ronski101
Contributor
Has any one taken the on line nitrox course and have any comments good or bad about it?
On line Nitrox course
- Thread starter ronski101
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Haven't taken one, but some comments:
This forum (Ask Dr. Decompression) might not give you as broad an audience as you might want. You could ask one of the moderators to move the thread to somewhere like the Basic Scuba Discussions forum.
There are some legitimate agencies (e.g. SDI and PADI) that offer the Nitrox course online.
https://www.sdi-onlinetraining.com/courses.cfm?callname=course_detail&course=14&frame=false
PADI DISCOVER ENRICHED AIR NITROX ONLINE COURSE.
And possibly others.
They mention in their websites that the online portion is academics only. You still need to, and should want to work with an instructor or store to do the short practical portion (analyzing the oxygen content of cylinders, etc.)
Avoid any that claim their card is all you need.
i.e. AVOID the ones previously exposed here on ScubaBoard (e.g. SDA, Aquastrophics, and their ilk):
Online Nitrox Certification - Scuba
https://rabbit.he.net/~divesda/SDAnitrox.html
http://www.onlinescubacertification.com/index.html
Their cards are NOT universally recognized, if recognized at all.
If you learn well online, it can be a fine way to learn the academics. However, you might want to coordinate with a shop in advance because not all shops are set up to give you a discount for what you've learned online.
This forum (Ask Dr. Decompression) might not give you as broad an audience as you might want. You could ask one of the moderators to move the thread to somewhere like the Basic Scuba Discussions forum.
There are some legitimate agencies (e.g. SDI and PADI) that offer the Nitrox course online.
https://www.sdi-onlinetraining.com/courses.cfm?callname=course_detail&course=14&frame=false
PADI DISCOVER ENRICHED AIR NITROX ONLINE COURSE.
And possibly others.
They mention in their websites that the online portion is academics only. You still need to, and should want to work with an instructor or store to do the short practical portion (analyzing the oxygen content of cylinders, etc.)
Avoid any that claim their card is all you need.
i.e. AVOID the ones previously exposed here on ScubaBoard (e.g. SDA, Aquastrophics, and their ilk):
Online Nitrox Certification - Scuba
https://rabbit.he.net/~divesda/SDAnitrox.html
http://www.onlinescubacertification.com/index.html
Their cards are NOT universally recognized, if recognized at all.
If you learn well online, it can be a fine way to learn the academics. However, you might want to coordinate with a shop in advance because not all shops are set up to give you a discount for what you've learned online.
Last edited:
tk trekers
Contributor
One negative aspect of the class, the PADI class anyway, is that the cost of the online portion is more than the cost of a regular class by almost double and you still have to work with an instructor to finish the certification. The PADI class is only 3 hours anyway and doesn't require any dives to complete. Do a search for it here, there was quite a lengthy discussion of pros vs. cons within the last month or so.
My daughter did the SDI nitrox class. It included going the instructor's to analyze a tank. It cost $79. That type of training does not require personal presentation.
We have recommended it to others and all have been pleased.
We have recommended it to others and all have been pleased.
soamelt
Contributor
I recently took the instructor lead PADI class, I thought I'd learn more than I would from an online course. It turns out that there wasn't much instruction besides learning to use an O2 analyzer which you learn in the online course as well.
I would go for cost and convience. There isn't much to the Nitox class for recreational diving.
I would go for cost and convience. There isn't much to the Nitox class for recreational diving.
mksmith713
Contributor
Ok, time to open up to the flaming.
I took two Nitrox courses.
One online with SDA and one in a classroom with IANTD.
To be perfectly honest, they were nearly identical.
The only difference was SDA required a score of 100% on any given portion of the test before you could move onto the next portion.
I've used my cards from both agencies to get nitrox fills without question though the IANTD is more widely recognized.
I took two Nitrox courses.
One online with SDA and one in a classroom with IANTD.
To be perfectly honest, they were nearly identical.
The only difference was SDA required a score of 100% on any given portion of the test before you could move onto the next portion.
I've used my cards from both agencies to get nitrox fills without question though the IANTD is more widely recognized.
ligersandtions
Contributor
I took the SDI online Nitrox course. I couldn't justify spending a lot of money on a class when I knew I was going to get very little out of it besides the plastic card (I had already done a lot of reading and research and talked to a lot of people...). The online SDI course was the cheapest one I found, so I decided to give it a go.
It was really bad, imo. If you want to be a diver who blindly follows your computer, then this class is for you (I get it, really I do....there are a number of purely vacation divers who couldn't give a crap about what they're diving except that it lets them stay down longer or do more dives on a live aboard or something). The course work failed to go over any of the governing equations....and basically told you to plug it (the %O2 you are diving) into your computer and listen for the computer to give you an alarm if you go too deep, on-gas too much oxygen and risk ox-tox, or reach your NDL. It also recommends diving up to 1.6 pO2 on a regular basis.
Basically, it throws a lot of info at you but doesn't really teach you anything. It wants you to rely 100% on your computer and 0% on your brain.
It was disappointing, but it got me what I needed. I was thankful, however, that I had done my own reading and gathering of information because I wouldn't have felt good about relying solely on my computer (especially since I dive mine in gauge mode!).
It was really bad, imo. If you want to be a diver who blindly follows your computer, then this class is for you (I get it, really I do....there are a number of purely vacation divers who couldn't give a crap about what they're diving except that it lets them stay down longer or do more dives on a live aboard or something). The course work failed to go over any of the governing equations....and basically told you to plug it (the %O2 you are diving) into your computer and listen for the computer to give you an alarm if you go too deep, on-gas too much oxygen and risk ox-tox, or reach your NDL. It also recommends diving up to 1.6 pO2 on a regular basis.
Basically, it throws a lot of info at you but doesn't really teach you anything. It wants you to rely 100% on your computer and 0% on your brain.
It was disappointing, but it got me what I needed. I was thankful, however, that I had done my own reading and gathering of information because I wouldn't have felt good about relying solely on my computer (especially since I dive mine in gauge mode!).
rstofer
Contributor
Before you sign up, total the costs. Add to the PADI online cost whatever the LDS/instructor will be adding for the practical session. Then compare that cost to just taking the class locally.
In either event, you will be doing the practical work of analyzing a tank at your local shop.
If you opt for the local training, you will still be doing all the book work at home, more or less at your convenience subject to some official class date. You can buy the book today and not sign up for a local class until much later. Your choice.
I, personally, want the take-away of the book with all the Knowledge Reviews completed. It is my belief that what the agency wants you to learn is the material in the Knowledge Reviews and being able to go back over them is helpful. I don't know what kind of take-aways you get with the online course. Could be the same thing.
Richard
In either event, you will be doing the practical work of analyzing a tank at your local shop.
If you opt for the local training, you will still be doing all the book work at home, more or less at your convenience subject to some official class date. You can buy the book today and not sign up for a local class until much later. Your choice.
I, personally, want the take-away of the book with all the Knowledge Reviews completed. It is my belief that what the agency wants you to learn is the material in the Knowledge Reviews and being able to go back over them is helpful. I don't know what kind of take-aways you get with the online course. Could be the same thing.
Richard
This is a good example of why I've stayed away from SDI. They rely WAY too much on computers in their diving. I have gotten berated (albeit not rudely) by an SDI CD because my agency stills "wastes time" teaching the tables to OW students. How ridiculous is that?
Where did you get this from? I've taught a couple of PADI EAN classes and both have taken two evenings -- closer to 6 hours than 3. But of course I'm also including air supply management because I'm assuming that EAN divers can actually start doing some real dive planning.
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