Nitrox training worth it w/o a computer

[togatown]

My wife and I were considering getting Nitrox Certified. We are warm water OW recreational divers, and typically go away 1-2 times per year for diving. We currently don't own our own dive computers, so I am wondering if it is even worth getting the certification at this point?

 

[rsingler]

Absolutely.
You do just the kind of diving where Nitrox may add to your safety. If you do a week of repetitive dives, the reduced N2 exposure may add to your safety margin. Or if you choose to dive to the NDL, you'll have longer success than those on air. But that's hard to do with typical rental tanks, unless your air consumption is very low.
I presume you'd rent a computer on your trip. Or get two used for cheap on eBay. I use an $80 eBay computer as my backup kept in a pocket in case my primary goes out.
Either way, it improves your experience at pretty modest cost. Safety or duration, or a little of both.

 

[nolatom]

If you aren't diving very often or very deep, and your limiting factor in the typical dive is your pressure gauge rather than your dive-table number of bottom minutes remaining, then I'm not sure I see the point in nitrox.

You might reconsider the computer thing. You'll be in the minority on most group dives without one, and the ready reference to your nitrogen absorption level is useful.

And if you get one, get one that's nitrox-capable (meaning most all of them nowadays). And at that point, it would make sense to take the nitrox course.

 

[rsingler]

If you aren't diving very often or very deep, and your limiting factor in the typical dive is your pressure gauge rather than your dive-table number of bottom minutes remaining, then I'm not sure I see the point in nitrox.

You might reconsider the computer thing. You'll be in the minority on most group dives without one, and the ready reference to your nitrogen absorption level is useful.

And if you get one, get one that's nitrox-capable (meaning most all of them nowadays). And at that point, it would make sense to take the nitrox course.

It is a rare diver whose "table dive" is limited by the pressure gauge. If you dive tables (does anyone really still do that?) then just about every NDL is less than your tank.
Example: Dove the Hilma Hooker in Bonaire. 104', and my total dive was 48 min. No table would allow that.
Or a shallower dive - 65' for an hour. Again, tables would put you in deco.

So my point stands: if you're diving to your tank limits, why not have less nitrogen? Especially if you're on a trip where you want to do two, three or even five dives a day like we did in Bonaire (2 boat a.m., lunch, 2 boat p.m., dinner break, shore night dive off the hotel dock - every day for a week).
I think safer to do all that with reduced nitrogen exposure.

My 2 cents

 

[tursiops]

If you aren't diving very often or very deep, and your limiting factor in the typical dive is your pressure gauge rather than your dive-table number of bottom minutes remaining, then I'm not sure I see the point in nitrox.

You might reconsider the computer thing. You'll be in the minority on most group dives without one, and the ready reference to your nitrogen absorption level is useful.

And if you get one, get one that's nitrox-capable (meaning most all of them nowadays). And at that point, it would make sense to take the nitrox course.

The two "ifs" in the first sentence are maybe irrelevant. Since you are doing repetitive dives, Nitrox can be very helpful on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th dives during a day. On air, with tables, you can get kinda short NDLs pretty quickly. And, as a vacation diver, you may well be going a little deeper. For example, in the Turks and Caicos, many of the dives re 70 ft plus. You need that bottom time, which you get with Nitrox or use of a computer. Of course, both is even better.

Finally, we are encountering more and more liveaboards on which use of a computer is mandatory. So, you rent one or buy one. Tables don't help.

In the end, you'll probably get a computer. Meanwhile, the Nitrox cert is easy, fast, and not expensive. go for it. It never goes bad.

 

[BoltSnap]

If you aren't diving very often or very deep, and your limiting factor in the typical dive is your pressure gauge rather than your dive-table number of bottom minutes remaining, then I'm not sure I see the point in nitrox.

You might reconsider the computer thing. You'll be in the minority on most group dives without one, and the ready reference to your nitrogen absorption level is useful.

And if you get one, get one that's nitrox-capable (meaning most all of them nowadays). And at that point, it would make sense to take the nitrox course.

Multi dive/day for multi-days, yes, the NDL will keep getting progressively lower and lower than air consumption.

 

[boulderjohn]

If you do not have computers, how are you measuring your dives? Are you renting computers, or are you using tables?

If it is not one of those two options, I believe this thread will take a turn.

 

[tursiops]

Just as an example:
Using air on PADI tables, doing a series of 60 ft dives for 33 minutes each (this is not an unusual gas usage), with a 1h surface interval between them, you can only do 3 dives in a day; the 4th attempt violates allowable bottom time. It is worse, if you go deeper or stay longer (i.e., better air consumption). 60 ft dives for 42 minutes; you can only do ONE dive in that sequence without either a longer surface interval, or a shallower or shorter repetitive dive. If the sequence is 80 ft for 21 minutes, you can only do the ONE dive without some kind of adjustment.

But with 32% Nitrox (the most common percentage), you can do the 60 ft for 33 minutes dives (with 1h surface interval) all day long, as many as you want, not just 3. Same with 60 ft for 42 minutes. No limit for the day. Same with 80 ft for 21 minutes.

The point is, Nitrox REALLY opens up repetitive diving. A computer MAY help, if the dive is multilevel (starts deep, works its way up shallower). But for a "square profile" (i.e., go down, stay, come up, which is typical of a lot of sites), the computer doesn't help nearly as much as Nitrox.

 

[togatown]

Thanks for all of the replies!

We do rent computers wherever possible. The reason we were thinking about this is because we are going to be in the Cayman's this February for only 4 days, and we want to dive as much as possible for at least two of the days, without getting too fatigued ( min 2- max 4 dives per day). As result, the dive operator asked if we were Nitrox certified.

 

[DavBuc]

You can get a good solid used Nitrox computer on Ebay for $70-80 if you keep your eyes open and catch a great deal.

Even if you didn't want to wait for a great deal you can get one immediately for under $125.

At a rental rate of $10-15 per day you'll pay it off after less than 10 dives, plus you'll have the advantages of owning a computer over renting which include: Knowing the computer, being comfortable and understanding it's features, having the same computer over a multi day dive trip so you'll accurately track your N02, and you wont be using a rental computer that might have a previous diver's Nitrogen load that would be a limiting factor in your dives.