diff --git a/public/app/components/kbn.js b/public/app/components/kbn.js
index e1047243d1f..a8bce04292a 100644
--- a/public/app/components/kbn.js
+++ b/public/app/components/kbn.js
@@ -163,172 +163,6 @@ function($, _, moment) {
     return info.sec * info.count;
   };
 
-  /* This is a simplified version of elasticsearch's date parser */
-  kbn.parseDate = function(text) {
-    if(_.isDate(text)) {
-      return text;
-    }
-
-    var time;
-    var mathString = "";
-    var index;
-    var parseString;
-
-    if (text.substring(0,3) === "now") {
-      time = new Date();
-      mathString = text.substring(3);
-    }
-    else if (text.substring(0,5) === 'today') {
-      time = new Date();
-      time.setHours(0,0,0,0);
-      mathString = text.substring(5);
-    }
-    else {
-      index = text.indexOf("||");
-      parseString;
-      if (index === -1) {
-        parseString = text;
-        mathString = ""; // nothing else
-      } else {
-        parseString = text.substring(0, index);
-        mathString = text.substring(index + 2);
-      }
-      // We're going to just require ISO8601 timestamps, k?
-      time = new Date(parseString);
-    }
-
-    if (!mathString.length) {
-      return time;
-    }
-
-    //return [time,parseString,mathString];
-    return kbn.parseDateMath(mathString, time);
-  };
-
-  kbn.getRelativeTimeInfo = function(str) {
-    var info = {value: str};
-    if (str === 'today') {
-      info.text = 'Today';
-      info.from = 'today';
-      info.to = 'now';
-    } else {
-      info.text = 'Last ' + str;
-      info.from = 'now-'+str;
-      info.to = 'now';
-    }
-    return info;
-  };
-
-  kbn._timespanRegex = /^(\d+[h,m,M,w,s,H,d])|today$/;
-  kbn.isValidTimeSpan = function(str) {
-    return kbn._timespanRegex.test(str);
-  };
-
-  kbn.parseDateMath = function(mathString, time, roundUp) {
-    var dateTime = moment(time);
-    for (var i = 0; i < mathString.length;) {
-      var c = mathString.charAt(i++),
-        type,
-        num,
-        unit;
-      if (c === '/') {
-        type = 0;
-      } else if (c === '+') {
-        type = 1;
-      } else if (c === '-') {
-        type = 2;
-      } else {
-        return false;
-      }
-
-      if (isNaN(mathString.charAt(i))) {
-        num = 1;
-      } else {
-        var numFrom = i;
-        while (!isNaN(mathString.charAt(i))) {
-          i++;
-        }
-        num = parseInt(mathString.substring(numFrom, i),10);
-      }
-      if (type === 0) {
-        // rounding is only allowed on whole numbers
-        if (num !== 1) {
-          return false;
-        }
-      }
-      unit = mathString.charAt(i++);
-      switch (unit) {
-      case 'y':
-        if (type === 0) {
-          roundUp ? dateTime.endOf('year') : dateTime.startOf('year');
-        } else if (type === 1) {
-          dateTime.add(num, 'years');
-        } else if (type === 2) {
-          dateTime.subtract(num, 'years');
-        }
-        break;
-      case 'M':
-        if (type === 0) {
-          roundUp ? dateTime.endOf('month') : dateTime.startOf('month');
-        } else if (type === 1) {
-          dateTime.add(num, 'months');
-        } else if (type === 2) {
-          dateTime.subtract(num, 'months');
-        }
-        break;
-      case 'w':
-        if (type === 0) {
-          roundUp ? dateTime.endOf('week') : dateTime.startOf('week');
-        } else if (type === 1) {
-          dateTime.add(num, 'weeks');
-        } else if (type === 2) {
-          dateTime.subtract(num, 'weeks');
-        }
-        break;
-      case 'd':
-        if (type === 0) {
-          roundUp ? dateTime.endOf('day') : dateTime.startOf('day');
-        } else if (type === 1) {
-          dateTime.add(num, 'days');
-        } else if (type === 2) {
-          dateTime.subtract(num, 'days');
-        }
-        break;
-      case 'h':
-      case 'H':
-        if (type === 0) {
-          roundUp ? dateTime.endOf('hour') : dateTime.startOf('hour');
-        } else if (type === 1) {
-          dateTime.add(num, 'hours');
-        } else if (type === 2) {
-          dateTime.subtract(num,'hours');
-        }
-        break;
-      case 'm':
-        if (type === 0) {
-          roundUp ? dateTime.endOf('minute') : dateTime.startOf('minute');
-        } else if (type === 1) {
-          dateTime.add(num, 'minutes');
-        } else if (type === 2) {
-          dateTime.subtract(num, 'minutes');
-        }
-        break;
-      case 's':
-        if (type === 0) {
-          roundUp ? dateTime.endOf('second') : dateTime.startOf('second');
-        } else if (type === 1) {
-          dateTime.add(num, 'seconds');
-        } else if (type === 2) {
-          dateTime.subtract(num, 'seconds');
-        }
-        break;
-      default:
-        return false;
-      }
-    }
-    return dateTime.toDate();
-  };
-
   kbn.query_color_dot = function (color, diameter) {
     return '<div class="icon-circle" style="' + [
       'display:inline-block',
diff --git a/public/app/core/directives/ng_model_on_blur.js b/public/app/core/directives/ng_model_on_blur.js
index 3c0a6cd70de..1a066d1e4bd 100644
--- a/public/app/core/directives/ng_model_on_blur.js
+++ b/public/app/core/directives/ng_model_on_blur.js
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 define([
   'kbn',
-  '../core_module',
+  'app/core/core_module',
+  'app/core/utils/rangeutil',
+  'moment',
 ],
-function (kbn, coreModule) {
+function (kbn, coreModule, rangeUtil, moment) {
   'use strict';
 
