391 100644
--- a/cmd/submit.go
+++ b/cmd/submit.go
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ var (
 	promCatchupDone = promauto.NewGaugeVec(prom.GaugeOpts{
 		Subsystem: "file",
 		Name:      "catchupped",
-		Help:      "File count where backlog has been sent; <= watcher_file_count",
+		Help:      "Files where initial backlog has been sent; (total <= watcher_file_count)",
 	}, []string{"filename"}) // TODO: rm filename?
 	promFileErr = promauto.NewCounterVec(prom.CounterOpts{
 		Subsystem: "file",