diff --git a/src/lib/host.js b/src/lib/host.js
index 921f6e212..8d95779c0 100644
--- a/src/lib/host.js
+++ b/src/lib/host.js
@@ -47,9 +47,10 @@ function Host(config, globalConfig) {
   if (typeof config === 'string') {
     var firstColon = config.indexOf(':');
     var firstSlash = config.indexOf('/');
-    var portWithPath = firstColon < firstSlash;
-    var portNoPath = firstColon > -1 && firstSlash === -1;
-    if ((portWithPath || portNoPath) && !startsWithProtocolRE.test(config)) {
+    var noSlash = firstSlash === -1;
+    var portNoPath = firstColon > -1 && noSlash;
+    var portWithPath = !portNoPath && firstColon < firstSlash;
+    if ((noSlash || portNoPath || portWithPath) && !startsWithProtocolRE.test(config)) {
       config = defaultProto + '//' + config;
     }
     config = _.pick(url.parse(config, false, true), urlParseFields);
diff --git a/test/unit/specs/host.js b/test/unit/specs/host.js
index 28db76a8c..395123234 100644
--- a/test/unit/specs/host.js
+++ b/test/unit/specs/host.js
@@ -71,8 +71,9 @@ describe('Host class', function () {
       it('parses simple urls properly', function () {
         var host;
 
-        host = new Host('elasticsearch');
-        expect(host.path).to.be('/elasticsearch');
+        host = new Host('localhost');
+        expect(host.host).to.be('localhost');
+        expect(host.path).to.be('');
 
         host = new Host('/elasticsearch');
         expect(host.path).to.be('/elasticsearch');