Pros and Cons of Nitrox: What are they?

[MikeFerrara]

My original point was that I have not seem any proof that nitrox was SAFER than air. I still feel that way.

I emphasize this point, because there are several dive instructors in my area whose main selling technique seems to be to tell every novice OW diver that they must take a nitrox course, because it makes diving soo much safer. As a result you have all these novice divers paying for nitrox on their 45ft monthly dive and feeling oh-so safe with 0 buoyancy skills. I despise that selling technique and think that people should be told the pro's and the con's, so than can make their own decision...like we're doing in this thread.

I have never claimed not do I believe that Nitrox would be unsafer than air if used properly.

I share your dislike for that selling technique. You also have a point that, mistakes aside, you can certainly dive air without getting bent. So...all else being equal the safety arguement is a wash.

 

[Scubaguy62]

Run it in some software and play with it yourself.

Know where I can get one?

Hence the reason that many now believe that air is for tires. LOL. I don't know that I'd go that far but diving air over nitrox when you have a choice is silly.

No joke. I just got one of my AL80's topped off today at my fill station; it had 70 psi left of 36%, and my fill was $3.71. It's one of the reasons even off the beach I dive nitrox.

Rick

 

[MikeFerrara]

Know where I can get one?


Rick

Yes I do.

For comparing profiles I think Gap is good because It'll show a graph of the loading of the individual compartments. I'm pretty sure that the Buhlman version with gradient factors is still free. The RGBM version cost money. The nice thing about the gradient factors is that you can change them and see the effects on the profile or loading at the end of the dive.

I don't remember the URL but do a google search on "gas absorbtion program" and you should find it. Just download and install it. There's some fantastic articles available on this site also.

Vplanner uses the VPM model and was written by Ross Hemingway. This software is shareware. You can download it free but if you don't register it in a certain amount of time it starts to harass you. It's worth what Ross charges though.

This software may not give you as much to look at but one of the interesting things that it does show is the depth at which offgassing starts according to the model. It will also let you plug in anything for the next level of the dive and if decompression is called for between levels it'll spit it out for you. I don't remember how gap handles that for certain but I think it'll do that too. It's been a while since I played with it.

While a haldanian model with gradient factors may not be as correct as a true bubble model it can be pretty instructive if you already understand how "M" values or "critical tensions" work. With Gap since it's buhlman you can compare the effects of changing gradients to a streight buhlman tanle the the older IANTD tables.

I've gotten to like the softwares that run on a palm. I'm currently using dplan from GUE but if you search on the net there are several others. I like the palm because it's way cheaper for my wife and I to each have one than it is to have a laptop yet we have a much greater chance of having one that works while on site.

 

[ABQdiver]

I don't remember the URL but do a google search on "gas absorbtion program" and you should find it. Just download and install it. There's some fantastic articles available on this site also.

The Gap is: http://www.gap-software.com/
V-Planner: http://www.hhssoftware.com/v-planner/index.html