Nitrox question about 1.4 and 1.6

[Cacia]

I use 1.2 and if feeling reckless (something I really want to do, deep, only have 3.2 EAN, etc) will go up to 1.4.

I have a couple kids, just don't see pushing that as worth it in the big picture.

Don't flame me and ask me for references, but if you are taking a psuedophedrine, staying up late or drinking even a couple the night before....stick with 1.2. Anything that lowers the seizure threshold (for me I just consider that when my body feels stressed, could be wrong) then be conservative.

 

[SDAnderson]

So to get to my question which one do you use and why?

I like using standard mixes for all the usual reasons, however when calculating which mix to use I start with a baseline ppO2 of 1.6, (basically, only for decompression - when there is no load and I'm warm[ish] yet I want to open the O2 window as wide as possible so I can get out of the water asap), and then I start making deductions:

• For light to moderate load, subtract .2
• For heavy load, subtract .4
• For cold water (50F or less), subtract .2

Thus, for a dive in cold water where the workload is anticipated to be high, I would set my ppO2 at 1.0. However, if the situation calls for a ppO2 of 1.0, I give great consideration to spending the day cyberdiving, instead. In most instances, diving in my backyard (Lake Michigan), I end up shooting for a max ppO2 of 1.2 during the dive, bumping to 1.6 during decompression.

Why? Because the distribution curve of splattered doodoo incidents seems to kick in just above these numbers and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[limeyx]

the more that i dive, the more i'm leaning towards a 1.2 max pp02 rather than 1.4

For deco dives especially 1.2 (for me) for rec dives I will take 32% to 100 feet, so about 1.3 (although most of my 32% fills usually end up 31.something)

1.2 has some distinct advantages:
1) CNS calculations are easy
2) for deco dives you have less CNS on the bottom and so you can push it a bit more on deco
3) you have a margin -- if i plan a dive to 90 feet, that means 90 average with dips down to say 100 -- if you plan 1.2 "average" PPo2 then you have some margin to dip down if you want to.