diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index 980c589b2..d3cb3c32d 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ std::string HelpMessage(HelpMessageMode mode)
     strUsage += "  -port=<port>           " + _("Listen for connections on <port> (default: 8333 or testnet: 18333)") + "\n";
     strUsage += "  -proxy=<ip:port>       " + _("Connect through SOCKS5 proxy") + "\n";
     strUsage += "  -seednode=<ip>         " + _("Connect to a node to retrieve peer addresses, and disconnect") + "\n";
-    strUsage += "  -timeout=<n>           " + _("Specify connection timeout in milliseconds (default: 5000)") + "\n";
+    strUsage += "  -timeout=<n>           " + strprintf(_("Specify connection timeout in milliseconds (minimum: 1, default: %d)"), DEFAULT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT) + "\n";
 #ifdef USE_UPNP
 #if USE_UPNP
     strUsage += "  -upnp                  " + _("Use UPnP to map the listening port (default: 1 when listening)") + "\n";
@@ -641,12 +641,9 @@ bool AppInit2(boost::thread_group& threadGroup)
     bool fDisableWallet = GetBoolArg("-disablewallet", false);
 #endif
 
-    if (mapArgs.count("-timeout"))
-    {
-        int nNewTimeout = GetArg("-timeout", 5000);
-        if (nNewTimeout > 0 && nNewTimeout < 600000)
-            nConnectTimeout = nNewTimeout;
-    }
+    nConnectTimeout = GetArg("-timeout", DEFAULT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT);
+    if (nConnectTimeout <= 0)
+        nConnectTimeout = DEFAULT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT;
 
     // Continue to put "/P2SH/" in the coinbase to monitor
     // BIP16 support.
diff --git a/src/netbase.cpp b/src/netbase.cpp
index 5819c152a..b3d100154 100644
--- a/src/netbase.cpp
+++ b/src/netbase.cpp
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ using namespace std;
 static proxyType proxyInfo[NET_MAX];
 static CService nameProxy;
 static CCriticalSection cs_proxyInfos;
-int nConnectTimeout = 5000;
+int nConnectTimeout = DEFAULT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT;
 bool fNameLookup = false;
 
 static const unsigned char pchIPv4[12] = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0xff, 0xff };
diff --git a/src/netbase.h b/src/netbase.h
index 9fc5c72eb..1455cd8c3 100644
--- a/src/netbase.h
+++ b/src/netbase.h
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@
 extern int nConnectTimeout;
 extern bool fNameLookup;
 
+/** -timeout default */
+static const int DEFAULT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT = 5000;
+
 #ifdef WIN32
 // In MSVC, this is defined as a macro, undefine it to prevent a compile and link error
 #undef SetPort