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I took the PADI nitrox course in May of 2012. We learned how to do all the math necessary to plan dives using nitrox or air tables. Can you tell us when PADI stopped teaching tables, and perhaps point us to some documentation of this event?
HMMM,
I took the PADI course last year and there was a mix of tables and computers. We also did the reviews from the book which included calculations for PPO2, MOD etc. Then I learned how to use my computer, I set the computer for the mix and the PPO2, it gives me the MOD. I can calculate it if I want to or I can use the computer to do it for me.
Im taking the Nitrox training with SSI. My class room portion is next week and the water part is the following weekend. Heres the question.... Do I really need anything more than 32%? When I complete the class I can get my 32% card, or continue and do the dive and get the 40%. What do I really gain with 40%. The training manual doesn't really go into when I would use 40%. Can someone please provide me examples of when I would use more the 32%? Thanks
Don
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PADI announced the computer-based course in 2009, effective Aug 2009, and noted the previous training materials were now officially outdated. They provided new materials.I took the PADI nitrox course in May of 2012. We learned how to do all the math necessary to plan dives using nitrox or air tables. Can you tell us when PADI stopped teaching tables, and perhaps point us to some documentation of this event?
Don. I'm curious. Does the additional certification just add the dives or is it additional instruction as well as another poster has suggested?
My opinion? You want the full course. As mentioned, it is somewhat area and dive plan conditional but in Florida it is not uncommon to have N36 readily available and at least one dive shop with several locations in south Florida does partial pressure blending giving you your choice of any mix for which you are certified so you can maximize your bottom time.
If you are taking the course, I see no reason to only take part of it. Personally, I would not feel comfortable diving nitrox without it. If the cost difference is significant, I'd look elsewhere for the course. Perhaps even a different certifying agency.
Now I'm confused, because I took this in the last year. Based on posts after yours in this thread it seems that it is optional to still teach the old materials? The exam I took for it took a fair bit of time and jumping around the tables, air equivalent depths, mod, etc.A lot depends upon when you took it. I took my nitrox course through PADI many years ago, and it was very intense. I teach the course through PADI now, and it is nowhere near as difficult as when I took it. When you think about it, though, a lot of what I learned in my course has no real practical value for the recreational nitrox user. If you are never using air tables to plan your dives, why would you need to know how to make the calculations necessary to do that? The only times I have ever made those calculations after taking the class are when I have been teaching it.
I also teach Advanced Nitrox through TDI, and I don't think that course is as difficult as my first PADI course was--and it doesn't have to be.
Now I'm confused, because I took this in the last year. Based on posts after yours in this thread it seems that it is optional to still teach the old materials? The exam I took for it took a fair bit of time and jumping around the tables, air equivalent depths, mod, etc.
This is really sad to think about though, as MOD isn't even stressed in the computer based courses it seems (or the calculation of it), and figuring it out when your computer tells you a funny message you haven't seen before seems like a terrible way to learn the MOD.
My brother says when he did his nitrox they just focused on memorizing it based on your mix.