diff --git a/pyulog/core.py b/pyulog/core.py
index 6069325..0ad9896 100644
--- a/pyulog/core.py
+++ b/pyulog/core.py
@@ -482,6 +482,19 @@ def _make_changed_param_items(self):
 
         return changed_param_items
 
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        """
+        If the other object has all the same data as we have, we want to
+        consider them equal, even if the other object has extra fields, because
+        the user cares about the ULog contents.
+        """
+        if not isinstance(other, ULog):
+            return NotImplemented
+        return all(
+            self_value == getattr(other, field)
+            for field, self_value in self.__dict__.items()
+        )
+
     class Data(object):
         """ contains the final topic data for a single topic and instance """
 
diff --git a/pyulog/db.py b/pyulog/db.py
index 0c40b34..dc0434b 100644
--- a/pyulog/db.py
+++ b/pyulog/db.py
@@ -177,6 +177,16 @@ def __init__(self, db_handle, primary_key=None, log_file=None, lazy=True, **kwar
         if primary_key is not None:
             self.load(lazy=lazy)
 
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        """
+        If the other object is a normal ULog, then we just want to compare ULog
+        data, not DatabaseULog specific fields, because we want to compare
+        theULog file contents.
+        """
+        if type(other) is ULog:  # pylint: disable=unidiomatic-typecheck
+            return other.__eq__(self)
+        return super().__eq__(other)
+
     @property
     def primary_key(self):
         '''The primary key of the ulog, pointing to the correct "ULog" row in the database.'''
diff --git a/test/test_db.py b/test/test_db.py
index 53c2429..9da0599 100644
--- a/test/test_db.py
+++ b/test/test_db.py
@@ -54,8 +54,7 @@ def test_parsing(self, test_case):
         dbulog_saved.save()
         primary_key = dbulog_saved.primary_key
         dbulog_loaded = DatabaseULog(self.db_handle, primary_key=primary_key, lazy=False)
-        for ulog_key, ulog_value in ulog.__dict__.items():
-            self.assertEqual(ulog_value, getattr(dbulog_loaded, ulog_key))
+        self.assertEqual(ulog, dbulog_loaded)
 
     def test_lazy(self):
         '''
diff --git a/test/test_ulog.py b/test/test_ulog.py
index 85f95c3..26d5ecf 100644
--- a/test/test_ulog.py
+++ b/test/test_ulog.py
@@ -20,6 +20,22 @@ class TestULog(unittest.TestCase):
     Tests the ULog class
     '''
 
+    @data('sample')
+    def test_comparison(self, base_name):
+        '''
+        Test that the custom comparison method works as expected.
+        '''
+        ulog_file_name = os.path.join(TEST_PATH, base_name + '.ulg')
+        ulog1 = pyulog.ULog(ulog_file_name)
+        ulog2 = pyulog.ULog(ulog_file_name)
+        assert ulog1 == ulog2
+        assert ulog1 is not ulog2
+
+        # make them different in arbitrary field
+        ulog1.data_list[0].data['timestamp'][0] += 1
+        assert ulog1 != ulog2
+
+
     @data('sample',
           'sample_appended',
           'sample_appended_multiple',
@@ -36,21 +52,11 @@ def test_write_ulog(self, base_name):
             original.write_ulog(written_ulog_file_name)
             copied = pyulog.ULog(written_ulog_file_name)
 
-        for original_key, original_value in original.__dict__.items():
-            copied_value = getattr(copied, original_key)
-            if original_key == '_sync_seq_cnt':
-                # Sync messages are counted on parse, but otherwise dropped, so
-                # we don't rewrite them
-                assert copied_value == 0
-            elif original_key == '_appended_offsets':
-                # Abruptly ended messages just before offsets are dropped, so
-                # we don't rewrite appended offsets
-                assert copied_value == []
-            elif original_key == '_incompat_flags':
-                # Same reasoning on incompat_flags[0] as for '_appended_offsets'
-                assert copied_value[0] == original_value[0] & 0xFE # pylint: disable=unsubscriptable-object
-                assert copied_value[1:] == original_value[1:] # pylint: disable=unsubscriptable-object
-            else:
-                assert copied_value == original_value
+        # Some fields are not copied but dropped, so we cheat by modifying the original
+        original._sync_seq_cnt = 0  # pylint: disable=protected-access
+        original._appended_offsets = []  # pylint: disable=protected-access
+        original._incompat_flags[0] &= 0xFE  # pylint: disable=protected-access
+
+        assert copied == original
 
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