What would you do if both lights can do the job, one is $40 and the other is $100.
That's the thing though with carrying two lights. I'll always tend to carry two different types... Bright/dim, floody/thrower. Unless the situation was mission critical of be very unlikely to carry two lights of the same style.
That being said, I was an active caver for nearly ten years when light very much was mission critical. My standard carry would be primary and secondary helmet mounted lights (primary on a rechargeable lithium Ion battery pack, secondary running enloop AA's). A petzl e-lite in a waterproof pouch in my pocket (incase I lost the helmet) a single AA light on a lanyard round my neck/under my clothes and a 9v lithium battery with a pak-lite attached (lamp of last resource)
Over the course of some 300 trips I never had to use anything other than my primary headlamp but I wouldn't have hesitated to use/abuse any and all of my lights when I was underground. You really dont mind getting a few scratches on a light when you're dangling 100' over a dark abyss trying to negotiate a tricky re-belay and your primary light craps out on you.
As an aside, caves are the darkest places around but 95% of my caving was done on 50 lumens or less.....
To answer your original question though, I'd probably use the 'nice' light. After all, I will have paid more for it, I might as well use it otherwise I've wasted my money buying it in the first place.
It probably comes across as a criticism of people that collect lights just for the sake of having them (multiple styles of the same light and so on) and then just putting them on a shelf to look at but really but really it isn't. I have no issue with how other people spend their hard-earned and what they do with their goods.
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