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There are two things limiting your bottom time: your NDL and your min gas time. Sometimes, its your NDL that limits your bottom time, sometimes it's your min gas time that limits your bottom time. If you're on EAN, it's (IME) usually your min gas time that's limiting. If you're EAN and cavern certified, I'm a bit amazed that you aren't aware of this.Why does it seem people are saying "you don't need nitrox, it's not that deep" when nitrox isn't for "going deep" but for spending more time underwater?
We who dive nitrox usually do it because we don't enjoy the concept of riding the NDL, but prefer to stay a little away from it. However, if nitrox is ridiculously expensive, or if the profile keeps us well away from the NDL even on air, there is no good reason to opt for nitrox.Why would anyone not want to dive nitrox so long as they will not exceed its max depth?
Get a refund on your nitrox class, because you obviously haven't gotten the required learning outcome. There's CNS toxicity (not particularly time related) and there's pulmonary toxicity (time related). In NDL diving, pulmonary oxtox usually isn't an issue, but if you aren't aware of the issue, you really aren't competent to dive nitrox.Oxygen toxicity has no time requirement.
Yes, it is for spending more time underwater, but that only matters within a certain depth range. It really does not make any difference in shallow diving. If you were to dive on air to 40 feet using the PADI tables, you would have a maximum bottom time of 140 minutes. If you were to dive EANx 32 to 40 feet using the PADI nitrox tables, you would see they don't even bother putting 40 feet on the table. It starts at 45 feet, and you get 220 minutes. That is certainly more time allowed, but are you going to do a dive for 220 minutes? Are you going to do a dive for 140 minutes? In contraast, if you are talking about 70-100 feet, you will see numbers that make sense for using nitrox--at 90 feet on air, you get 25 minutes, but with EANx 32, you get 35 minutes.Why does it seem people are saying "you don't need nitrox, it's not that deep" when nitrox isn't for "going deep" but for spending more time underwater? Why would anyone not want to dive nitrox so long as they will not exceed its max depth?
Yes, you were confusing them. I will take the blame for that, because I assumed you would see the difference without the full explanation and so waws not clear enough.I don't think I am confusing those. Boulderjohn posted that you can dive "all day" (measure of time) at rec depths using EANx32. I was checking the dive tables and saying that there are still time limits with EANx 32.
No, they aren't. Sometimes - and under some conditions - they are limited by min gas time.Your dives are always limited by no decompression limits.
I did not say your dives are ONLY limited by NDLs.No, they aren't. Sometimes - and under some conditions - they are limited by min gas time.
No, you didn't, but in the quest for clarity I wanted to clarify that point.I did not say your dives are ONLY limited by NDLs.