diff --git a/lib/services/db/index.js b/lib/services/db/index.js
index 2006f3ec..027ca1ea 100644
--- a/lib/services/db/index.js
+++ b/lib/services/db/index.js
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ DB.prototype.loadTips = function(callback) {
         }
 
         self[tip] = block;
-        log.info('loaded tip, hash: ' + block.hash + ' height: ' + block.__height);
+        log.info('loaded ' + tip + ', hash: ' + block.hash + ' height: ' + block.__height);
         next();
 
       });
diff --git a/lib/services/db/sync.js b/lib/services/db/sync.js
index b1137bb1..fa72cc6c 100644
--- a/lib/services/db/sync.js
+++ b/lib/services/db/sync.js
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ var EventEmitter = require('events').EventEmitter;
 var async = require('async');
 var bitcore = require('bitcore-lib');
 var Block = bitcore.Block;
-var ProgressBar = require('progress');
 var index = require('../../index');
 var log = index.log;
 
@@ -66,8 +65,7 @@ function Sync(node, db) {
   this.syncing = false;
   this.paused = false; //we can't sync while one of our indexes is reading/writing separate from us
   this.highWaterMark = 10;
-  this.progressBar = null;
-  this.lastReportedBlock = 0;
+  this._lastReportedTime = Date.now();
 }
 
 inherits(Sync, EventEmitter);
@@ -98,16 +96,6 @@ Sync.prototype.sync = function() {
   blockStream
     .pipe(processSerial);
 
-  self.lastReportedBlock = self.db.tip.__height;
-
-  self.progressBar = new ProgressBar('[:bar] :percent :current blks, :blockspersec blks/sec', {
-    curr: self.lastReportedBlock,
-    total: self.node.services.bitcoind.height,
-    clear: true
-  });
-
-  self.progressBarTimer = setInterval(self.reportStatus.bind(self), 1000);
-
   processSerial.on('finish', self._onFinish.bind(self));
 
 };
@@ -117,14 +105,6 @@ Sync.prototype._onFinish = function() {
   var self = this;
   self.syncing = false;
 
-  if (self.progressBar) {
-    self.progressBar.terminate();
-  }
-
-  if (self.progressBarTimer) {
-    clearInterval(self.progressBarTimer);
-  }
-
   if (self.forkBlock) {
     self.db.handleReorg(self.forkBlock, function() {
       self.forkBlock = null;
@@ -134,6 +114,7 @@ Sync.prototype._onFinish = function() {
   }
 
   self._startSubscriptions();
+  self._reportStatus(true);
   self.emit('synced');
 
 };
@@ -148,6 +129,7 @@ Sync.prototype._startSubscriptions = function() {
     self.bus = self.node.openBus({remoteAddress: 'localhost'});
 
     self.bus.on('bitcoind/hashblock', function() {
+      self._reportStatus();
       self.sync();
     });
 
@@ -156,12 +138,9 @@ Sync.prototype._startSubscriptions = function() {
 
 };
 
-Sync.prototype.reportStatus = function() {
-  if (process.stderr.isTTY) {
-    var tick = this.db.tip.__height - this.lastReportedBlock;
-    this.progressBar.tick(tick, { blockspersec: tick });
-    this.lastReportedBlock = this.db.tip.__height;
-  } else {
+Sync.prototype._reportStatus = function(override) {
+  if (((Date.now() - this._lastReportedTime) > 1000) || override) {
+    this._lastReportedTime = Date.now();
     log.info('Sync: current height is: ' + this.db.tip.__height);
   }
 };
diff --git a/lib/services/transaction/index.js b/lib/services/transaction/index.js
index 064e8187..fbaf9912 100644
--- a/lib/services/transaction/index.js
+++ b/lib/services/transaction/index.js
@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ TransactionService.prototype.getTransaction = function(txid, options, callback)
     });
   }
 
+  txid = txid.toString('hex');
   var key = self.encoding.encodeTransactionKey(txid);
 
