Sensitivity versus resolution in H I surveys. Colored symbols show the 3σ column density sensitivity over 16 km s⁻¹ for various interferometric and single-dish surveys, as indicated by the labels and legend and listed in the text. The thick blue line shows the observed MHONGOOSE sensitivities. MHONGOOSE reaches single-dish sensitivities but at a 10–50 times better angular resolution. To give an indication of the physical scales: at 10.3 Mpc (the median distance of the MHONGOOSE sample), 10″ corresponds to 0.5 kpc. Galaxies that are part of a sample with a fixed angular resolution (THINGS 30″, GBT, and PKS) were given small, random horizontal offsets for clarity. References are given in the text.