diff --git a/notecard/dfu.go b/notecard/dfu.go
index 312a9a8..0828af8 100644
--- a/notecard/dfu.go
+++ b/notecard/dfu.go
@@ -18,27 +18,34 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/snappy"
 )
 
+// Maximum bytes to embed inline in a single dfu.put request when we bypass the
+// card.binary path.
+const dfuInlineChunkMax = 8192
+
 // Side-loads a file to the DFU area of the notecard, to avoid download
-func dfuSideload(filename string, verbose bool) (err error) {
+func dfuSideload(filename string, noBin bool, verbose bool) (err error) {
 
-	// Do a card.binary transaction to see if the notecard is capable of
-	// doing binary sideloads, and if so, how large.
+	// Do a card.binary transaction to see if the Notecard is capable of
+	// doing binary sideloads, and if so, how large. The -nobin flag forces
+	// the slower inline dfu.put path that doesn't use card.binary at all.
 	binaryMax := 0
 	var rsp notecard.Request
-	rsp, err = card.TransactionRequest(notecard.Request{Req: "card.binary"})
-	if note.ErrorContains(err, note.ErrCardIo) {
-		return err
-	}
+	if !noBin {
+		rsp, err = card.TransactionRequest(notecard.Request{Req: "card.binary"})
+		if note.ErrorContains(err, note.ErrCardIo) {
+			return err
+		}
 
-	if err == nil {
+		if err == nil {
 
-		// Get the maximum size that the notecard can handle
-		binaryMax = int(rsp.Max)
+			// Get the maximum size that the notecard can handle
+			binaryMax = int(rsp.Max)
 
-		// Use shorter delays when sending to Notecard, for performance
-		notecard.RequestSegmentMaxLen = 1024
-		notecard.RequestSegmentDelayMs = 5
+			// Use shorter delays when sending to Notecard, for performance
+			notecard.RequestSegmentMaxLen = 1024
+			notecard.RequestSegmentDelayMs = 5
 
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Read the file up-front so we can handle this common failure
@@ -179,6 +186,8 @@ func loadBin(filetype notehub.UploadType, filename string, bin []byte, binaryMax
 		// notecard will tell us not to use compression.
 		if binaryMax > 0 {
 			chunkLen = binaryMax
+		} else if chunkLen > dfuInlineChunkMax {
+			chunkLen = dfuInlineChunkMax
 		}
 
 		// Occasionally because of comms being out-of-sync (because of killing
diff --git a/notecard/main.go b/notecard/main.go
index 9d5331f..c9d003e 100644
--- a/notecard/main.go
+++ b/notecard/main.go
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ func getFlagGroups() []lib.FlagGroup {
 				lib.GetFlagByName("setup-sku"),
 				lib.GetFlagByName("provision"),
 				lib.GetFlagByName("sideload"),
+				lib.GetFlagByName("nobin"),
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -239,6 +240,8 @@ func main() {
 	flag.BoolVar(&actionFast, "fast", false, "use low timeouts and big buffers when sending to Notecard knowing that {io} errors are to be expected")
 	var actionSideload string
 	flag.StringVar(&actionSideload, "sideload", "", "side-load a .bin or .bins into the Notecard's storage")
+	var actionNoBin bool
+	flag.BoolVar(&actionNoBin, "nobin", false, "when side-loading, force the inline dfu.put path and do not use card.binary")
 	var actionEcho int
 	flag.IntVar(&actionEcho, "echo", 0, "perform <N> iterations of a communications reliability test to the Notecard")
 	var actionRTC string
@@ -742,7 +745,7 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	if err == nil && actionSideload != "" && actionScan == "" {
-		err = dfuSideload(actionSideload, actionVerbose)
+		err = dfuSideload(actionSideload, actionNoBin, actionVerbose)
 	}
 
 	if err == nil && actionUpload != "" {
@@ -882,7 +885,7 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	if err == nil && actionScan != "" {
-		err = scan(actionVerbose, actionFactory, actionSetup, actionSetupSKU, actionProvision, actionFactory, actionSideload, actionScan)
+		err = scan(actionVerbose, actionFactory, actionSetup, actionSetupSKU, actionProvision, actionFactory, actionSideload, actionNoBin, actionScan)
 	}
 
 	if err == nil && actionCommtest {
diff --git a/notecard/scan.go b/notecard/scan.go
index c0a86a5..96760df 100644
--- a/notecard/scan.go
+++ b/notecard/scan.go
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ type ScannedSIM struct {
 }
 
 // Scan of a set of notecards, appending to JSON file.  Press ^C when done.
-func scan(debugEnabled bool, init bool, fnSetup string, fnSetupSKU string, carrierProvision string, factoryReset bool, sideload string, outfile string) (err error) {
+func scan(debugEnabled bool, init bool, fnSetup string, fnSetupSKU string, carrierProvision string, factoryReset bool, sideload string, noBin bool, outfile string) (err error) {
 
 	// Only allow one of the two
 	if fnSetup != "" && fnSetupSKU != "" {
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ func scan(debugEnabled bool, init bool, fnSetup string, fnSetupSKU string, carri
 
 		// If a sideload, do it
 		if sideload != "" {
-			err = dfuSideload(sideload, debugEnabled)
+			err = dfuSideload(sideload, noBin, debugEnabled)
 			if err != nil {
 				break
 			}