   async.waterfall([
@@ -178,22 +179,16 @@ TransactionService.prototype.getTransaction = function(txid, options, callback)
         return next(null, tx);
       }
       if (!options || !options.queryMempool) {
-        return next();
+        return next(new Error('Transaction: ' + txid + ' not found in index'));
       }
       self.node.services.mempool.getTransaction(txid, function(err, tx) {
-          if(err) {
-            return next(err);
-          }
-          if (!tx) {
-            return next();
-          }
-          self._getMissingInputValues(tx, next);
+        if (err instanceof levelup.errors.NotFoundError) {
+          return callback(new Error('Transaction: ' + txid + ' not found in index or mempool'));
+        } else if (err) {
+          return callback(err);
+        }
+        self._getMissingInputValues(tx, next);
       });
-    }, function(tx, next) {
-      if (tx) {
-        return next(null, tx);
-      }
-      self.node.services.bitcoind.getTransaction(txid, next);
     }], callback);
 };
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index fc90cb53..1276cab2 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@
     "mkdirp": "0.5.0",
     "multer": "^1.2.1",
     "path-is-absolute": "^1.0.0",
-    "progress": "kleetus/node-progress#master",
     "semver": "^5.0.1",
     "socket.io": "^1.4.5",
     "socket.io-client": "^1.4.5",
diff --git a/regtest/wallet.js b/regtest/wallet.js
index 867ed061..4bec09d6 100644
--- a/regtest/wallet.js
+++ b/regtest/wallet.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ var path = require('path');
 var utils = require('./utils');
 var crypto = require('crypto');
 
-var debug = false;
+var debug = true;
 var bitcoreDataDir = '/tmp/bitcore';
 var bitcoinDataDir = '/tmp/bitcoin';
 
diff --git a/test/services/transaction/index.unit.js b/test/services/transaction/index.unit.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..29d21fd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/services/transaction/index.unit.js
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+'use strict';
+
+var should = require('chai').should();
+var sinon = require('sinon');
+var TransactionService = require('../../../lib/services/transaction');
+var levelup = require('levelup');
+
+describe('Transaction Index', function() {
+
+  describe('Failures', function() {
+    //if we miss indexing a tx, then this is very bad news. We have no good way of
+    //recursively retrieving inputValues, timestamp of its block, and block's height
+    it('should throw error if a transaction is not in the index', function(done) {
+      var services = {
+        db: {
+          store: {
+            get: sinon.stub().callsArgWith(1, new levelup.errors.NotFoundError())
+          }
+        }
+      };
+      var node = { node: { services: services }};
+      var service = new TransactionService(node);
+
+      service.encoding = { encodeTransactionKey: function() { return 'key'; }};
+      var tx = service.getTransaction('1234', {}, function(err, res) {
+        err.should.be.an.instanceof(Error);
+        err.message.should.equal('Transaction: 1234 not found in index');
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should search the mempool if opted for', function(done) {
+      var getTransaction =  sinon.stub().callsArgWith(1, new levelup.errors.NotFoundError());
+      var services = {
+        db: {
+          store: {
+            get: sinon.stub().callsArgWith(1, new levelup.errors.NotFoundError())
+          }
+        },
+        mempool: {
+          getTransaction: getTransaction
+        }
+      };
+      var node = { node: { services: services }};
+      var service = new TransactionService(node);
+
+      service.encoding = { encodeTransactionKey: function() { return 'key'; }};
+      var tx = service.getTransaction('1234', { queryMempool: true }, function(err, res) {
+        err.should.be.an.instanceof(Error);
+        err.message.should.equal('Transaction: 1234 not found in index or mempool');
+        done();
+      });
+
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('Success', function() {
+    it('should search main index', function(done) {
+      var services = {
+        db: {
+          store: {
+            get: sinon.stub().callsArgWith(1, null, 'tx')
+          }
+        }
+      };
+      var node = { node: { services: services }};
+      var service = new TransactionService(node);
+
+      service.encoding = {
+        encodeTransactionKey: function() { return 'key'; },
+        decodeTransactionValue: function() { return 'value'; }
+      };
+      var tx = service.getTransaction('1234', {}, function(err, res) {
+        if(err) {
+          return done(err);
+        }
+        res.should.equal('value');
+        done();
+      });
+
+    });
+
+    it('should search mempool', function(done) {
+      var missingInputs = sinon.stub().callsArgWith(1, null, 'tx');
+      var getTransaction = sinon.stub().callsArgWith(1, null, 'tx');
+      var services = {
+        db: {
+          store: {
+            get: sinon.stub().callsArgWith(1, new levelup.errors.NotFoundError())
+          }
+        },
+        mempool: {
+          getTransaction: getTransaction
+        }
+      };
+      var node = { node: { services: services }};
+      var service = new TransactionService(node);
+
+      service.encoding = {
+        encodeTransactionKey: function() { return 'key'; }
+      };
+      service._getMissingInputValues = missingInputs;
+      var tx = service.getTransaction('1234', { queryMempool: true }, function(err, res) {
+        if(err) {
+          return done(err);
+        }
+        missingInputs.callCount.should.equal(1);
+        res.should.equal('tx');
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+  });
+});
+