Halcyon Focus 2.0 vs Focus 1.0

[LanceRiley]

I did Fundies on my 3rd dive in doubles and a brand-new doubles setup that I wasn’t fully comfortable in. It was tough but I eked out a rec pass while also learning what I needed for the tech pass. A fellow teammate was on her second attempt at Fundies rec, and the third got a rec provisional. Passing is a huge deal in itself, so be prepared for any outcome. Fixating on a pass rather than relaxing and doing the skills slowly and smoothly may have a negative effect.

Even getting the rec pass was hard enough because of having to undo and relearn new habits, and there is very little time to practice and consolidate during Fundies. Post-Fundies I spent on concentrated practice and getting comfortable in the new rig. Most of my issues were around controlling ascents with both BCD and drysuit.

About two months later with lots of practice in between I did the tech upgrade and passed (and the provisional teammate got his rec pass at the same time). So all is not lost if you don’t pass right away if you use the experience to direct your skills development.

hi, yes an experienced gue tec1 diver said Exactly all this.... somehow... we just didnt wana be failing. But yeah. We do have all the 6 months if we fail. Ins5ructor isnt going anywhere in this pandemic. We jus5 live in the next town. No big deal actually i mean. We have alll the time to do this.. we just... dont like the idea of failing[/QUOTE]

 

[mc42]

We have alll the time to do this.. we just... dont like the idea of failing

Yup, I definitely understand that! I did come to a realization (much later) that I had no idea what to expect in Fundies until I actually took it, so it wasn't fair to put pressure on myself on passing by mastering new skills, teamwork, and SOPs in a 4-day period.

If you'd had access to the SOPs and lots of skills practice with GUE diver mentors and then didn't do well in Fundies, then perhaps you'd have a reason to be sad, but that would be self-flagellation for no good reason.

If you're having a break before the final few dives, I hope you're getting some practice time in!

 

[LanceRiley]

Oh y

Yup, I definitely understand that! I did come to a realization (much later) that I had no idea what to expect in Fundies until I actually took it, so it wasn't fair to put pressure on myself on passing by mastering new skills, teamwork, and SOPs in a 4-day period.

If you'd had access to the SOPs and lots of skills practice with GUE diver mentors and then didn't do well in Fundies, then perhaps you'd have a reason to be sad, but that would be self-flagellation for no good reason.

If you're having a break before the final few dives, I hope you're getting some practice time in!

Oh yeah definitely doing practice dives, while the instructor is running the other class. Since the pandemic he’s had to do most of the work himself in his dive resort. Covid gave me time to dive but dive resort suffered a lot after losing the tourists .

yes you’re right .ive read about fundamentals and seen youtube vids. But never experienced the skills or sops. Everything was so new. And had to undo all my bad habits or unacceptable finning. In such a short time. Not to mention the managing of the twin tanks which i never tried before. Actually the course is an eye opener. I even took extra time after class at the pool to manage the twin tanks. This class has been exhausting and fun.

 

[Atlantic Explorer]

Often people look to get a tech pass just for the sake of getting it.
This results in burnout and no fun. Reminds of some 50yr olds who had done fundies in rec gear then did a tech eval 2 months later in brand new kit - they weren’t ready at all. It was a shock to see them in the water

Don’t be that guy who loses enjoyment for a far flung objective. Live in the moment and enjoy diving....

 

[LanceRiley]

Often people look to get a tech pass just for the sake of getting it.
This results in burnout and no fun. Reminds of some 50yr olds who had done fundies in rec gear then did a tech eval 2 months later in brand new kit - they weren’t ready at all. It was a shock to see them in the water

Don’t be that guy who loses enjoyment for a far flung objective. Live in the moment and enjoy diving....

thanks been doing that with fun dives. practicing the the way how its done... until it will be second nature. after a while.. it didn't matter anymore what matters is how i dive..

