diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index 106c6a57..5fffdbb6 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
 All changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
+## [7.8.6] - 2019-12-28
+
+(ws cobra to sentry/statsd) fix for handling null events properly for empty queues + use queue to send data to statsd
+
 ## [7.8.5] - 2019-12-28
 
 (ws cobra to sentry) handle null events for empty queues
diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketVersion.h b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketVersion.h
index f235fe54..c15e324d 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketVersion.h
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketVersion.h
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
-#define IX_WEBSOCKET_VERSION "7.8.5"
+#define IX_WEBSOCKET_VERSION "7.8.6"
diff --git a/ws/ws_cobra_to_sentry.cpp b/ws/ws_cobra_to_sentry.cpp
index b1ba4436..2d872761 100644
--- a/ws/ws_cobra_to_sentry.cpp
+++ b/ws/ws_cobra_to_sentry.cpp
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ namespace ix
     class QueueManager
     {
     public:
-        QueueManager(size_t maxQueueSize, std::atomic<bool> &stop) : _maxQueueSize(maxQueueSize), _stop(stop) {}
+        QueueManager(size_t maxQueueSize,
+                     std::atomic<bool> &stop) : 
+            _maxQueueSize(maxQueueSize),
+            _stop(stop) {}
 
         Json::Value pop();
         void add(Json::Value msg);
@@ -146,11 +149,7 @@ namespace ix
             {
                 Json::Value msg = queueManager.pop();
 
-                while (msg.isNull())
-                {
-                    msg = queueManager.pop();
-                    if (stop) return;
-                }
+                if (msg.isNull()) continue;
                 if (stop) return;
 
                 auto ret = sentryClient.send(msg, verbose);
diff --git a/ws/ws_cobra_to_statsd.cpp b/ws/ws_cobra_to_statsd.cpp
index c5797d66..c2b9b251 100644
--- a/ws/ws_cobra_to_statsd.cpp
+++ b/ws/ws_cobra_to_statsd.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 #include <atomic>
 #include <chrono>
+#include <condition_variable>
 #include <ixcobra/IXCobraConnection.h>
 #include <spdlog/spdlog.h>
 #include <sstream>
@@ -16,6 +17,58 @@
 #include <statsd_client.h>
 #endif
 
+namespace
+{
+    class QueueManager
+    {
+    public:
+        QueueManager(size_t maxQueueSize,
+                     std::atomic<bool> &stop) : 
+            _maxQueueSize(maxQueueSize),
+            _stop(stop) {}
+
+        Json::Value pop();
+        void add(Json::Value msg);
+
+    private:
+        std::queue<Json::Value> _queue;
+        std::mutex _mutex;
+        std::condition_variable _condition;
+        size_t _maxQueueSize;
+        std::atomic<bool>& _stop;
+    };
+
+    Json::Value QueueManager::pop()
+    {
+        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(_mutex);
+
+        if (_queue.empty())
+        {
+            Json::Value val;
+            return val;
+        }
+
+        _condition.wait(lock, [this] { return !_stop; });
+
+        auto msg = _queue.front();
+        _queue.pop();
+        return msg;
+    }
+
+    void QueueManager::add(Json::Value msg)
+    {
+        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(_mutex);
+
+        // if the sending is not fast enough there is no point
+        // in queuing too many events.
+        if (_queue.size() < _maxQueueSize)
+        {
+            _queue.push(msg);
+            _condition.notify_one();
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 namespace ix
 {
     // fields are command line argument that can be specified multiple times
@@ -79,27 +132,72 @@ namespace ix
 
         auto tokens = parseFields(fields);
 
-        // statsd client
-        // test with netcat as a server: `nc -ul 8125`
-        bool statsdBatch = true;
-#ifndef _WIN32
-        statsd::StatsdClient statsdClient(host, port, prefix, statsdBatch);
-#else
-        int statsdClient;
-#endif
-
         Json::FastWriter jsonWriter;
-        uint64_t msgCount = 0;
+        std::atomic<uint64_t> sentCount(0);
+        std::atomic<uint64_t> receivedCount(0);
+        std::atomic<bool> stop(false);
+
+        size_t maxQueueSize = 1000;
+        QueueManager queueManager(maxQueueSize, stop);
+
+        auto timer = [&sentCount, &receivedCount] {
+            while (true)
+            {
+                spdlog::info("messages received {} sent {}", receivedCount, sentCount);
+
+                auto duration = std::chrono::seconds(1);
+                std::this_thread::sleep_for(duration);
+            }
+        };
+
+        std::thread t1(timer);
+
+        auto statsdSender = [&queueManager,
+                             &host,
+                             &port,
+                             &sentCount,
+                             &tokens,
+                             &prefix,
+                             &stop] {
+            // statsd client
+            // test with netcat as a server: `nc -ul 8125`
+            bool statsdBatch = true;
+#ifndef     _WIN32
+            statsd::StatsdClient statsdClient(host, port, prefix, statsdBatch);
+#else
+            int statsdClient;
+#endif
+            while (true)
+            {
+                Json::Value msg = queueManager.pop();
+
+                if (msg.isNull()) continue;
+                if (stop) return;
+
+                std::string id;
+                for (auto&& attr : tokens)
+                {
+                    id += ".";
+                    id += extractAttr(attr, msg);
+                }
+
+                sentCount += 1;
+
+#ifndef _WIN32
+                statsdClient.count(id, 1);
+#endif
+            }
+        };
+
+        std::thread t2(statsdSender);
 
         conn.setEventCallback([&conn,
                                &channel,
                                &filter,
                                &jsonWriter,
-                               &statsdClient,
                                verbose,
-                               &tokens,
-                               &prefix,
-                               &msgCount](ix::CobraConnectionEventType eventType,
+                               &queueManager,
+                               &receivedCount](ix::CobraConnectionEventType eventType,
                                           const std::string& errMsg,
                                           const ix::WebSocketHttpHeaders& headers,
                                           const std::string& subscriptionId,
@@ -122,25 +220,17 @@ namespace ix
                 spdlog::info("Subscriber authenticated");
                 conn.subscribe(channel,
                                filter,
-                               [&jsonWriter, &statsdClient, verbose, &tokens, &prefix, &msgCount](
+                               [&jsonWriter, &queueManager, verbose, &receivedCount](
                                    const Json::Value& msg) {
                                    if (verbose)
                                    {
                                        spdlog::info(jsonWriter.write(msg));
                                    }
 
-                                   std::string id;
-                                   for (auto&& attr : tokens)
-                                   {
-                                       id += ".";
-                                       id += extractAttr(attr, msg);
-                                   }
+                                   receivedCount++;
 
-                                   spdlog::info("{} {}{}", msgCount++, prefix, id);
-
-#ifndef _WIN32
-                                   statsdClient.count(id, 1);
-#endif
+                                   ++receivedCount;
+                                   queueManager.add(msg);
                                });
             }
             else if (eventType == ix::CobraConnection_EventType_Subscribed)