A method for analyzing the condition of a spectrometer is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes acquiring optical data from a spectrometer of a downhole tool during flushing of a flowline and selecting a data set from the acquired optical data. The method can also include estimating light scattering and optical drift for the spectrometer based on the selected data set and determining impacts of the estimated light scattering and optical drift for the spectrometer on measurement accuracy of a characteristic of a downhole fluid determinable through analysis of the downhole fluid using the spectrometer. Additional methods, systems, and devices are also disclosed.