Nitrox certification

[thbcthomas]

My 13 year old son is finishing up his jr open water and the lds is offering his nitrox certification for $75. Will this be beneficial for him since his depth limit is 60, or something we should wait to do until he has his open water cert? LDS Is recommending it, but not pushing it, so I have not asked them many questions. They have been great to work with but want to get others thoughts, to make sure it is not just a sales pitch.

 

[BRT]

Get it. That is cheap and what you need to know about nitrox takes little time to learn.

 

[decompression]

It's a pretty good price for a course that many people take eventually. Nitrox isn't a deep gas but extends your bottom time significantly, worth it especially if your paying for some boat dives that can be a 35 minute dive or a 55 minute dive on Nitrox.

 

[Centrals]

I hope it was that cheap 19yrs ago but back in those days two dives were included.
One of the few courses that I would have no hesitation to recommend to any diver.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Yes nitrox.
Nitrox on air profile is extra cushion for young diver.
Learning the gas principles and depth/time relationships is beneficial.

 

[_Ralph]

As everyone else has mentioned, might as well do it for the price.

It will be something down the road to have anyways, and how many people can say their Nitrox cert is older than their OW cert?.

The way I look at nitrox and depth, anything shallower than 60-70ft either works, just depends on the logistics (and price) of gas. Anything deeper, the benefits are substantial.

With 32%, if you can last an hour on a tank at 70ft, it's a no brainer, you won't be able to get that much bottom time on Air (provided, the gas in the tank supports that dive).


_R

 

[tbone1004]

My 13 year old son is finishing up his jr open water and the lds is offering his nitrox certification for $75. Will this be beneficial for him since his depth limit is 60, or something we should wait to do until he has his open water cert? LDS Is recommending it, but not pushing it, so I have not asked them many questions. They have been great to work with but want to get others thoughts, to make sure it is not just a sales pitch.

better to have and not need, than to need and not have. You probably won't see most of the benefits now, but it's not like nitrox diving is a "skill" that has to be honed and practiced, so may as well get it now

 

[Froggle]

I did Nitrox along with my OW last year and felt that the theory side of it was beneficial as it expanded on my understanding of gases, the potential impacts on the body and the importance of gas testing.
I've just returned from a holiday to the Maldives and used Nitrox exclusively in order to minimise surface intervals and squeeze a few extra dives in. That said, I don't use it when I'm diving quarries in the UK, but at least I have a choice and can adapt dive plans accordingly.

 

[RainPilot]

RAID encourages nitrox alongside OW for the reasons the above posters have mentioned.

 

[maj2]

My 13 year old daughter did her Nitrox course last summer.
She did find the tables very challenging and we had to spend some extra time on the dive planning part of the course material. If I had to do it again, I probably would have had her wait a bit longer.
The other thing that I took some extra time showing her how to use my O2 analyzer, since it was a bit different than any of the units that they were going to be demonstrating at the LDS as part of the course. Since she will be using the unit at home, she had to be familiar with it as well.