why hasnt nitrox replaced compressed air completely?

[ballastbelly]

the major cost in diving for most of us are overheads which dont vary appreciably
with the number of dives done in a day:air tickets/car rental,hotel accomodation/insurance/food& entertainment/gear & gear rental


if nitrox can double your diving time, effectively giving you twice the bang for your buck for a modest increase in
tank filling expense, why is compressed air still offered (is it too risky for the average diver?)


thx

 

[String]

Reasons... Requires extra training.
Costs a lot more to actually blend and fill.
Can take longer to fill in terms of dive centre resources.
May require special equipment on the part of the diver depending on how its blended.
Restricts your dive profile depending on depth and available mix.
Provides absolutely no benefits at all for dives ended with air consumption vs NDLs so increases the cost of a dive for no benefits at all.

Nitrox is a handy tool that comes in really useful only in a specific set of depths and sites. It's not some magically cure-all gas. Sometimes its less useful than air.

 

[DuboisP]

Provides absolutely no benefits at all for dives ended with air consumption vs NDLs so increases the cost of a dive for no benefits at all.

Nitrox is a handy tool that comes in really useful only in a specific set of depths and sites. It's not some magically cure-all gas. Sometimes its less useful than air.

disagree
do 4 dives a day, even in NDL, and you will see the difference.
availability is a problem

 

[String]

disagree
do 4 dives a day, even in NDL, and you will see the difference.

I routinely do 4-5 dives a day. It's my job. You plan the profiles and day properly and rarely if ever come up against an NDL.

Holidays generally i'll do 5 or 6 dives a day on a liveaboard, all on air and never have an issue.

From experience most guided dives (90%+ if not more worldwide) end due to air consumption not NDLs. For these cases there is absolutely no benefit at all in paying extra for nitrox.

 

[drrich2]

You can do 4 dives/day in the Florida Keys, even if 1 or 2 are deep wrecks, on air. If your gas consumption rate is really good, and your charter boat op. lets you dive well over an hour, and you're doing 3 or 4 dives/day or spending much of your dives at greater depth (e.g.: I hear drift diving out of Jupiter, Florida, where you can rent 120 cf tanks from Jupiter Dive Center, is a place you might want to use nitrox).

But for a large portion of the vacation diver market, and the slim margin charter outfits that cater to them with fairly tight schedules and limited dive times, you're talking more money for next to nothing.

Richard.

 

[DennisS]

Lots of people do shore dives in south Florida, if you get to 25 ft, you're digging a hole in the sand. No need for Nitrox

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Also to be noted is that nitrox will cause you to limited your maximum depth, and is not suitable for some planned dives for that reason. Nor does nitrox "double" your dive time. I enjoy diving nitrox if the profiles are compatible with that gas. I think diving with nitrox leaves me less fatigued than diving on air. The op seems to not have taken a nitrox class, something that is a MUST before diving or planning dives using that gas.
DivemasterDennis

 

[redacted]

For me, nitrox is mostly an unnecessary added expense. It is only a few dive profiles that I do that would result in greater bottom time when using nitrox.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

I fill my own air - don't have access or training in Nitrox - don't need it... All my diving needs - owning my own equipment and being able to fill my own air makes it cheaper...

 

[String]

Just looked through my logs for 2013. I did 550 dives and used nitrox on 7 of those dives. All on the same dive site. Pretty much sums it up - needed only in very specific circumstances.