Is there any reason to do a Nitrox 'course'?

[maniago]

PADI. My manual is long gone but I just stumbled across a thread from 2006 where a poster said that on page xxx of their 2004 edition manual that it said something to the effect of it's not safer in terms of DCS. (p.16-17 in the PADI Enriched Air Diver Manual Version 2.1) If someone has a recent manual and can post the relevant information, that'd be great.

I'm not arguing one way or the other. I'm just recalling what I was told.

Page 4: "It is too simplistic to state that when well within air limits (ie recreational diving limits), enriched air is safer than air......as you will see, higher o2 levels create a potential hazard that hardly exist in air diving while within recreational limits...." (PADI EANx 2010 rev 12/11)

Also worth noting, narcosis potential is the same with EANx. Or in other words, noone really understand what causes narcosis....

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Page 4: "It is too simplistic to state that when well within air limits (ie recreational diving limits), enriched air is safer than air......as you will see, higher o2 levels create a potential hazard that hardly exist in air diving while within recreational limits...." (PADI EANx 2010 rev 12/11)

Also worth noting, narcosis potential is the same with EANx. Or in other words, noone really understand what causes narcosis....

... might be more relevent to say that oxygen is roughly as narcotic as nitrogen at the same pressure, and therefore the term "nitrogen narcosis" is a bit of a misnomer ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Lorenzoid]

Back to the original question, yes--what others have said about dive shops viewing your Nitrox card as a pass to get fills.

But more generally, my view of taking a class on any subject versus learning through self-study is that it's one thing to believe you have mastered the material and another thing for a qualified instructor to believe you have mastered the material.

 

[boulderjohn]

From the PADI 1995, 2002 Enriched Air diving manual, page #4:

Because you absorb less nitrogen using enriched air, you might expect that using enriched air within normal air decompression limits would substantially improve your safety. This probably isn't true. The decompression illness (DCI) incidence rate is already so low that it's unlikely that simply reducing nitrogen can produce a meaningful safety improvement. Although there's been no experimental study of this, statistical estimates suggest that using enriched air within normal air limits only reduces the incidence rate a fraction of a percent--after all, the DCI incidence rate is estimated by the Divers Alert Network and other dive industry sources as .004% (one in 25,000 dives) to .001% (one in 100,000 dives); even if you cut that by 50% (which is unlikely), the best you could do is reduce the incidence rate by .002%.​

The italics above were part of the original quote and were not added by me.

 

[chrpai]

2. If you dive nitrox on an air profile, yes, it is safer, but to a statistically insignificant degree. The percentage of recreational dives on air that result in DCS rounds off to zero. While doing those same dive profiles on nitrox is safer, it still rounds off to zero.

That is what I was taught. It was a whole lot of "well I [instructor] think it makes me feel better and it should be safer... but I can't officially tell you that."


If I got free nitrox like NWGratefulDiver, I'd be all over it. But as it stands I get about 120 dives a year in. At $4 a fill that's $480 in gas. ( I shouldn't admit that to my wife. ) With nitrox that would be another $1000 and a lot of time spent of dropping off tanks, coming back the next day and analyzing tanks.

Just not worth it to me. Now on the M/V Fling in the Flower Gardens.... that's another story.

 

[boulderjohn]

That is what I was taught. It was a whole lot of "well I [instructor] think it makes me feel better and it should be safer... but I can't officially tell you that."

My instructor said the same thing, and I feel the same way.

I am not at all surprised by the experience Frank (Wookie) describes with his boat. I think there's a lot more to like about nitrox than we can state with any certainty because of the lack of research.

 

[daniel f aleman]

There is no need to dive with nitrox. But if you want to dive with nitrox, take the course.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

If I got free nitrox like NWGratefulDiver, I'd be all over it.

Where'd you hear that? I pay $100 per month for my nitrox fills ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[phoenix31tt]

i took the course in Bonaire to get more dives in as during our planning we were pushing it close to NDL on air, and nitrox is free upgrade

Locally however it makes no sense, to expensive and not enough dives in a day to approach NDL.

 

[chrpai]

Where'd you hear that? I pay $100 per month for my nitrox fills ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Oh just bad memory.... I recall you mentioning something about the great price you got. I guess I stored that away as FREE.