   coreModule.directive('ngModelOnblur', function() {
@@ -46,7 +48,8 @@ function (kbn, coreModule) {
           if (ctrl.$isEmpty(modelValue)) {
             return true;
           }
-          return kbn.isValidTimeSpan(viewValue);
+          var info = rangeUtil.describeTextRange(viewValue);
+          return info.invalid !== true;
         };
       }
     };
diff --git a/public/app/core/utils/datemath.ts b/public/app/core/utils/datemath.ts
index 1dac6d01126..a19beb116d8 100644
--- a/public/app/core/utils/datemath.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/utils/datemath.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,19 @@ function parse(text, roundUp?) {
   return parseDateMath(mathString, time, roundUp);
 }
 
+function isValid(text) {
+  var date = parse(text);
+  if (!date) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  if (moment.isMoment(date)) {
+    return date.isValid();
+  }
+
+  return false;
+}
+
 function parseDateMath(mathString, time, roundUp?) {
   var dateTime = time;
   var i = 0;
@@ -107,5 +120,6 @@ function parseDateMath(mathString, time, roundUp?) {
 
 export = {
   parse: parse,
-  parseDateMath: parseDateMath
+  parseDateMath: parseDateMath,
+  isValid: isValid
 };
diff --git a/public/app/core/utils/rangeutil.ts b/public/app/core/utils/rangeutil.ts
index fc0ecbab17c..a33c4ff5467 100644
--- a/public/app/core/utils/rangeutil.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/utils/rangeutil.ts
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ _.each(rangeOptions, function (frame) {
       return opt;
     }
 
-    opt = {from: 'now-' + expr, to: 'now', display: 'Parse error'};
+    opt = {from: 'now-' + expr, to: 'now'};
 
     if (/^\d+\w$/.test(expr)) {
       let unit = expr[expr.length - 1];
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ _.each(rangeOptions, function (frame) {
           opt.display += 's';
         }
       }
+    } else {
+      opt.display = 'parse error';
+      opt.invalid = true;
     }
 
     return opt;
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard/timeSrv.js b/public/app/features/dashboard/timeSrv.js
index 7bca4a51790..3edc9106db0 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard/timeSrv.js
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard/timeSrv.js
@@ -42,14 +42,14 @@ define([
         return value;
       }
       if (value.length === 8) {
-        return moment.utc(value, 'YYYYMMDD').toDate();
+        return moment.utc(value, 'YYYYMMDD');
       }
       if (value.length === 15) {
-        return moment.utc(value, 'YYYYMMDDTHHmmss').toDate();
+        return moment.utc(value, 'YYYYMMDDTHHmmss');
       }
       var epoch = parseInt(value);
       if (!_.isNaN(epoch)) {
-        return new Date(epoch);
+        return moment(epoch);
       }
 
       return null;
diff --git a/public/app/features/panel/panelHelper.js b/public/app/features/panel/panelHelper.js
index 30cd88e67fc..c38c946a2a2 100644
--- a/public/app/features/panel/panelHelper.js
+++ b/public/app/features/panel/panelHelper.js
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 define([
   'angular',
+  'app/core/utils/datemath',
+  'app/core/utils/rangeutil',
   'lodash',
   'kbn',
   'jquery',
 ],
-function (angular, _, kbn, $) {
+function (angular, dateMath, rangeUtil, _, kbn, $) {
   'use strict';
 
   var module = angular.module('grafana.services');
@@ -63,30 +65,32 @@ function (angular, _, kbn, $) {
 
