"When spending bitcoins from an imported private key in electrum the change is sent back to one of the input addresses which may well be the imported private key's address."

I thought electrum uses a fresh deterministic address for all change?  You're saying if u spend half of an imported privkey, then the change MAY go back into the same privkey? i thought that was a privacy no-no that only mobile wallets make the mistake of doing.

So then what is the best way to "sweep" a private key into electrum?
You have to spend the whole amount or nothing?? (to prevent the possible reuse of addresses)
(i was thinking of testing with a small amount first)

thanks Abdussamad!