I am also an extremely novice tyer, but I owned an older version of the Outdoor Kit.
I have a grad degree in bio-optics. My opinions on light-matter interactions can be trusted. My experience with Loon UV resins should be received with healthy skepticism. Any opinions on fly tying can (and probably should) be disregarded.
My Outdoor kit had wader repair and knot strengthener resins. My fly tying resin, which is also made by Loon, seems different. The UV light in my outdoor kit is super ****ty compared to the 'official' Loon UV light. The 'official' light fly tying resin and light is much stronger than the outdoor kit combo, but I have no idea how it really compares to the combination of light and resins in the Outdoor kit. My opinion is the cost of the 'official' light and resin is worth it. Ultimately, I think the quality of the resins will not significantly differ, but the quality of the light has a significant impact. With my outdoor kit, the sun was much better at creating better knot seals than the little UV light. The larger lamp and tying resin seems to be about the same efficacy.
For fly tying, I would wait and buy the Loon light resin and the more powerful UV light. It certainly does build up much faster than head cement, but I do not think that it always works better. Head cement seems to penetrate much deeper, which seems to be an advantage for high density natural fibres, like the classic clouser minnow, where I doubt any UV light from a hand-held source (or the sun) will reach the a clouser minnow hook shank; whereas, the head cement/varnish definitely does.
With less dense synthetic fibres, UV seems to be the bombdiggity.
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