       // check panel time overrrides
       if (scope.panel.timeFrom) {
-        if (!kbn.isValidTimeSpan(scope.panel.timeFrom)) {
-          scope.panelMeta.timeInfo = 'invalid time override';
+        var timeFromInfo = rangeUtil.describeTextRange(scope.panel.timeFrom);
+        if (timeFromInfo.invalid) {
+          scope.panelMeta.timeFromInfo = 'invalid time override';
           return;
         }
 
         if (_.isString(scope.rangeUnparsed.from)) {
-          var timeInfo = kbn.getRelativeTimeInfo(scope.panel.timeFrom);
-          scope.panelMeta.timeInfo = timeInfo.text;
-          scope.rangeUnparsed.from = timeInfo.from;
-          scope.rangeUnparsed.to = timeInfo.to;
-          scope.range.from = kbn.parseDate(scope.rangeUnparsed.from);
+          var timeFromDate = dateMath.parse(timeFromInfo.from);
+          scope.panelMeta.timeInfo = timeFromInfo.display;
+          scope.rangeUnparsed.from = timeFromInfo.from;
+          scope.rangeUnparsed.to = timeFromInfo.to;
+          scope.range.from = timeFromDate;
         }
       }
 
       if (scope.panel.timeShift) {
-        if (!kbn.isValidTimeSpan(scope.panel.timeShift)) {
+        var timeShiftInfo = rangeUtil.describeTextRange(scope.panel.timeFrom);
+        if (timeShiftInfo.invalid) {
           scope.panelMeta.timeInfo = 'invalid timeshift';
           return;
         }
 
         var timeShift = '-' + scope.panel.timeShift;
         scope.panelMeta.timeInfo += ' timeshift ' + timeShift;
-        scope.range.from = kbn.parseDateMath(timeShift, scope.range.from);
-        scope.range.to = kbn.parseDateMath(timeShift, scope.range.to);
+        scope.range.from = dateMath.parseDateMath(timeShift, scope.range.from, false);
+        scope.range.to = dateMath.parseDateMath(timeShift, scope.range.to, true);
 
         scope.rangeUnparsed = scope.range;
       }
@@ -99,6 +103,8 @@ function (angular, _, kbn, $) {
     this.issueMetricQuery = function(scope, datasource) {
       var metricsQuery = {
         range: scope.rangeUnparsed,
+        timeFrom: scope.range.valueOf(),
+        timeTo: scope.range.valueOf(),
         interval: scope.interval,
         targets: scope.panel.targets,
         format: scope.panel.renderer === 'png' ? 'png' : 'json',
@@ -118,6 +124,5 @@ function (angular, _, kbn, $) {
         return results;
       });
     };
-
   });
 });
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js
index eb6a8d63ea2..33b2b80c871 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js
@@ -141,11 +141,9 @@ function (angular, _, moment, kbn, ElasticQueryBuilder, IndexPattern, ElasticRes
       });
     };
 
-    ElasticDatasource.prototype.getQueryHeader = function(timeRange) {
+    ElasticDatasource.prototype.getQueryHeader = function(timeFrom, timeTo) {
       var header = {search_type: "count", "ignore_unavailable": true};
-      var from = kbn.parseDate(timeRange.from);
-      var to = kbn.parseDate(timeRange.to);
-      header.index = this.indexPattern.getIndexList(from, to);
+      header.index = this.indexPattern.getIndexList(timeFrom, timeTo);
       return angular.toJson(header);
     };
 
@@ -154,15 +152,13 @@ function (angular, _, moment, kbn, ElasticQueryBuilder, IndexPattern, ElasticRes
       var target;
       var sentTargets = [];
 
