diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1ed01a1..150b7b2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 > This project uses [Break Versioning](https://github.com/ptaoussanis/encore/blob/master/BREAK-VERSIONING.md) as of **Aug 16, 2014**.
 
+## v2.8.0 / 2015 Feb 18
+
+> This is a **maintenance release** with some minor fixes and some dependency updates.
+
+ * **CHANGE**: Throw a clear error message on insufficient Encore dependency.
+ * **FIX** [#59]: `freezable?` should return true for clojure.lang.PersistentVector (@chairmanwow).
+ * **FIX** [#63]: Missing thaw exception cause (@cespare).
+
 ## v2.7.1 / 2014 Nov 27
 
 > This is a **minor maintenance release** & should be a safe upgrade for users of v2.7.0/RC-1.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a63cbca..1af31e2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 **[API docs][]** | **[CHANGELOG][]** | [other Clojure libs][] | [Twitter][] | [contact/contrib](#contact--contributing) | current [Break Version][]:
 
 ```clojure
-[com.taoensso/nippy "2.7.1"] ; Please see CHANGELOG for details
+[com.taoensso/nippy "2.8.0"] ; Please see CHANGELOG for details
 ```
 
-v2.7 is a major, **mostly backwards-compatible** release focused on improved performance and a new default compression scheme (LZ4). See the [CHANGELOG][] for details. Thanks to [mpenet](https://github.com/mpenet) for his work on the LZ4 support!
-
 # Nippy, a Clojure serialization library
 
 Clojure's [rich data types](http://clojure.org/datatypes) are *awesome*. And its [reader](http://clojure.org/reader) allows you to take your data just about anywhere. But the reader can be painfully slow when you've got a lot of data to crunch (like when you're serializing to a database).
@@ -34,7 +32,7 @@ Nippy is an attempt to provide a reliable, high-performance **drop-in alternativ
 Add the necessary dependency to your [Leiningen][] `project.clj` and `require` the library in your ns:
 
 ```clojure
-[com.taoensso/nippy "2.7.0"] ; project.clj
+[com.taoensso/nippy "2.8.0"] ; project.clj
 (ns my-app (:require [taoensso.nippy :as nippy])) ; ns
 ```
 
diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index 68f84e4..a6b4a1c 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-(defproject com.taoensso/nippy "2.7.1"
+(defproject com.taoensso/nippy "2.8.0"
   :author "Peter Taoussanis <https://www.taoensso.com>"
   :description "Clojure serialization library"
   :url "https://github.com/ptaoussanis/nippy"
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
 
   :dependencies
   [[org.clojure/clojure      "1.4.0"]
-   [org.clojure/tools.reader "0.8.12"]
-   [com.taoensso/encore      "1.16.2"]
+   [org.clojure/tools.reader "0.8.13"]
+   [com.taoensso/encore      "1.21.0"]
    [org.iq80.snappy/snappy   "0.3"]
    [org.tukaani/xz           "1.5"]
    [net.jpountz.lz4/lz4      "1.3"]]
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
    :1.6  {:dependencies [[org.clojure/clojure "1.6.0"]]}
    :test {:jvm-opts     ["-Xms1024m" "-Xmx2048m"]
           :dependencies [[expectations                  "2.0.13"]
-                         [org.clojure/test.check        "0.6.1"]
+                         [org.clojure/test.check        "0.7.0"]
                          ;; [com.cemerick/double-check  "0.5.7"]
                          [org.clojure/data.fressian     "0.2.0"]
                          [org.xerial.snappy/snappy-java "1.1.1.6"]]}
diff --git a/src/taoensso/nippy.clj b/src/taoensso/nippy.clj
index 74621fe..e6657ae 100644
--- a/src/taoensso/nippy.clj
+++ b/src/taoensso/nippy.clj
@@ -19,6 +19,18 @@
              PersistentQueue PersistentTreeMap PersistentTreeSet PersistentList ; LazySeq
              IRecord ISeq]))
 
+;;;; Encore version check
+
+(let [min-encore-version 1.21] ; Let's get folks on newer versions here
+  (if-let [assert! (ns-resolve 'taoensso.encore 'assert-min-encore-version)]
+    (assert! min-encore-version)
+    (throw
+      (ex-info
+        (format
+          "Insufficient com.taoensso/encore version (< %s). You may have a Leiningen dependency conflict (see http://goo.gl/qBbLvC for solution)."
+          min-encore-version)
+        {:min-version min-encore-version}))))
+
 ;;;; Nippy data format
 ;; * 4-byte header (Nippy v2.x+) (may be disabled but incl. by default) [1].
 ;; { * 1-byte type id.
@@ -599,7 +611,8 @@
                 (thaw-from-in! dis))
 
               (catch Exception e
-                (ex "Decryption/decompression failure, or data unfrozen/damaged.")))))
+                (ex "Decryption/decompression failure, or data unfrozen/damaged."
+                  e)))))
 
         ;; This is hackish and can actually currently result in JVM core dumps
         ;; due to buggy Snappy behaviour, Ref. http://goo.gl/mh7Rpy.
diff --git a/src/taoensso/nippy/utils.clj b/src/taoensso/nippy/utils.clj
index 6298f5c..a5b8ca6 100644
--- a/src/taoensso/nippy/utils.clj
+++ b/src/taoensso/nippy/utils.clj
@@ -50,7 +50,9 @@
 ;;;;
 
 (defn- is-coll?
-  "Checks for _explicit_ IPersistentCollection types with Nippy support."
+  "Checks for _explicit_ IPersistentCollection types with Nippy support.
+  Checking for explicit concrete types is tedious but preferable since a
+  `freezable?` false positive would be much worse than a false negative."
   [x]
   (let [is? #(when (instance? % x) %)]
     (or
@@ -62,13 +64,21 @@
      (is? clojure.lang.PersistentQueue)
      (is? clojure.lang.PersistentTreeSet)
      (is? clojure.lang.PersistentTreeMap)
-     (is? clojure.lang.IRecord)
+     (is? clojure.lang.PersistentVector$ChunkedSeq)
+
+     (is? clojure.lang.IRecord) ; TODO Possible to avoid the interface check?
      (is? clojure.lang.LazySeq)
+
+     ;; Too non-specific: could result in false positives (which would be a
+     ;; serious problem here):
      ;; (is? clojure.lang.ISeq)
+
      )))
 
+(comment (is-coll? (clojure.lang.PersistentVector$ChunkedSeq. [1 2 3] 0 0)))
+
 (defn freezable?
-  "Alpha - subject to change, may be buggy!
+  "Alpha - subject to change, MAY BE BUGGY!
   Returns truthy value iff Nippy supports de/serialization of given argument.
   Conservative with default options.