I've heard sessions as short as 5 minutes and as long as 80+ minutes. Do you find the longer sessions better? And what do you personally think is the best length and why?

I personally need sessions to go longer than 10 minutes to go under in any way, and I need the primary induction to go no longer than about 10-15 minutes or I tend to lose focus and wake up. This is especially true of the progressive relaxation inductions for me since I find them agonizingly dull sometimes and don't want to listen to them. Deepeners and such can last for a long time and I enjoy them. 

I like recorded sessions in the 25-30 minute range because that is about the length of time I can get alone these days with any regularity. :)  

I loved live sessions in the 60-90 minute range -- just so I could feel that calm and controlled sensation longer and so the hypnotist could take their time to make sure I was out and doing as they wished. It was great to be able to go deep and stay deep. If I ever had the time like that again I'd like to "make a day of it" and do those long sessions. Most recordings I find are in the 15-35 minute range.

Hi proklet, as i commented on your poll, i find that in 50 minutes i can be taken very, very deep and also have enough time to have a really good experience (and or for the hypnotist to really have fun).
my depth of trance tends to come and go in waves however; Sometimes after about 50 minutes i start drifting up out of trance. i have experienced going and remaining deep longer, but to be able to consistently go and stay deep and and for the hypnotist and me to have enough time for some real fun, then about 50 minutes works best with me.

i agree with you Minddonor. i really like the long trances if i can get the time. Just like you, i also have trouble staying under when they run over 50 minutes. The cure for that i found was for the hypnotist to be doing something i really enjoy at around the 50-60 minute mark, lol, and if She wants to go further then to change up the subject matter a bit so it doesn't become too repetitive.

i prefer live hypnosis to recordings since the hypnotist can react to you, but recordings are nice because there is no scheduling involved.

The problem with very long 60+ min files is that you rarely get a chance nowadays to listen to them on day-to-day basis. I mean, shutting off for e.g. 1.5 h everyday sounds tempting but is almost impossible for "hard working folks" :) So, the ideal length for me would be 30-60 min max.