diff --git a/smauglab/configs/all_augmentations.json b/smauglab/configs/all_augmentations.json
index 9c3d28f..471fb50 100644
--- a/smauglab/configs/all_augmentations.json
+++ b/smauglab/configs/all_augmentations.json
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@
             "keepdim": true,
             "p": 1.0,
             "p_batch": 1.0,
-            "retain_stats": false,
+            "retain_stats": true,
             "same_on_batch": false,
             "std_noise_range": [
                 0.1,
diff --git a/smauglab/transforms/gpu/fromSeg.py b/smauglab/transforms/gpu/fromSeg.py
index 8751dc7..77bb79e 100644
--- a/smauglab/transforms/gpu/fromSeg.py
+++ b/smauglab/transforms/gpu/fromSeg.py
@@ -106,13 +106,31 @@ class RandomRedistributeSegGPU(ImageOnlyTransform):
 
     Mirrors the CPU `RedistributeTransform` behavior using GPU-friendly ops.
     Works with inputs shaped [N, C, H, W] or [N, C, D, H, W].
+
+    `retain_stats` defaults to True, and wants to stay that way. The whole method
+    operates in a per-sample [0, 1] min-max space and adds a perturbation of up to
+    2.0 *in that space* -- twice the input's full dynamic range. With
+    `retain_stats=False` nothing maps the result back, so the output is
+    independent of the input's scale entirely: a z-scored patch, the same patch
+    scaled by 100, and anything else all come out in the same [0.5, 2.9] band with
+    mean 2.2. For a network fed z-scored patches that is finite, silent and badly
+    out of distribution -- the same defect the no-foreground branch below carries a
+    comment about.
+
+    Mapping back is not a fix on its own: the perturbation is defined in
+    normalised units, so rescaling it by the input range makes it far larger
+    (measured, mean 18.4 rather than 2.2). Bounding the amplitude in input units
+    would be a redesign of an augmentation inherited from totalspineseg, so this
+    only changes which setting you get by default. `transform_params_hybrid.json`
+    and `transform_params_hybrid_TAGE.json` ask for False explicitly and are
+    unaffected.
     """
 
     def __init__(
         self,
         in_seg: float = 0.2,
         apply_to_channel: Sequence[int] = (0,),
-        retain_stats: bool = False,
+        retain_stats: bool = True,
         same_on_batch: bool = False,
         p: float = 1.0,
         p_batch: float = 1.0,
diff --git a/unit_tests/test_redistribute_scale.py b/unit_tests/test_redistribute_scale.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f92b70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unit_tests/test_redistribute_scale.py
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+"""`RandomRedistributeSegGPU` must not throw away the input's intensity scale.
+
+The transform works in a per-sample [0, 1] min-max space and adds a perturbation
+of up to 2.0 *in that space*. With `retain_stats=False` nothing maps the result
+back, so the output does not depend on the input's scale at all -- a z-scored
+patch and the same patch multiplied by 100 come out identical. For a network fed
+z-scored patches that is finite, silent and badly out of distribution, which is
+the same failure the no-foreground branch of this method carries a comment
+about.
+
+Mapping back is not a fix on its own: the perturbation is defined in normalised
+units, so rescaling it by the input range makes it much larger (measured, an
+output mean of 18.4 rather than 2.2). Bounding the amplitude in input units
+would be a redesign of an augmentation inherited from totalspineseg. So the
+default changed and the limitation is pinned here rather than papered over.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import torch
+
+from smauglab.transforms.gpu.fromSeg import RandomRedistributeSegGPU
+from unit_tests.helpers import SmaugLabTestCase
+
+SHAPE = (1, 1, 16, 16, 16)
+
+
+def seg() -> torch.Tensor:
+    mask = torch.zeros(*SHAPE)
+    mask[:, :, 4:12, 4:12, 4:12] = 1.0
+    return mask
+
+
+def run(image, **kwargs):
+    torch.manual_seed(3)
+    transform = RandomRedistributeSegGPU(p=1.0, **kwargs)
+    return transform.apply_transform(image.clone(), {"seg": seg()}, transform.flags)
+
+
+class TestScaleIsPreservedByDefault(SmaugLabTestCase):
+    def test_the_default_keeps_the_input_statistics(self):
+        torch.manual_seed(0)
+        image = torch.randn(*SHAPE) * 1.5
+
+        out = run(image)
+
+        self.assertAlmostEqual(float(out.mean()), float(image.mean()), places=4)
+        self.assertAlmostEqual(float(out.std()), float(image.std()), places=3)
+
+    def test_the_default_still_changes_the_image(self):
+        torch.manual_seed(0)
+        image = torch.randn(*SHAPE) * 1.5
+
+        out = run(image)
+
+        self.assertFalse(bool(torch.equal(out, image)))
+        self.assertTrue(bool(torch.isfinite(out).all()))
+
+    def test_the_default_tracks_the_input_scale(self):
+        """Two inputs differing only in scale must not produce the same output."""
+        torch.manual_seed(0)
+        image = torch.randn(*SHAPE)
+
+        small = run(image)
+        large = run(image * 100.0)
+
+        self.assertGreater(float(large.std() / small.std()), 50.0)
+
+
+class TestRetainStatsFalseIsStillScaleBlind(SmaugLabTestCase):
+    """The known limitation, pinned so it cannot be forgotten or silently change."""
+
+    def test_the_output_is_independent_of_the_input_scale(self):
+        torch.manual_seed(0)
+        image = torch.randn(*SHAPE)
+
+        outputs = [run(image * scale, retain_stats=False) for scale in (1.0, 1.5, 100.0)]
+
+        for other in outputs[1:]:
+            torch.testing.assert_close(outputs[0], other)