diff --git a/usr.sbin/i2c/i2c.c b/usr.sbin/i2c/i2c.c
index 099418a5715c..a471b6533170 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/i2c/i2c.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/i2c/i2c.c
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ main(int argc, char** argv)
 	i2c_opt.count = 1;
 	i2c_opt.binary = 0;	/* ASCII text output */
 	i2c_opt.skip = NULL;	/* scan all addresses */
-	i2c_opt.mode = I2C_MODE_NOTSET;
+	i2c_opt.mode = I2C_MODE_TRANSFER;
 
 	/* Find out what we are going to do */