Nitrox is it Worth it?

[Loneranger]

It really depends on the type of diving you will be doing. Nitrox really comes in handy when depths reach 60', or you are doing multiple dives back to back. I know most of the local cattle boats around here have set up their trips toward those using Nitrox. You will see those on air getting too short an interval to maximize bottom time. The extra costs associated with Nitrox make up for themselves pretty quick when you factor the bottom time gain.

 

[thegoose]

Ok ok seems like a storm in a tea cup, 'Really" well anyway. IMHO diving to 6m or only 20ft on Air (21%) is a safe depth for the gas breathed. I said should be for a number of reasons, if one enjoys diving and dives often you can only benefit from using E.A.N.X. All one needs to do is type "Nitrox Benefits" into any search engine and you be be flooded with info, both the Pro's and the con's. I dive a lot, not always at depth and try to encourage the use of Nitrox whenever I can. No I am not a gas supplier with motives, rather a fellow diver trying to help the less informed as to the "Benefits" of diving Nitrox. Anyone who claims ""Nitrox"" is bad for you to breath should have thier C Card examined. But like I said IMHO and just my 2 fils worth, be safe out there.

 

[mislav]

Ok ok seems like a storm in a tea cup, 'Really" well anyway. IMHO diving to 6m or only 20ft on Air (21%) is a safe depth for the gas breathed. I said should be for a number of reasons, if one enjoys diving and dives often you can only benefit from using E.A.N.X. All one needs to do is type "Nitrox Benefits" into any search engine and you be be flooded with info, both the Pro's and the con's. I dive a lot, not always at depth and try to encourage the use of Nitrox whenever I can. No I am not a gas supplier with motives, rather a fellow diver trying to help the less informed as to the "Benefits" of diving Nitrox. Anyone who claims ""Nitrox"" is bad for you to breath should have thier C Card examined. But like I said IMHO and just my 2 fils worth, be safe out there.

I apologize, I had reacted first to your post - but it did sound like you were teaching something potentially dangerous. I'm glad to hear it was nothing but a misunderstanding. I was also the first to welcome you to the board!

I see now what you meant and agree completely. Nitrox is a good thing for dives up to the MOD. In fact, tomorrow I'll be diving Nitrox myself. I'm just about to leave for a weekend diving trip.

 

[TheHobster]

Geezer Gas is good

especially in the 50-90 ft range and your SAC is such that it's not a concern that running out of gas limits your dive - even deeper it's better as well, but not as much as in the shallower depths - but even if you go deep oin first dive and shallow on second, its a huge benefit as well - in NC with the 2nd dive at 65', those of us on 30% had alot more time than the air guy

I loved that story about diving Jupiter - have not been there, but sounds similar to Boynton Beach, which I have dove, and that I was only one with air on the boat, and was most experienced!! took my class the next week by golly! Now I get to see that nurse shark, hammerhead, the moray playing volleyball with the shrimp, etc

 

[CentralTxDiver]

I would recommend it.

Jim

 

[thegoose]

Apologies, always welcome and I am glad this place is not dull, be safe out there...

 

[bdshort]

I will be taking a Nitrox class eventually, since I would eventually like to take some tec classes. At this point I'm staying with air, the main reason being that I can get air fills for free. If I had a source of O2, and could make my own nitrox for free, then I'd dive nitrox right now! I've spent plenty of money on gear, so I figure if I cheap out by sticking with air because I get it for free. Plus I've only had maybe one dive where the profile came even remotely close to hitting my NDL with air.

Brian

 

[JamesD]

I did the course, dove it for a week on a liveaboard which may have helped (although most people on the liveaboard dove Air and had no issues).

Overall benefit is when you are diving to depths where your NDL's are going to cause issue as opposed to running out of gas.

The course is useful, definitely has some interesting information in it, my one problem now is that I'm not using the information THAT often (because I've not been needing Nitrox most of the time) so I have to occasionally play around with reminding myself what I'm doing and what I need to do to use Nitrox.

If you do a lot of deep diving remember that Nitrox has a lower M.O.D (maximum operating Depth) than air, so if you often dive down to say 120' you might want to think against it.

 

[Ironhed]

We recently did a trip out to the florida middlegrounds, we were able to do 6 dives to 100' and 110' in one day. this is simply not possible on air. nitrox training should be the next step in any divers expenses in my opinion. I have been diving nitrox since I started diving, I did the course following my OW class. Nitrox and a computer are a must in my opinion.

 

[caymaniac]

I am thinking about taking a nitrox class ,
I have heard its Great stuff.
Please provide some info + and --:mooner:

If you are diving repetitive days or if you are diving repetitive from 60 to 90 ft. then Nitrox is worth it. The class is worth it because there me a time in your near future when you want to use Nitrox and you'll have to be certified.

I did use Nitrox on a land based trip where we were diving at 80 ft. repetitively, it saved me dive time and gave me bottom time, also I used Nitrox for a week aboard the Star Dancer. I did my own test, I used two computers all week aboard the Star Dancer. I was nearly into decompression on several ocassions during the weekby the air computer reading. I feel that I did at one point I did push the Nitrox limits when I dove to 100 ft with my limit at 111, I felt this was too close so I made apoint of making sure my depth was less than 100ft. There were other divers diving on air only, they were limited certain days to bottom time/dives which I was not. My air computer did not ever read decompression but it was close (up against the red) compared to my Nitrox computer on which I always seemed to have plenty of bottom time left at depth.
For me Nitrox certification has been worth it. This does not mean that I will dive Nitrox on all my next/every dive, air continues to be my choice, it depends on my dive venue.