Abstract Microsphere Plates (MSPs), a new type of electron multiplier, consisting of sintered disks of glass beads, have recently become available from El-Mul Technologies Ltd. The principles of MSP operation are similar to those of microchannel plates (MCPs). We present a survey of the gain, resistance, dark noise, count rate capability, charge abstraction lifetime and image characteristics of a number of standard microsphere plates (of thickness 0.7 and 1.4 mm), operated both singly and as two-stage multipliers. Modal gains lay in the range 2.4–43 pC with pulse height relative FWHM values as low as 52%. MSP dark noise is relatively low (⋍0.5 counts cm 2 s −1 ) for well-chosen lower level discriminator settings. The image response is globally uniform, having local variations in image intensity on sub-mm scale, corresponding to the structure of MSP. Spatial resolution of an MSP detector may be better than 250 μm FWHM. No dependence of the gain on the angle of radiation incidence was observed for an angular range of 90°±25° (relative to the MSP surface), while the 2540 A UV relative detection efficiency varied by 10–15% over the same range. Lifetest measurements revealed that after removal of 8 × 10 −4 C cm −2 , the detector modal gain fell from 8 pC to half of its initial value. This fall in gain was compensated by raising the bias voltage.