diff --git a/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/eddsa/Utils.java b/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/eddsa/Utils.java
index 8c8bb2ea3918beece079a8b348f7cf7e2be09fda..0b471550c7a3b9de3fd0dcc266e0c766783af57c 100644
--- a/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/eddsa/Utils.java
+++ b/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/eddsa/Utils.java
@@ -22,6 +22,18 @@ public class Utils {
         return (result ^ 0x01) & 0x01;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Constant-time byte[] comparison.
+     * @return 1 if b and c are equal, 0 otherwise.
+     */
+    public static int equal(byte[] b, byte[] c) {
+        int result = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < 32; i++) {
+            result |= b[i] ^ c[i];
+        }
+        return ~equal(result, 0) & 0x01;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Constant-time determine if byte is negative.
      * @param b the byte to check.
@@ -38,7 +50,7 @@ public class Utils {
      * @return 0 or 1, the value of the i'th bit in h
      */
     public static int bit(byte[] h, int i) {
-        return (h[i/8] >> (i%8)) & 1;
+        return (h[i >> 3] >> (i & 7)) & 1;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -55,4 +67,22 @@ public class Utils {
         }
         return data;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts bytes to a hex string.
+     * @param raw the byte[] to be converted.
+     * @return the hex representation as a string.
+     */
+    public static String bytesToHex(byte[] raw) {
+        if ( raw == null ) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        final StringBuilder hex = new StringBuilder(2 * raw.length);
+        for (final byte b : raw) {
+            hex.append(Character.forDigit((b & 0xF0) >> 4, 16))
+            .append(Character.forDigit((b & 0x0F), 16));
+        }
+        return hex.toString();
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/eddsa/math/ed25519/Ed25519FieldElement.java b/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/eddsa/math/ed25519/Ed25519FieldElement.java
index 6b0f207ddfc7f6cc583cc65e5659ce1c8a10694b..cbba7a3157d227875bd2262bd259c25fd5ad4f0e 100644
--- a/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/eddsa/math/ed25519/Ed25519FieldElement.java
+++ b/core/java/src/net/i2p/crypto/eddsa/math/ed25519/Ed25519FieldElement.java
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 package net.i2p.crypto.eddsa.math.ed25519;
 
+import net.i2p.crypto.eddsa.Utils;
 import net.i2p.crypto.eddsa.math.Field;
 import net.i2p.crypto.eddsa.math.FieldElement;
-import net.i2p.data.DataHelper;
 
 /**
  * An element t, entries t[0]...t[9], represents the integer
@@ -26,11 +26,7 @@ public class Ed25519FieldElement extends FieldElement {
 
     public boolean isNonZero() {
         byte[] s = toByteArray();
-        int result = 0;
-        for (int i = 0; i < 32; i++) {
-            result |= s[i] ^ zero[i];
-        }
-        return result != 0;
+        return Utils.equal(s, zero) == 1;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -959,13 +955,11 @@ public class Ed25519FieldElement extends FieldElement {
         if (!(obj instanceof Ed25519FieldElement))
             return false;
         Ed25519FieldElement fe = (Ed25519FieldElement) obj;
-        // XXX why does direct byte[] comparison fail?
-        // TODO should this be constant time?
-        return DataHelper.toString(toByteArray()).equals(DataHelper.toString(fe.toByteArray()));
+        return 1==Utils.equal(toByteArray(), fe.toByteArray());
     }
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
-        return "[Ed25519FieldElement val="+DataHelper.toString(toByteArray())+"]";
+        return "[Ed25519FieldElement val="+Utils.bytesToHex(toByteArray())+"]";
     }
 }