 

[Atlantic Explorer]

Focus 2 is a nice light but is unnecessarily bright with 80k lux at 1m and the burn time isn’t as optimal for a full day of cave diving as the focus 1.

Focus 1 is still quite bright with 39k lux at 1m (even in sunny ow its useful for signaling) and the burn time is twice as long with 5hrs on high and 10hrs on low.

 

[Macan]

I think if you set the Focus 2.0 to its LOW setting, it is equivalent to the Focus 1.0 in HIGH setting and equal to the run time of the Focus 1.0 in high setting. Someone will correct me if this is not the case.

From what I’ve gathered from a well respected member on this board, Halcyon has replaced the emitter of the Focus 2.0 since it was launched. It now has the 4 squares at its narrowest angle with a perceived loss of lumens. The original Focus 2.0 had a single square in narrow focus, and was considered to be brighter / punchier but had burnout issues so Halcyon replaced the emitter.

It would be good to also hear from other Focus 2.0 owners with the new 4-square emitter on how well the light is performing.

 

[Atlantic Explorer]

I think if you set the Focus 2.0 to its LOW setting, it is equivalent to the Focus 1.0 in HIGH setting and equal to the run time of the Focus 1.0 in high setting. Someone will correct me if this is not the case.

From what I’ve gathered from a well respected member on this board, Halcyon has replaced the emitter of the Focus 2.0 since it was launched. It now has the 4 squares at its narrowest angle with a perceived loss of lumens. The original Focus 2.0 had a single square in narrow focus, and was considered to be brighter / punchier but had burnout issues so Halcyon replaced the emitter.

It would be good to also hear from other Focus 2.0 owners with the new 4-square emitter on how well the light is performing.

According to Halcyon’s website, the focus 1 low setting has twice the burn time of the 2.0 low setting.

 

[Chris Williams]

It would be good to also hear from other Focus 2.0 owners with the new 4-square emitter on how well the light is performing.

Zero issues here with the 4 emitters. If you focus out just a hair it go’s away and you still maintain a nifty little underwater light saber

 

[mariosx]

From what I’ve gathered from a well respected member on this board, Halcyon has replaced the emitter of the Focus 2.0 since it was launched. It now has the 4 squares at its narrowest angle with a perceived loss of lumens. The original Focus 2.0 had a single square in narrow focus, and was considered to be brighter / punchier but had burnout issues so Halcyon replaced the emitter.

Just to throw some new updates, I just got a brand new Focus 1.0 (assembled literally 2 days ago) due to some buddies letting me know of the burnout issues of Focus 2.0. I know that Halcyon might very well have addressed the issue, and they would have no problem replacing the emitter if needed but you cannot go wrong with a trustworthy light such as Focus 1.0. Also, according to few WKPP guys I know the high setting of Focus 2.0 seems very redundant. Please note that I am fairly newbie to the sport working towards my Tec upgrade, so please take everything I say with a grain of salt.

I tried the light for the first time yesterday during a fun dive, along with a buddy with the older version of Focus 1.0 and my instructor, who is also a Halcyon representative. A weird thing that I noticed and we tested was that the new Focus 1.0 at the maximum beam focus setting has about half the width than the old Focus 1.0 of my buddy by default. Similarly at the minimum setting the new Focus 1.0's beam is practically reduced to a point. When we did discuss it with my instructor at the end of the dive he was not 100% sure regarding the reasons behind this decision, but it's fairly trivial for a Halcyon technician to adjust the focus to the desired degree. Please note that the old Focus 1.0 of my buddy is a WKPP version (missing the switch lever) but according to my instructor (a WKPP member) the lever was the only difference from the regular Focus 1.0.
I loved my new Focus 1.0 though, and to be honest I really liked the pin-point accuracy of the beam, while I felt no need to increase the focus during the dive. I just thought it would be a nice info to share here.

-----
Reading the thread, a discussion about a Halcyon product being very quickly changed into GUE-F cope might very well be the most GUE thing ever, and I am not even mad.