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Sounds brutal.

It's what I've been doing a lot lately, but that's because I have a piano exam on monday AAAAAAAAAAAAH

Wow. That's long. But I suppose if you like your instrument very much it could be very beneficial.

I only spend about 20 seconds on long tones before moving on whee

I've kind of toned it down myself. I just play a few long tones and then start trying to plow through. The farthest Ive gotten through was today with this: Chromatic scale, seconds, minor thirds, major thirds, fourths, tritones, fiths, minor sixths., major sixths, minor sevenths, major sevenths, major scales, harmonic minor scales. And that's only about four pages! Even that took me about half an hour, I guess if you can play it really fast, then it'd go quicker. After that, I did about a half an hour of improv practice, so that's roughly an hour overall.

When I really get going that's about what I do. Maybe not three hours, but closer to two. I definately think that the long tones are one of the most important parts of that line-up, though. Nothing else helps on tone quality as much as long tones do, and it doesn't matter how fast you can play if your tone sounds like crap.

As for your trouble with those low notes, try dropping your jaw a bit when you hit them. It gives the reed more room to vibrate.

I still have to concentrate on lower notes sometimes, to make sure I don't try slipping into subtones.

A year of doing that without realizing kinda messed me up.

^ ^;

Sax and flute players are my favorite. : P