diff --git a/guid.js b/guid.js
index 4140e99..10b7f78 100644
--- a/guid.js
+++ b/guid.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 var validator = new RegExp("^[a-z0-9]{8}-[a-z0-9]{4}-[a-z0-9]{4}-[a-z0-9]{4}-[a-z0-9]{12}$", "i");
+var hex_validator = new RegExp("^[a-z0-9]{32}$", "i");
 
 function gen(count) {
   var out = "";
@@ -8,21 +9,107 @@ function gen(count) {
   return out;
 }
 
+var _bin2hex = [
+    '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7',
+    '8', '9', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f'
+];
+
+var _hex2bin = [
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, // 0-9
+     0,10,11,12,13,14,15, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, // A-F
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0,10,11,12,13,14,15, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, // a-f
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
+];
+
+function bin2hex(str) {
+    var len = str.length;
+    var rv = '';
+    var i = 0;
+    var c;
+    
+    while (len-- > 0) {
+        if(str instanceof Buffer)
+          c = str[i++];
+        else
+          c = str.charCodeAt(i++);
+
+        rv += _bin2hex[(c & 0xf0) >> 4];
+        rv += _bin2hex[(c & 0x0f)];
+    }
+    return rv;
+}
+
+function hex2bin(str) {
+    var len = str.length;
+    var rv = [];
+    var i = 0;
+
+    var c1;
+    var c2;
+
+    while (len > 1) {
+        h1 = str.charAt(i++);
+        c1 = h1.charCodeAt(0);
+        h2 = str.charAt(i++);
+        c2 = h2.charCodeAt(0);
+
+        rv.push((_hex2bin[c1] << 4) + _hex2bin[c2]);
+        len -= 2;
+    }
+
+    return rv;
+}
+
+function hex2uuid(hex) {
+    return hex.substr(0, 8) + "-" +
+           hex.substr(8, 4) + "-" +
+           hex.substr(12, 4) + "-" +
+           hex.substr(16, 4) + "-" +
+           hex.substr(20);
+}
+
+
 function Guid(guid) {
   if (!guid) throw new TypeError("Invalid argument; `value` has no value.");
     
   var value = Guid.EMPTY;
+  var bin = null;
   
   if (guid && guid instanceof Guid) {
+    // Guid instances
     value = Guid.toString();
-
-  } else if (guid && Object.prototype.toString.call(guid) === "[object String]" && Guid.isGuid(guid)) {
-    value = guid;
+  } else if (guid && guid instanceof Buffer) {
+    // binary buffer
+    value = hex2uuid(bin2hex(guid));
+  } else if (guid && Object.prototype.toString.call(guid) === "[object String]") {
+    if(Guid.isGuid(guid, true)) {
+      if(guid.length == 32) // value is a pure hex string
+        value = hex2uuid(guid)
+      else
+        value = guid;
+    } else if (guid.length == 16) {
+        value = hex2uuid(bin2hex(guid));
+    }
   }
-  
+
   this.equals = function(other) {
     // Comparing string `value` against provided `guid` will auto-call
     // toString on `guid` for comparison
+    if (typeof(other) == 'string') {
+        return (other === this.toString());
+    }
     return Guid.isGuid(other) && value == other;
   };
 
@@ -37,22 +124,47 @@ function Guid(guid) {
   this.toJSON = function() {
     return value;
   };
+
+  this.toHex = function() {
+    return value.split("-").join("")
+  }
+
+  this.toArray = function() {
+    return hex2bin(this.toHex())
+  }
+
+  this.toBytes = function() {
+    if(bin) return bin
+    return bin = new Buffer(this.toArray());
+  }
   
+  this.inspect = function() {
+    return "<Guid " + this.value + ">"
+  }
+
   Object.defineProperty(this, "value", {
     get: function() { return value; },
     enumerable: true
   });
+
+  Object.defineProperty(this, "bytes", {
+    get: function() { return this.toBytes(); },
+    enumerable: true
+  });
 };
 
 Object.defineProperty(Guid, "EMPTY", {
   value: "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
 });
 
-Guid.isGuid = function(value) {
-  return value && (value instanceof Guid || validator.test(value.toString()));
+Guid.isGuid = function(value, loose) {
+  return value && (value instanceof Guid || validator.test(value.toString()) ||
+                   loose && hex_validator.test(value.toString()));
 };
 
-Guid.create = function() {
+Guid.create = function(value) {
+  if(value)
+    return new Guid(value);
   return new Guid([gen(2), gen(1), gen(1), gen(1), gen(3)].join("-"));
 };
 
diff --git a/tests/test.js b/tests/test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6a37ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+var Guid = require('../guid');
+var vows = require('vows'),
+    assert = require('assert');
+
+
+module.exports = tests = {}
+
+
+tests.suite1 = vows.describe('guid tests').addBatch({
+"test1": {
+    "raw interface": function() {
+        var g = Guid.raw();
+        assert.ok(g);
+        assert.equal(typeof(g), 'string')
+        assert.equal(g.length, 36)
+        return
+    },
+
+    "object interface": function() {
+        var tar = [109, 210, 117, 221, 229, 152, 237, 212, 77, 119, 59, 248, 68, 107, 97, 183];
+
+        var g = Guid.create("6dd275dd-e598-edd4-4d77-3bf8446b61b7");
+        'm\xd2u\xdd\xe5\x98\xed\xd4Mw;\xf8Dka\xb7'
+        assert.ok(g.equals("6dd275dd-e598-edd4-4d77-3bf8446b61b7"), "not equal to string");
+
+        assert.equal(g.toHex(), '6dd275dde598edd44d773bf8446b61b7');
+        assert.equal(g.value, new Guid.create('6dd275dde598edd44d773bf8446b61b7').value);
+        assert.deepEqual(g.toArray(),
+                         tar,
+                         "array is not equal");
+
+        buf = g.toBytes();
+        assert.ok(buf instanceof Buffer, "buffer");
+        for(var i = 0; i < tar.length; i++)
+            assert.equal(buf[i], tar[i], "buffer differs");
+
+        var g2 = Guid.create(buf);
+        assert.equal(g.value, g2.value, "copy over buffer failed");
+
+        var g3 = Guid.create('\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\xab\xcd\x12\x34\x56\x78\x90\x12');
+        assert.equal(g3.value, "00000000-0000-0000-abcd-123456789012")
+
+    }
+},
+});
+
+console.log(vows)