diff --git a/benchmarks/Benchmark_staggeredF.cc b/benchmarks/Benchmark_staggeredF.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f7beed2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/Benchmark_staggeredF.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+    /*************************************************************************************
+
+    Grid physics library, www.github.com/paboyle/Grid 
+
+    Source file: ./benchmarks/Benchmark_staggered.cc
+
+    Copyright (C) 2015
+
+Author: Peter Boyle <paboyle@ph.ed.ac.uk>
+Author: paboyle <paboyle@ph.ed.ac.uk>
+
+    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+    (at your option) any later version.
+
+    This program 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 General Public License for more details.
+
+    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+    with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+    51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+
+    See the full license in the file "LICENSE" in the top level distribution directory
+    *************************************************************************************/
+    /*  END LEGAL */
+#include <Grid/Grid.h>
+
+using namespace std;
+using namespace Grid;
+ ;
+
+int main (int argc, char ** argv)
+{
+  Grid_init(&argc,&argv);
+
+  Coordinate latt_size   = GridDefaultLatt();
+  Coordinate simd_layout = GridDefaultSimd(Nd,vComplexF::Nsimd());
+  Coordinate mpi_layout  = GridDefaultMpi();
+  GridCartesian               Grid(latt_size,simd_layout,mpi_layout);
+  GridRedBlackCartesian     RBGrid(&Grid);
+
+  int threads = GridThread::GetThreads();
+  std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "Grid is setup to use "<<threads<<" threads"<<std::endl;
+  std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "Grid floating point word size is REALF"<< sizeof(RealF)<<std::endl;
+  std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "Grid floating point word size is REALD"<< sizeof(RealD)<<std::endl;
+  std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "Grid floating point word size is REAL"<< sizeof(Real)<<std::endl;
+
+  std::vector<int> seeds({1,2,3,4});
+  GridParallelRNG          pRNG(&Grid);
+  pRNG.SeedFixedIntegers(seeds);
+  //  pRNG.SeedFixedIntegers(std::vector<int>({45,12,81,9});
+
+  typedef typename ImprovedStaggeredFermionF::FermionField FermionField; 
+  typename ImprovedStaggeredFermionF::ImplParams params; 
+
+  FermionField src   (&Grid); random(pRNG,src);
+  FermionField result(&Grid); result=Zero();
+  FermionField    ref(&Grid);    ref=Zero();
+  FermionField    tmp(&Grid);    tmp=Zero();
+  FermionField    err(&Grid);    tmp=Zero();
+  LatticeGaugeFieldF Umu(&Grid); random(pRNG,Umu);
+  std::vector<LatticeColourMatrixF> U(4,&Grid);
+
+  double volume=1;
+  for(int mu=0;mu<Nd;mu++){
+    volume=volume*latt_size[mu];
+  }  
+
+  // Only one non-zero (y)
+#if 0
+  Umu=Zero();
+  Complex cone(1.0,0.0);
+  for(int nn=0;nn<Nd;nn++){
+    random(pRNG,U[nn]);
+    if(1) {
+      if (nn!=2) { U[nn]=Zero(); std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "zeroing gauge field in dir "<<nn<<std::endl; }
+      //      else       { U[nn]= cone;std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "unit gauge field in dir "<<nn<<std::endl; }
+      else       { std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "random gauge field in dir "<<nn<<std::endl; }
+    }
+    PokeIndex<LorentzIndex>(Umu,U[nn],nn);
+  }
+#endif
+
+  for(int mu=0;mu<Nd;mu++){
+    U[mu] = PeekIndex<LorentzIndex>(Umu,mu);
+  }
+
+  RealD mass=0.1;
+  RealD c1=9.0/8.0;
+  RealD c2=-1.0/24.0;
+  RealD u0=1.0;
+  ImprovedStaggeredFermionF Ds(Umu,Umu,Grid,RBGrid,mass,c1,c2,u0,params);
+  
+  std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "Calling Ds"<<std::endl;
+  int ncall=1000;
+  for(int i=0;i<ncall;i++){
+    Ds.Dhop(src,result,0);
+  }
+  double t0=usecond();
+  for(int i=0;i<ncall;i++){
+    Ds.Dhop(src,result,0);
+  }
+  double t1=usecond();
+  double flops=(16*(3*(6+8+8)) + 15*3*2)*volume*ncall; // == 66*16 +  == 1146
+  
+  std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "Called Ds"<<std::endl;
+  std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "norm result "<< norm2(result)<<std::endl;
+  std::cout<<GridLogMessage << "mflop/s =   "<< flops/(t1-t0)<<std::endl;
+
+  Grid_finalize();
+}