diff --git a/lib/Geo/Coder/Free/DB.pm b/lib/Geo/Coder/Free/DB.pm
index 318bf608..7b174cda 100644
--- a/lib/Geo/Coder/Free/DB.pm
+++ b/lib/Geo/Coder/Free/DB.pm
@@ -65,9 +65,29 @@ use Carp;
 our $directory;
 our $logger;
 our $cache;
+our $cache_duration;
 
 =head1 SUBROUTINES/METHODS
 
+=head2 init
+
+Set some class level defaults.
+
+    __PACKAGE__::DB::init(directory => '../databases')
+
+See the documentation for new() to see what variables can be set
+
+=cut
+
+sub init {
+	my %args = (ref($_[0]) eq 'HASH') ? %{$_[0]} : @_;
+
+	$directory ||= $args{'directory'};
+	$logger ||= $args{'logger'};
+	$cache ||= $args{'cache'};
+	$cache_duration ||= $args{'cache_duration'};
+}
+
 =head2 new
 
 Create an object to point to a read-only database.
@@ -76,6 +96,9 @@ Arguments:
 
 cache => place to store results
 cache_duration => how long to store results in the cache (default is 1 hour)
+directory => where the database file is held
+
+If the arguments are not set, tries to take from class level defaults
 
 =cut
 
@@ -96,21 +119,12 @@ sub new {
 		logger => $args{'logger'} || $logger,
 		directory => $args{'directory'} || $directory,	# The directory containing the tables in XML, SQLite or CSV format
 		cache => $args{'cache'} || $cache,
-		cache_duration => $args{'cache_duration'} || '1 hour',
+		cache_duration => $args{'cache_duration'} || $cache_duration || '1 hour',
 		table => $args{'table'},	# The name of the file containing the table, defaults to the class name
 		no_entry => $args{'no_entry'} || 0,
 	}, $class;
 }
 
-# Can also be run as a class level __PACKAGE__::DB::init(directory => '../databases')
-sub init {
-	my %args = (ref($_[0]) eq 'HASH') ? %{$_[0]} : @_;
-
-	$directory ||= $args{'directory'};
-	$logger ||= $args{'logger'};
-	$cache ||= $args{'cache'};
-}
-
 sub set_logger {
 	my $self = shift;
 
diff --git a/lib/Geo/Coder/Free/MaxMind.pm b/lib/Geo/Coder/Free/MaxMind.pm
index a62c440a..54150e4a 100644
--- a/lib/Geo/Coder/Free/MaxMind.pm
+++ b/lib/Geo/Coder/Free/MaxMind.pm
@@ -105,20 +105,33 @@ The admin2.db is far from comprehensive, see Makefile.PL for some entries that a
 =cut
 
 sub new {
-	my($proto, %param) = @_;
-	my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
+	my $class = $_[0];
 
-	# Use Geo::Coder::Free->new, not Geo::Coder::Free::new
-	return unless($class);
+	shift;
+	my %args = (ref($_[0]) eq 'HASH') ? %{$_[0]} : @_;
+
+	if(!defined($class)) {
+		# Use Geo::Coder::Free->new, not Geo::Coder::Free::new
+		# carp(__PACKAGE__, ' use ->new() not ::new() to instantiate');
+		# return;
+
+		# FIXME: this only works when no arguments are given
+		$class = __PACKAGE__;
+	} elsif(ref($class)) {
+		# clone the given object
+		return bless { %{$class}, %args }, ref($class);
+	}
 
 	# Geo::Coder::Free::DB::init(directory => 'lib/Geo/Coder/Free/databases');
 
-	my $directory = $param{'directory'} || Module::Info->new_from_loaded(__PACKAGE__)->file();
+	my $directory = $args{'directory'} || Module::Info->new_from_loaded(__PACKAGE__)->file();
 	$directory =~ s/\.pm$//;
 
 	Geo::Coder::Free::DB::init({
+		cache_duration => '1 day',
+		%args,
 		directory => File::Spec->catfile($directory, 'databases'),
-		cache => $param{cache} || CHI->new(driver => 'Memory', datastore => {})
+		cache => $args{cache} || CHI->new(driver => 'Memory', datastore => {}),
 	});
 
 	return bless { }, $class;
diff --git a/t/00-load.t b/t/00-load.t
index fe49413d..0d4631bc 100644
--- a/t/00-load.t
+++ b/t/00-load.t
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ BEGIN {
 	}
 }
 
-diag("Testing Geo::Coder::Free $Geo::Coder::Free::VERSION, Perl $], $^X");
-
 foreach my $module(@modules) {
 	require_ok($module) || print 'Bail out!';
 }
+
+diag("Testing Geo::Coder::Free $Geo::Coder::Free::VERSION, Perl $], $^X");