diff --git a/docs/claude/probe-readings.md b/docs/claude/probe-readings.md
index c01b233..bf0e965 100644
--- a/docs/claude/probe-readings.md
+++ b/docs/claude/probe-readings.md
@@ -601,10 +601,10 @@ Four legs, selected by `UDPSCOPE_PROBE_CONDITION_SHAPE`. Every leg prints one li
 ```
 
 Measured readings (`--rate 10000 --freq 5`, each on a fresh port). Shape 0's `level2=` and
-`mode=` fields are from the `[search-probe]` run in `.superpowers/sdd/progress.md`; shapes 1–3
-were measured before those fields were added and their `level2=0.500000 mode=2` is read from
-the probe arm code (`condition_probe_arm` always sets `level2` to `0.5` and the mode after a
-latch is `Held=2`):
+`mode=` fields are from the `[search-probe]` run in `.superpowers/sdd/progress.md`; shapes 2 and
+3 were re-measured with those fields present. **Shape 1's `level2=0.500000 mode=2` alone is read
+from the code** rather than from a run (`condition_probe_arm` always sets `level2` to `0.5`, and
+the probe now reports only once the mode is `Held=2`):
 
 ```
 shape=0 type=1 cmp=0 width=0.010000 t0=1.710000 measured=0.004000 at0=nan earlier=nan level2=0.500000 mode=2
@@ -615,7 +615,16 @@ shape=3 type=3 cmp=0 width=0.010000 t0=4.120200 measured=0.300100 at0=nan earlie
 
 `measured` is the reading, not a phase. It is the pulse width read back from the held snapshot's
 own stamps, which are edge-relative: the snapshot is the ground truth, not the mock's absolute
-clock. Three things are worth knowing before calling a reading wrong:
+clock.
+
+**`t0` is not an assertion.** It is a stream stamp, and the stream clock is rebased by whichever
+rebuild last dropped history, so the same leg reads a different `t0` on every run — leg 2 read
+`1.7103`, `1.6975` and `1.8719` on three consecutive runs, and leg 3 read `2.6552` against a
+`--quiet-at 4.0` stream. Read `measured`, `at0`/`earlier` and `mode`; read `t0` only as
+*something* latched. A leg that is genuinely not working says so in `measured`/`at0`, or does not
+latch at all.
+
+Four more things are worth knowing before calling a reading wrong:
 
 - **Leg 0**: `measured=0.004` is the injected glitch width (here the search-probe run used
   `--glitch-width 0.004`; the earlier standalone probe run read `0.002` with `--glitch-width 0.002`).
@@ -633,12 +642,20 @@ clock. Three things are worth knowing before calling a reading wrong:
 - **Leg 3**: `measured=0.300` is the dropout timeout. **This leg also uses `sine`**. A timeout of
   0.050 s against a sine crossing zero every 0.1 s latches on a healthy signal, so use 0.300 s
   or longer; **use a 1.0 s window with 50 % pre** so the last crossing before the outage lies
-  within the pre window.
+  within the pre window. It needs `--quiet-at`: with `--quiet-at -1` the leg correctly never
+  latches, which is the check that the dropout is not firing on the rebuild's own gap.
 
 The channel-selection line `[condition-probe] <name>=<index> of <N> channels` is printed before
 the trigger fires; if the channel is not found this reads `-1` and the probe fails immediately.
-A failure line `[condition-probe] no latch after N polls` means the condition never fired — a
-wrong shape, a missing mock flag, or the wrong signal selected.
+There are two failure lines, and they name different defects:
+
+- `no latch after N polls` — the condition never fired: a wrong shape, a missing mock flag, or
+  the wrong signal selected.
+- `latched but never held` — the edge was accepted but the post window never filled, so there is
+  no snapshot to read. The report deliberately waits for `Held`: a finite `trigger_time()` only
+  means the edge was *accepted*, and every field is read from `display_snapshot()`, whose stamps
+  span x = 0 only once the event is held. Reporting on the latch alone printed `nan` for legs
+  that were working.
 
 ## `[stats-probe]`
 
@@ -694,8 +711,13 @@ Measured output (port 8419):
   different clock — which is exactly the class of defect a search that merely "returns plausible
   times" hides. Here `err=0`: exact agreement, not within tolerance.
 - `state=2` is `BufferSearch::State::Done` (the enum's ordinal). `state=1` would be `Running`.
-- `mode=4` after the jump is `DisplayMode::Paused` (the enum's ordinal). `mode=2` would be
-  `Capturing`.
+- `mode=4` after the jump is `DisplayMode::Paused` (the enum's ordinal: `Live=0`, `Capturing=1`,
+  `Held=2`, `Waiting=3`, `Paused=4`). `mode=2` would be `Held` — the jump having left the held
+  event in place instead of publishing its own pause view.
+- **`hits=` is a count, not a constant.** It depends on the retained span and on the arm phase,
+  both of which move between runs: the same invocation read `hits=12` at `armed t0=5.710000` and
+  `hits=11` at `armed t0=5.742000`. A count in the low tens is the reading; `hits=0` with
+  `agree=0` is the defect.
 - **`placed=1 of 1 in view` is the correct answer, not an under-count.** The jump frames a 0.2 s
   window and the glitches are 0.4 s apart (one per square period at 5 Hz / square half-frequency),
   so only one hit can be in view at a time. `1 of 1` against `(12 found)` is the marks agreeing
diff --git a/src/ui.cpp b/src/ui.cpp
index 2b94cc6..40fe6b0 100644
--- a/src/ui.cpp
+++ b/src/ui.cpp
@@ -8975,9 +8975,15 @@ gboolean condition_probe_report(gpointer user) {
   App* a = static_cast<App*>(user);
   if (a->window == nullptr) return G_SOURCE_REMOVE;
   const double t0 = a->model->trigger_time();
-  if (!std::isfinite(t0) || t0 <= 0.0) {
+  // A finite `t0` only says the edge was *accepted*: the mode is `Capturing` until the post
+  // window fills. Every field below is read from `display_snapshot()`, whose stamps span x = 0
+  // only once the event is `Held`, so reporting on the latch alone races the capture and
+  // prints `nan` for a leg that is working. Both waits share the one poll budget.
+  if (!std::isfinite(t0) || t0 <= 0.0 || a->model->display_mode() != DisplayMode::Held) {
     if (++g_condition.waited < 200) return G_SOURCE_CONTINUE;
-    std::fprintf(stderr, "[condition-probe] no latch after %d polls\n", g_condition.waited);
+    const bool latched = std::isfinite(t0) && t0 > 0.0;
+    std::fprintf(stderr, "[condition-probe] %s after %d polls\n",
+                 latched ? "latched but never held" : "no latch", g_condition.waited);
     std::fflush(stderr);
     return G_SOURCE_REMOVE;
   }