diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 02f5aba..bdabad2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+* Speed up encode function (now runs in ~72% less time / 3.5x improvement):
+  * https://github.com/georust/polyline/pull/42
+
 ## 0.10.2
 
 * fix decoder crashing with out-of-bounds error (https://github.com/georust/polyline/pull/37):
diff --git a/benches/benchmarks.rs b/benches/benchmarks.rs
index 792e9e1..89097e7 100644
--- a/benches/benchmarks.rs
+++ b/benches/benchmarks.rs
@@ -1,73 +1,66 @@
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate criterion;
-use criterion::Criterion;
+use criterion::{Criterion, black_box};
 use geo_types::LineString;
 use polyline::{decode_polyline, encode_coordinates};
 use rand::distributions::Distribution;
 use rand::distributions::Uniform;
-use rand::thread_rng;
+use rand::SeedableRng;
+use rand::rngs::StdRng;
+
 
 #[allow(unused_must_use)]
 fn bench_encode(c: &mut Criterion) {
-    let mut rng = thread_rng();
+    let mut rng = StdRng::seed_from_u64(42);
     // These coordinates cover London, approximately
     let between_lon = Uniform::from(-6.379880..1.768960);
     let between_lat = Uniform::from(49.871159..55.811741);
     let mut v: Vec<[f64; 2]> = vec![];
-    (0..1000).for_each(|_| v.push([between_lon.sample(&mut rng), between_lat.sample(&mut rng)]));
+    (0..10_000).for_each(|_| v.push([between_lon.sample(&mut rng), between_lat.sample(&mut rng)]));
     let res: LineString<f64> = v.into();
-    c.bench_function("bench encode: 1000 coordinates", move |b| {
+
+    c.bench_function("encode 10_000 coordinates at precision 1e-5", |b| {
         b.iter(|| {
-            encode_coordinates(res.clone(), 5);
+            black_box(encode_coordinates(res.coords().copied(), 5));
+        })
+    });
+
+    c.bench_function("encode 10_000 coordinates at precision 1e-6", |b| {
+        b.iter(|| {
+            black_box(encode_coordinates(res.coords().copied(), 6));
         })
     });
 }
 
 #[allow(unused_must_use)]
 fn bench_decode(c: &mut Criterion) {
-    // comparable cpp (see e.g. Valhalla) decodes the same number of coords in around 500 µs
-    let mut rng = thread_rng();
+    // comparable cpp (see e.g. Valhalla)
+    let mut rng = StdRng::seed_from_u64(42);
     // These coordinates cover London, approximately
     let between_lon = Uniform::from(-6.379880..1.768960);
     let between_lat = Uniform::from(49.871159..55.811741);
     let mut v: Vec<[f64; 2]> = vec![];
-    (0..21501).for_each(|_| v.push([between_lon.sample(&mut rng), between_lat.sample(&mut rng)]));
+    (0..10_000).for_each(|_| v.push([between_lon.sample(&mut rng), between_lat.sample(&mut rng)]));
     let res: LineString<f64> = v.into();
     let encoded = encode_coordinates(res, 6).unwrap();
-    c.bench_function("bench decode: 21502 coordinates", move |b| {
-        b.iter(|| {
-            decode_polyline(&encoded, 6);
-        })
-    });
-}
 
-#[allow(unused_must_use)]
-fn bench_polyline6_decoding(c: &mut Criterion) {
-    c.bench_function("bench polyline6 decoding", move |b| {
+    c.bench_function("decode 10_000 coordinates at precision 1e-5", |b| {
         b.iter(|| {
-            decode_polyline("_p~iF~ps|U_ulLnnqC_mqNvxq`@", 6).unwrap();
+            black_box(decode_polyline(&encoded, 5));
         })
     });
-}
 
-#[allow(unused_must_use)]
-fn bench_polyline6_decoding_huge(c: &mut Criterion) {
-    c.bench_function("bench HUGE polyline6 decoding", move |b| {
+    c.bench_function("decode 10_000 coordinates at precision 1e-6", |b| {
         b.iter(|| {
-            decode_polyline(
-                include_str!("../resources/route-geometry-sweden-west-coast.polyline6"),
-                6,
-            )
-            .unwrap();
+            black_box(decode_polyline(&encoded, 6));
         })
     });
 }
 
+
 criterion_group!(
     benches,
     bench_encode,
     bench_decode,
-    bench_polyline6_decoding,
-    bench_polyline6_decoding_huge
 );
 criterion_main!(benches);
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 96cfedc..c215abd 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -46,14 +46,13 @@ where
     }
 }
 
-fn encode(current: f64, previous: f64, factor: i32) -> Result<String, String> {
+fn encode(current: f64, previous: f64, factor: i32, output: &mut String) -> Result<(), String> {
     let current = scale(current, factor);
     let previous = scale(previous, factor);
     let mut coordinate = (current - previous) << 1;
     if (current - previous) < 0 {
         coordinate = !coordinate;
     }
-    let mut output: String = "".to_string();
     while coordinate >= 0x20 {
         let from_char = char::from_u32(((0x20 | (coordinate & 0x1f)) + 63) as u32)
             .ok_or("Couldn't convert character")?;
@@ -62,7 +61,7 @@ fn encode(current: f64, previous: f64, factor: i32) -> Result<String, String> {
     }
     let from_char = char::from_u32((coordinate + 63) as u32).ok_or("Couldn't convert character")?;
     output.push(from_char);
-    Ok(output)
+    Ok(())
 }
 
 /// Encodes a Google Encoded Polyline.
@@ -83,7 +82,7 @@ where
     let base: i32 = 10;
     let factor: i32 = base.pow(precision);
 
-    let mut output = "".to_string();
+    let mut output = String::new();
     let mut b = Coord { x: 0.0, y: 0.0 };
 
     for (i, a) in coordinates.into_iter().enumerate() {
@@ -91,8 +90,8 @@ where
             .map_err(|e| format!("Latitude error at position {0}: {1}", i, e))?;
         check(a.x, (MIN_LONGITUDE, MAX_LONGITUDE))
             .map_err(|e| format!("Longitude error at position {0}: {1}", i, e))?;
-        output = output + &encode(a.y, b.y, factor)?;
-        output = output + &encode(a.x, b.x, factor)?;
+        encode(a.y, b.y, factor, &mut output)?;
+        encode(a.x, b.x, factor, &mut output)?;
         b = a;
     }
     Ok(output)