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We compared conventional microscope-based methods for quantifying biomass and community composition of stream benthic algae with output obtained for these parameters from a new instrument (the BenthoTorch), which measures fluorescence of algal pigments in situ. Benthic algae were studied in 24 subarctic oligotrophic (1.7–26.9, median 7.2 μg total phosphorus L−1) streams in Northern Sweden. Readings for biomass of the total algal mat, quantified as chlorophyll a, did not differ significantly between the BenthoTorch (median 0.52 μg chlorophyll a cm−2) and the conventional method (median 0.53 μg chlorophyll a cm−2). However, quantification of community composition of the benthic algal mat obtained using the BenthoTorch did not match those obtained from conventional methods. The BenthoTorch indicated a dominance of diatoms, whereas microscope observations showed a fairly even distribution …