Advanced Nitrox.... can this be done online like Nitrox

[stuartv]

If you have the option I would consider doing the IANTD Advanced nitrox course over the TDI AN course if you just want to do the Advanced nitrox course.

The IANTD course is far better stand alone course than the TDI counterpart. Plus it gets you 140 with 15 mins of deco as where the TDI course wihtout Deco procedures is 130 no deco.

Why not just do what is most common (for TDI), which is Advanced Nitrox plus Deco Procedures. That gets you 150 with unlimited deco (using a single deco cylinder).

I'm not sure why anyone would do TDI Advanced Nitrox by itself. The only two reasons I can come up with are:

- a crusty old diver buddy of mine was doing deep deco diving before there were certs for it. He has no actual C cards beyond just plain old OW. He wants to do just AN so he can have the C card, so he can get a deco cylinder filled. He feels perfectly competent to do deco dives using O2 for deco without specifically taking a course on Deco Procedures.

- maybe some people want to do longer, shallow dives using a Nitrox blend with more than 40% O2, so they need an AN cert in order to get the tank fills they want?

 

[RyanT]

The TDI advanced nitrox can effectively be used for an intro tech course. Of course TDI specifically has an intro tech course. For me, I started out on the adv. nitrox without deco procedures. I had a lot of diving experience, but had been out of the water for a number of years. So my instructor told me not to combined the two. Instead of taking intro to tech, we just used the adv. nitrox effectively as a technical skills course. Before completing the adv. nitrox, however, my instructor was comfortable enough with my skills that he suggested going ahead and starting the deco procedures along with it. So I guess for some divers, it seems to make sense to use the adv. nitrox as a course to build technical skills.

 

[RyanT]

To teach a tech class, I have to travel more than 400 miles each way to the only dive site deep enough for decompression dives.

Even if your instructor doesn't have to travel, the additional time the instructor spends per student is way higher in tech courses. As an educator myself, I especially appreciated how much time my tech instructor has invested in me. Given the amount of 1:1 or 1:2 instruction I've received in my tech courses, I consider the tuition to be a serious bargin. Especially for tech divers in training, please tip your instructor well.

 

[NAM001]

I did my tech intro with IANTD. rec trimix. That gave me I think about 160 ft O2 >20% end's < 100 and deco <15.

 

[boulderjohn]

Even if your instructor doesn't have to travel, the additional time the instructor spends per student is way higher in tech courses.

Depending again upon circumstances, the difference can be enormous in ways people don't understand unless they see it happening. I got many of my tech certifications in Florida, and I just dropped my tanks off at a local shop for trimix fills and then paid the bill when they were full. That doesn't happen in Colorado. Tomorrow morning, I will take a 40 minute drive to the gas dealer where I will pick up 4 300-cubic foot supply bottles of helium and 2 of oxygen. I will lift them into my van by myself. I will drive back home, where I will put the appropriate amounts of helium and oxygen into a number of tanks of varying sizes. I will then transport them to a dive shop where I will top them off from the compressor. Because none of the dive shops here have hyperpure air, I will bring the special filter I had made for this purpose at a cost of $1,500. It will take me much of a day to fill the tanks filled for our first dives. I will than make that 450 mile drive to the dive site. We will dive for four days, and I will be the one making the new mixes for each dive, using my impromptu blending station in the back of my van.