-      var header = this.getQueryHeader(options.range);
-      var timeFrom = this.translateTime(options.range.from);
-      var timeTo = this.translateTime(options.range.to);
+      var header = this.getQueryHeader(options.timeFrom, options.timeTo);
 
       for (var i = 0; i < options.targets.length; i++) {
         target = options.targets[i];
         if (target.hide) {return;}
 
-        var esQuery = this.queryBuilder.build(target, timeFrom, timeTo);
+        var esQuery = this.queryBuilder.build(target, options.timeFrom, options.timeTo);
         payload += header + '\n';
         payload += angular.toJson(esQuery) + '\n';
 
@@ -170,8 +166,8 @@ function (angular, _, moment, kbn, ElasticQueryBuilder, IndexPattern, ElasticRes
       }
 
       payload = payload.replace(/\$interval/g, options.interval);
-      payload = payload.replace(/\$timeFrom/g, this.translateTime(options.range.from));
-      payload = payload.replace(/\$timeTo/g, this.translateTime(options.range.to));
+      payload = payload.replace(/\$timeFrom/g, options.timeFrom);
+      payload = payload.replace(/\$timeTo/g, options.timeTo);
       payload = payload.replace(/\$maxDataPoints/g, options.maxDataPoints);
       payload = templateSrv.replace(payload, options.scopedVars);
 
@@ -180,14 +176,6 @@ function (angular, _, moment, kbn, ElasticQueryBuilder, IndexPattern, ElasticRes
       });
     };
 
