My needs and experiences as well. I usually have the the 3ft Halcyon with me as well. (it is 6lbs.)
I was following an instructor and his student up once. I expected him to shoot his marker, but his student started having problems. I pulled out my big Halcyon at about 50 ft and prepared to send it it when the student bolted. Instructor took off to deal with it and I went to help. (I would not have shot the marker with them above me anyway.)
In any event, somewhere around safety stop depth he got her settled down. It was a holiday weekend and lots of people on the water. (we dive where there are more fishing boats than dive boats.) Rather than switch to my small marker, I launched my big one from ~ 20ft. I ended up with about 30 inches of a 6 inch diameter marker at the surface. It was better, I'm sure, than 36 inches of a ~3inch diameter marker.
I was following an instructor and his student up once. I expected him to shoot his marker, but his student started having problems. I pulled out my big Halcyon at about 50 ft and prepared to send it it when the student bolted. Instructor took off to deal with it and I went to help. (I would not have shot the marker with them above me anyway.)
In any event, somewhere around safety stop depth he got her settled down. It was a holiday weekend and lots of people on the water. (we dive where there are more fishing boats than dive boats.) Rather than switch to my small marker, I launched my big one from ~ 20ft. I ended up with about 30 inches of a 6 inch diameter marker at the surface. It was better, I'm sure, than 36 inches of a ~3inch diameter marker.