The Beginner's Mixture
- Thread starter DCBC
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
OP
Perhaps, but this begs the question: Was this the diver's fault or how he was trained? Certainly it could be either one.
Last edited:
it_mike
Contributor
Rebreathers are becoming more reliable and simpler to use. eCCR is very straightforward, compared to the CCRs of just 10 years ago. I don't expect rebreathers to become common in the next 10, but whereas the tool will perform the mixing rather than the dealer and considering the rate of technology development, I do expect them to become commonplace.
How common were computers just 20 years ago?
perdidochas
Contributor
IMHO, it depends on the geographic location. In South Florida, no. There are plenty of dives for a new diver to do that are under 60', and hence ,there is little or no need for nitrox. In the FL Panhandle, most of our better dive sites are at 70-90 ft. When I was certified in 1981, my last two checkout dives off Panama City Beach were at 80 ft and 70 ft. Nitrox would have been helpful. I do have to add that this was a fairly rigorous NAUI course, and our boat dives were our 4th and 5th checkout dives following one in Pelhams' Bluewater quarry, one at Morrison Springs, and one at teh PC beach jetties.
I guess what I was getting at is you used cost for the reason that nitrox won't become "a beginner gas." Which would make saying rebreathers would become a beginners tool, so to say, very odd. Yes, we can expect the cost of rebreathers to go down. Still.......a CCR is never going to be cheap. Certainly not cheaper than nitrox since you need to buy 100% 02 to operate the thing anyways.....which is more expensive or same cost as nitrox that you're comparing it against. I'm not even going to get into everything else involved besides actually buying the rebreather in the first place.
If all you wanted to say is that rebreathers are going to become more popular than they are now........well yeah sure they are. That by itself also doesn't have anything to do with the conversation at hand. But to say a CCR is cheaper, or will be, than diving OC nitrox is pretty far fetched.
Wow, this topic sure lit up fast.
Diving in the NE, most use Nitrox for the deep wrecks. For the wrecks below say 140 feet though, it's trimix, or back to air. And yes, I do know of many divers who do deep air diving.
I think Nitrox will become more accessible, but I don't think it will "replace" air.
Diving in the NE, most use Nitrox for the deep wrecks. For the wrecks below say 140 feet though, it's trimix, or back to air. And yes, I do know of many divers who do deep air diving.
I think Nitrox will become more accessible, but I don't think it will "replace" air.
it_mike
Contributor
A few points...
- I hope we can agree that Nitrox will never go down below a certain price point, due to the shop labor required to mix it at differing levels.
- The cost of technology always drops, whereas the cost of labor increases
- The OP's question was whether Nitrox would ever become the 'beginners mix', and why or why not. Operative word being 'ever'.
Who would have thought that computers would drop to nearly the same price point as gauges? The gap is less than $100 difference now, and closing. I do honesty expect that rebreathers, over the course of the next 20-30 years, will become ubiquitous. As items become mainstream, they are mass produced, reducing cost and price. Consider the Sentinel...if the price point was less than $200 between it and a mid-line regulator/computer set, would consumers choose it? With safeties built in, would it 'really' need any significant additional training? What if 6-10 major manufacturers got into the game with fully automated rebreathers?
With regards to your position on the cost of O2, two things make O2 consumption less costly on a rebreather vs. Nitrox;
- Less labor and equipment: No mixing involved
- Less waste: With OC Nitrox, you are still exhaling unused O2 (in greater quantities than cheap air). With a rebreather, you're only adding enough O2 to raise the pO2 back up to par.
Therefore, I stand by my position that, in time, rebreathers will replace OC and will be cheaper to dive than OC Nitrox. I've run out of time, but I welcome your response.
Mike
Buoyant1
Contributor
For beginners as in students? Or do you mean getting Nitrox certified right after OW? As far as students go, I don't think there is any benefit to it since they are not going to be able to take advantage of the NDL's, since 95% will be sucking their tank down long before any NDL is even close to being reached. The fact that you will need to task load them even MORE than what they already are is a huge issue. There are a lot of people that think that the current training is too lax, and should be returned to some of the prior standards from years back, Ok, I tend to agree that some agencies (and the instructors) make it too easy for people to get basic certified (heck even advanced certified) and you want to add NITROX to their list of things that can possibly go wrong?
I think we need to get the basics out of the way before tossing them a cookie like Nitrox.
(I won't even go into the cost factor)
I think we need to get the basics out of the way before tossing them a cookie like Nitrox.
(I won't even go into the cost factor)
sailingk8
Contributor
As a beginner I switched to Nitrox after my 5th dive and haven't looked back. I know the difference in the tables and the limits just like I learned everything else. Air kept making me feel gross.
Similar threads
