The test specimen used by the high volume instruments is a beard sample. Theoretically it is possible to determine the length of each fiber in the test beard. To better understand the length distribution of fibers scanned by the HVI, fibrograms from the instrument were compared with those constructed from Suter-Webb array determinations. Some possible reasons for the lack of agreement between these fibrograms were explored. As the distance moved from the thin tip of this tapered beard toward its thick base increases, so does the difficulty increase of determining the lengths of the fibers that compose the beard.