+1 on the 1 deco gas for nitrox bottom gas comment. I'd say that is the case 95% of the time.
In N FL cave diving, 100% is a very common deco gas and a lower epercentage gas is not normally used with nitrox for a bottom mix.
Even in OW deco diving with nitrox, the run times have to get pretty long before a second deco gas becomes worth the extra logisitcal effort.
For example using DPlan with GFs of 30-85, a 110' dive for 60 min with 32% back gas and 100% for deco requires 25 minutes of deco. The same dive with both 50% and 100% for deco will still require 23 minutes of deco, providing very little benefit in return for carrying a second deco bottle. The same dive with a "backgas only" deco requires 50 minutes for deco but unless the SAC rate is high, it is still easily managed by 200 cu ft of gas. In this case a second deco gas makes zero sense.
Add 15 more minutes on the bottom and the picture changes, but only slightly. The deco is now 35 minutes with 100% and 31 minutes with 50% and 100% but rises to 72 minutes with the "backgas only" lost gas deco scenario and (with a SAC of .6 on the bottom and .4 on deco) that scenario requires 243 cu ft of gas - probably farther than you want to push it on 260 cu ft of backgas. Adding a second deco gas now makes some sense in terms of reducing the deco time with a single lost gas to 35 minutes with 100% only or 48 minutes with 50%. But obviously, two separate bottles of 100% to provide some insurance against losing access to one or the other makes almost as much sense and would still do the job with a 2 gas computer.
So in effect, there is very little need for 3 gasses until you actually get to depths where trimix is needed, and once there, a two gas computer will still make an excellent bottom timer in gauge mode.
In N FL cave diving, 100% is a very common deco gas and a lower epercentage gas is not normally used with nitrox for a bottom mix.
Even in OW deco diving with nitrox, the run times have to get pretty long before a second deco gas becomes worth the extra logisitcal effort.
For example using DPlan with GFs of 30-85, a 110' dive for 60 min with 32% back gas and 100% for deco requires 25 minutes of deco. The same dive with both 50% and 100% for deco will still require 23 minutes of deco, providing very little benefit in return for carrying a second deco bottle. The same dive with a "backgas only" deco requires 50 minutes for deco but unless the SAC rate is high, it is still easily managed by 200 cu ft of gas. In this case a second deco gas makes zero sense.
Add 15 more minutes on the bottom and the picture changes, but only slightly. The deco is now 35 minutes with 100% and 31 minutes with 50% and 100% but rises to 72 minutes with the "backgas only" lost gas deco scenario and (with a SAC of .6 on the bottom and .4 on deco) that scenario requires 243 cu ft of gas - probably farther than you want to push it on 260 cu ft of backgas. Adding a second deco gas now makes some sense in terms of reducing the deco time with a single lost gas to 35 minutes with 100% only or 48 minutes with 50%. But obviously, two separate bottles of 100% to provide some insurance against losing access to one or the other makes almost as much sense and would still do the job with a 2 gas computer.
So in effect, there is very little need for 3 gasses until you actually get to depths where trimix is needed, and once there, a two gas computer will still make an excellent bottom timer in gauge mode.