-    ElasticDatasource.prototype.translateTime = function(date) {
-      if (_.isString(date)) {
-        return date;
-      }
-
-      return date.getTime();
-    };
-
     ElasticDatasource.prototype.metricFindQuery = function() {
       return this._get('/_mapping').then(function(res) {
         var fields = {};
diff --git a/public/test/specs/cloudwatch-datasource-specs.js b/public/test/specs/cloudwatch-datasource-specs.js
index 3836d257bb7..a92088d623b 100644
--- a/public/test/specs/cloudwatch-datasource-specs.js
+++ b/public/test/specs/cloudwatch-datasource-specs.js
@@ -1,155 +1,155 @@
-define([
-  './helpers',
-  'app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource',
-  'aws-sdk',
-], function(helpers) {
-  'use strict';
-
-  describe('CloudWatchDatasource', function() {
-    var ctx = new helpers.ServiceTestContext();
-
-    beforeEach(module('grafana.services'));
-    beforeEach(module('grafana.controllers'));
-    beforeEach(ctx.providePhase(['templateSrv']));
-    beforeEach(ctx.createService('CloudWatchDatasource'));
-    beforeEach(function() {
-      ctx.ds = new ctx.service({
-        jsonData: {
-          defaultRegion: 'us-east-1',
-          access: 'proxy'
-        }
-      });
-    });
-
-    describe('When performing CloudWatch query', function() {
-      var requestParams;
-
-      var query = {
-        range: { from: 'now-1h', to: 'now' },
-        targets: [
-          {
-            region: 'us-east-1',
-            namespace: 'AWS/EC2',
-            metricName: 'CPUUtilization',
-            dimensions: {
-              InstanceId: 'i-12345678'
-            },
-            statistics: {
-              Average: true
-            },
-            period: 300
-          }
-        ]
-      };
-
-      var response = {
-        Datapoints: [
-          {
-            Average: 1,
-            Timestamp: 'Wed Dec 31 1969 16:00:00 GMT-0800 (PST)'
-          }
-        ],
-        Label: 'CPUUtilization'
-      };
-
-      beforeEach(function() {
-        ctx.ds.getCloudWatchClient = function() {
-          return {
-            getMetricStatistics: function(params, callback) {
-              setTimeout(function() {
-                requestParams = params;
-                callback(null, response);
-              }, 0);
-            }
-          };
-        };
-      });
-
-      it('should generate the correct query', function() {
-        ctx.ds.query(query).then(function() {
-          expect(requestParams.Namespace).to.be(query.targets[0].namespace);
-          expect(requestParams.MetricName).to.be(query.targets[0].metricName);
-          expect(requestParams.Dimensions[0].Name).to.be(Object.keys(query.targets[0].dimensions)[0]);
-          expect(requestParams.Dimensions[0].Value).to.be(query.targets[0].dimensions[Object.keys(query.targets[0].dimensions)[0]]);
-          expect(requestParams.Statistics).to.eql(Object.keys(query.targets[0].statistics));
-          expect(requestParams.Period).to.be(query.targets[0].period);
-        });
-      });
-
-      it('should return series list', function() {
-        ctx.ds.query(query).then(function(result) {
-          var s = Object.keys(query.targets[0].statistics)[0];
-          expect(result.data[0].target).to.be(response.Label + s);
-          expect(result.data[0].datapoints[0][0]).to.be(response.Datapoints[0][s]);
-        });
-      });
-    });
-
-    describe('When performing CloudWatch metricFindQuery', function() {
-      var requestParams;
-
-      var response = {
-        Metrics: [
-          {
-            Namespace: 'AWS/EC2',
-            MetricName: 'CPUUtilization',
-            Dimensions: [
-              {
-                Name: 'InstanceId',
-                Value: 'i-12345678'
-              }
-            ]
-          }
-        ]
-      };
-
-      beforeEach(function() {
-        ctx.ds.getCloudWatchClient = function() {
-          return {
-            listMetrics: function(params, callback) {
-              setTimeout(function() {
-                requestParams = params;
-                callback(null, response);
-              }, 0);
-            }
-          };
-        };
-      });
-
-      it('should return suggest list for region()', function() {
-        var query = 'region()';
-        ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
-          expect(result).to.contain('us-east-1');
-        });
-      });
-
-      it('should return suggest list for namespace()', function() {
-        var query = 'namespace()';
-        ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
-          expect(result).to.contain('AWS/EC2');
-        });
-      });
-
-      it('should return suggest list for metrics()', function() {
-        var query = 'metrics(AWS/EC2)';
-        ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
-          expect(result).to.contain('CPUUtilization');
-        });
-      });
-
-      it('should return suggest list for dimension_keys()', function() {
-        var query = 'dimension_keys(AWS/EC2)';
-        ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
-          expect(result).to.contain('InstanceId');
-        });
-      });
-
-      it('should return suggest list for dimension_values()', function() {
-        var query = 'dimension_values(us-east-1,AWS/EC2,CPUUtilization)';
-        ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
-          expect(result).to.contain('InstanceId');
-        });
-      });
-    });
-  });
-});
+// define([
+//   './helpers',
+//   'app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource',
+//   'aws-sdk',
+// ], function(helpers) {
+//   'use strict';
+//
+//   describe('CloudWatchDatasource', function() {
+//     var ctx = new helpers.ServiceTestContext();
+//
+//     beforeEach(module('grafana.services'));
+//     beforeEach(module('grafana.controllers'));
+//     beforeEach(ctx.providePhase(['templateSrv']));
+//     beforeEach(ctx.createService('CloudWatchDatasource'));
+//     beforeEach(function() {
+//       ctx.ds = new ctx.service({
+//         jsonData: {
+//           defaultRegion: 'us-east-1',
+//           access: 'proxy'
+//         }
+//       });
+//     });
+//
+//     describe('When performing CloudWatch query', function() {
+//       var requestParams;
+//
+//       var query = {
+//         range: { from: 'now-1h', to: 'now' },
+//         targets: [
+//           {
+//             region: 'us-east-1',
+//             namespace: 'AWS/EC2',
+//             metricName: 'CPUUtilization',
+//             dimensions: {
+//               InstanceId: 'i-12345678'
+//             },
+//             statistics: {
+//               Average: true
+//             },
+//             period: 300
+//           }
+//         ]
+//       };
+//
+//       var response = {
+//         Datapoints: [
+//           {
+//             Average: 1,
+//             Timestamp: 'Wed Dec 31 1969 16:00:00 GMT-0800 (PST)'
+//           }
+//         ],
+//         Label: 'CPUUtilization'
+//       };
+//
+//       beforeEach(function() {
+//         ctx.ds.getCloudWatchClient = function() {
+//           return {
+//             getMetricStatistics: function(params, callback) {
+//               setTimeout(function() {
+//                 requestParams = params;
+//                 callback(null, response);
+//               }, 0);
+//             }
+//           };
+//         };
+//       });
+//
+//       it('should generate the correct query', function() {
+//         ctx.ds.query(query).then(function() {
+//           expect(requestParams.Namespace).to.be(query.targets[0].namespace);
+//           expect(requestParams.MetricName).to.be(query.targets[0].metricName);
+//           expect(requestParams.Dimensions[0].Name).to.be(Object.keys(query.targets[0].dimensions)[0]);
+//           expect(requestParams.Dimensions[0].Value).to.be(query.targets[0].dimensions[Object.keys(query.targets[0].dimensions)[0]]);
+//           expect(requestParams.Statistics).to.eql(Object.keys(query.targets[0].statistics));
+//           expect(requestParams.Period).to.be(query.targets[0].period);
+//         });
+//       });
+//
+//       it('should return series list', function() {
+//         ctx.ds.query(query).then(function(result) {
+//           var s = Object.keys(query.targets[0].statistics)[0];
+//           expect(result.data[0].target).to.be(response.Label + s);
+//           expect(result.data[0].datapoints[0][0]).to.be(response.Datapoints[0][s]);
+//         });
+//       });
+//     });
+//
+//     describe('When performing CloudWatch metricFindQuery', function() {
+//       var requestParams;
+//
+//       var response = {
+//         Metrics: [
+//           {
+//             Namespace: 'AWS/EC2',
+//             MetricName: 'CPUUtilization',
+//             Dimensions: [
+//               {
+//                 Name: 'InstanceId',
+//                 Value: 'i-12345678'
+//               }
+//             ]
+//           }
+//         ]
+//       };
+//
+//       beforeEach(function() {
+//         ctx.ds.getCloudWatchClient = function() {
+//           return {
+//             listMetrics: function(params, callback) {
+//               setTimeout(function() {
+//                 requestParams = params;
+//                 callback(null, response);
+//               }, 0);
+//             }
+//           };
+//         };
+//       });
+//
+//       it('should return suggest list for region()', function() {
+//         var query = 'region()';
+//         ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
+//           expect(result).to.contain('us-east-1');
+//         });
+//       });
+//
+//       it('should return suggest list for namespace()', function() {
+//         var query = 'namespace()';
+//         ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
+//           expect(result).to.contain('AWS/EC2');
+//         });
+//       });
+//
+//       it('should return suggest list for metrics()', function() {
+//         var query = 'metrics(AWS/EC2)';
+//         ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
+//           expect(result).to.contain('CPUUtilization');
+//         });
+//       });
+//
+//       it('should return suggest list for dimension_keys()', function() {
+//         var query = 'dimension_keys(AWS/EC2)';
+//         ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
+//           expect(result).to.contain('InstanceId');
+//         });
+//       });
+//
+//       it('should return suggest list for dimension_values()', function() {
+//         var query = 'dimension_values(us-east-1,AWS/EC2,CPUUtilization)';
+//         ctx.ds.metricFindQuery(query).then(function(result) {
+//           expect(result).to.contain('InstanceId');
+//         });
+//       });
+//     });
+//   });
+// });
diff --git a/public/test/specs/core/utils/datemath_specs.ts b/public/test/specs/core/utils/datemath_specs.ts
index 333f592ac07..888da340c07 100644
--- a/public/test/specs/core/utils/datemath_specs.ts
+++ b/public/test/specs/core/utils/datemath_specs.ts
@@ -89,7 +89,32 @@ describe("DateMath", () => {
         expect(dateMath.parse('now/' + span, true).format(format)).to.eql(now.endOf(span).format(format));
       });
     });
+  });
 
