The direct ion storage (DIS) dosemeter can have some clear advantages in personal dosimetry. Before introducing the DIS into practice in the dosimetry service, a series of tests was performed on the linearity, angular and energy dependence, temperature influences and hard resets. After that, for several months, the DIS dosemeters were worn in parallel with the legal dosemeters (thermoluminescent badge) in a nuclear research centre and in several departments of a university hospital. The conclusions are that the DIS has good characteristics to be used as legal personal dosemeter, and that the comparison with the TLD badge is good. Only in interventional radiology and cardiology fields the DIS gives significant lower values than the TLD badge.