A high‐speed automatic electron‐trajectory tracer was employed to study the relative loss in deflection sensitivity and linearity caused by continuous resistive helical and conventional band‐type cathode‐ray tube postdeflection accelerators. A total of 144 trajectories was traced for six different electrode configurations immersed in a wedge‐type electrolytic tank that simulated a particular tube envelope. Beam‐deflection angles of 5.5°, 13.5°, 21.5°, and 30° were employed with maximum potential differences of 0, 2.3, 4.8, 7.3, 9.8, and 12.3‐kv postdeflection acceleration and a 2.7‐kv initial electron energy. The relative error of the resultant trajectories plotted is estimated at one percent. Of the configurations tested, the performance of the continuous resistive helix was far superior in deflection sensitivity and slightly better in deflection linearity. The results also indicate that a linear, stepped voltage distribution [(V0/N)·n], although poorer than the continuous‐helix distribution, may give better performance than that resulting from a stepped, geometrical voltage distribution (V0,V0/2,V0/4, etc.).