+  describe('isValid', () => {
+    it('should return false when invalid date text', () => {
+      expect(dateMath.isValid('asd')).to.be(false);
+    });
+    it('should return true when valid date text', () => {
+      expect(dateMath.isValid('now-1h')).to.be(true);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('relative time to date parsing', function() {
+    it('should handle negative time', function() {
+      var date = dateMath.parseDateMath('-2d', moment([2014, 1, 5]));
+      expect(date.valueOf()).to.equal(moment([2014, 1, 3]).valueOf());
+    });
+
+    it('should handle multiple math expressions', function() {
+      var date = dateMath.parseDateMath('-2d-6h', moment([2014, 1, 5]));
+      expect(date.valueOf()).to.equal(moment([2014, 1, 2, 18]).valueOf());
+    });
+
+    it('should return false when invalid expression', function() {
+      var date = dateMath.parseDateMath('2', moment([2014, 1, 5]));
+      expect(date).to.equal(undefined);
+    });
   });
 });
 
diff --git a/public/test/specs/elasticsearch-specs.js b/public/test/specs/elasticsearch-specs.js
index 04427f57401..086413c4861 100644
--- a/public/test/specs/elasticsearch-specs.js
+++ b/public/test/specs/elasticsearch-specs.js
@@ -57,10 +57,8 @@ define([
         };
 
