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A small position-sensitive 3He gas detector has been developed for diffraction studies using short-wavelength neutrons. It covers 32 × 32 pixels with a 2 mm resolution, which in the present set up corresponds to 0.25°, and the efficiency is 75% at a wavelength of 0.8 Å. The detector has been used for standard data collection, as well as for studies of twinned crystals and measurements involving parasitic reflections. In all cases it has improved the mode and speed of the measurement, with gain factors compared with single detectors which range from more than two in standard measurements to several hundred for the study of details of the Bragg peak(s). The computation time in data analysis and the storage of the data are no major limitations, partly due to the smallness of the data array, and partly due to efficient packing routines.