I came here because I know everyone is vastly more experienced than me, that's how you learn something new. But instead of someone simply saying reserve lights don't need to be bright or halcyon is a better light and here are the reasons why, it was viewed as an attack on their religion and defended like the crusades.
.....
"Second: C'mon Halcyon, add an O-ring."
I think this was pretty mild, but in the context of the comments to follow, it looked like it was about to show a bias against "Big H". Not that I care all that much, but it did set the table...
"I'm new to DIR and not even cave certified, but I certainly wouldn't want to be trying to get someones attention with the light output of my SL4."
This comment raised eyebrows because it indicated that you were not a cave diver, but more importantly, indicated that you didn't really understand how backup lights are used in that environment. It undermined your credibility to make some of the comments you went on to make. I think this is where the wheels came off the wagon. Up to this point, the conversation was simply about lights. Which you seemed to have enough knowledge about and your post certainly spoke to your experiments and their conclusions.
"Well apparently Gulftex is using illegal labor because they too must have done some serious research to build a light this good and don't charge that much. As I have shown the housing alone is WAY better than "Big H".
The housing is better because it has an extra o-ring? Again, this statement seems rather biased. If you like Gulftex better, that's cool. Sounded good to me when I was looking at lights too. But in actual practice, it's a non-issue.
"From practically all the discussions I've read signaling is THE primary reason for a backup light"
And this is an incorrect conclusion to reach and when combined with the somewhat reduced credibility, it just opened you up for criticism. The primary light's main functions are to see the cave and to signal. The backup light is to see the line, and get home. As such it has different operational parameters and signaling is really not one of them.
I certainly never tried to bust your chops, but you took a couple of swipes at Halcyon, then you misstated some things about a type of diving you've never done. It's not that you were attacking anyone's "religion" as much as you were showing a bias, and some misunderstanding about the subject matter at hand. The guys called you out on it, and you didn't care for it or how it was done. Really nothing more to it than that.
I wish you the best with your choice of backups, and perhaps should you take some cave training, you'll have a more clear idea of how the backups are used and why the folks here felt it necessary to correct your statements.
Have a good evening...
-P