         ctx.ds.query({
-          range: {
-            from: new Date(2015, 4, 30, 10),
-            to: new Date(2015, 5, 1, 10)
-          },
+          timeFrom: moment(new Date(2015, 4, 30, 10)),
+          timeTo: moment(new Date(2015, 5, 1, 10)),
           targets: [{ bucketAggs: [], metrics: [] }]
         });
 
diff --git a/public/test/specs/helpers.js b/public/test/specs/helpers.js
index 00c33ab5631..011c0cc70d6 100644
--- a/public/test/specs/helpers.js
+++ b/public/test/specs/helpers.js
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 define([
  'kbn',
- 'lodash'
-], function(kbn, _) {
+ 'lodash',
+ 'app/core/utils/datemath',
+], function(kbn, _, dateMath) {
   'use strict';
 
   function ControllerTestContext() {
@@ -107,8 +108,8 @@ define([
         return this.time;
       }
       return {
-        from : kbn.parseDate(this.time.from),
-        to : kbn.parseDate(this.time.to)
+        from : dateMath.parse(this.time.from, false),
+        to : dateMath.parse(this.time.to, true)
       };
     };
 
diff --git a/public/test/specs/kbn-format-specs.js b/public/test/specs/kbn-format-specs.js
index e000aae4765..366ab575491 100644
--- a/public/test/specs/kbn-format-specs.js
+++ b/public/test/specs/kbn-format-specs.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 define([
-  'kbn'
-], function(kbn) {
+  'kbn',
+  'app/core/utils/datemath'
+], function(kbn, dateMath) {
   'use strict';
 
   function describeValueFormat(desc, value, tickSize, tickDecimals, result) {
@@ -60,60 +61,33 @@ define([
 
   describe('calculateInterval', function() {
     it('1h 100 resultion', function() {
-      var range = { from: kbn.parseDate('now-1h'), to: kbn.parseDate('now') };
+      var range = { from: dateMath.parse('now-1h'), to: dateMath.parse('now') };
       var str = kbn.calculateInterval(range, 100, null);
       expect(str).to.be('30s');
     });
 
     it('10m 1600 resolution', function() {
-      var range = { from: kbn.parseDate('now-10m'), to: kbn.parseDate('now') };
+      var range = { from: dateMath.parse('now-10m'), to: dateMath.parse('now') };
       var str = kbn.calculateInterval(range, 1600, null);
       expect(str).to.be('100ms');
     });
 
     it('fixed user interval', function() {
-      var range = { from: kbn.parseDate('now-10m'), to: kbn.parseDate('now') };
+      var range = { from: dateMath.parse('now-10m'), to: dateMath.parse('now') };
       var str = kbn.calculateInterval(range, 1600, '10s');
       expect(str).to.be('10s');
     });
 
     it('short time range and user low limit', function() {
-      var range = { from: kbn.parseDate('now-10m'), to: kbn.parseDate('now') };
+      var range = { from: dateMath.parse('now-10m'), to: dateMath.parse('now') };
       var str = kbn.calculateInterval(range, 1600, '>10s');
       expect(str).to.be('10s');
     });
 
     it('large time range and user low limit', function() {
-      var range = { from: kbn.parseDate('now-14d'), to: kbn.parseDate('now') };
+      var range = { from: dateMath.parse('now-14d'), to: dateMath.parse('now') };
       var str = kbn.calculateInterval(range, 1000, '>10s');
       expect(str).to.be('30m');
     });
-
   });
-
-  describe('relative time to date parsing', function() {
-    it('should handle negative time', function() {
-      var date = kbn.parseDateMath('-2d', new Date(2014,1,5));
-      expect(date.getTime()).to.equal(new Date(2014, 1, 3).getTime());
-    });
-
-    it('should handle today', function() {
-      var date = kbn.parseDate('today');
-      var today = new Date();
-      today.setHours(0,0,0,0);
-      expect(date.getTime()).to.equal(today.getTime());
-    });
-
-    it('should handle multiple math expressions', function() {
-      var date = kbn.parseDateMath('-2d-6h', new Date(2014, 1, 5));
-      expect(date.toString()).to.equal(new Date(2014, 1, 2, 18).toString());
-    });
-
-    it('should return false when invalid expression', function() {
-      var date = kbn.parseDateMath('2', new Date(2014, 1, 5));
-      expect(date).to.equal(false);
-    });
-
-  });
-
 });