Nitrox vs. Regular Air?

[roake215]

Silly me, but one word that seems conspicious by its absence is narcosis

 

[Jimmer]

Silly me, but one word that seems conspicious by its absence is narcosis

Well there is no proof that nitrox has less narcotic effect than air. Infact a lot of tech agencies teach you to consider oxygen as having the exact same narcotic effect as nitrogen.

 

[ClayJar]

Silly me, but one word that seems conspicious by its absence is narcosis

Well there is no proof that nitrox has less narcotic effect than air. Infact a lot of tech agencies teach you to consider oxygen as having the exact same narcotic effect as nitrogen.

Yeah, well like he said, nobody said that yet in this thread, which is certainly an aberration.

And it's not just tech agencies:

Evidence on nitrox and narcosis is sparse, but it is best to regard the narcotic potency of nitrox as the same as that of air.

 

[JiveMaster]

when the night rocks, dive nitrox!

 

[Age]

I've never seen the PADI materials, but I thought the NAUI Nitrox book was a very well-written and thorough educational resource. There's a fair bit of information about the history of Nitrox use, and a fair bit of physiology, and quite a few calculation examples.

"War and Peace? I just checked my books, and NAUI Nitrox Diver is only 103 pages, cover to cover. (That's compared to NAUI Scuba Diver at 234 pages, NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver at 105 pages, NAUI Rescue Scuba Diver at 195 pages, and NAUI Master Scuba Diver at 291 pages.) The chapters are:

1. Introduction (p. 2-13) The history, myths, misconceptions, etc.
2. Gases and Gas Mixtures (p. 14-29) Gas properties and physics.
3. The Physiology of Diving and Nitrox (p. 30-41) DCS, (CNS and pulmonary) oxtox, hypoxia, and everything in between.
4. Choosing the Best Nitrox Mix (p. 42-51) MODs, how to calculate the best nitrox mix for any given depth, etc.
5. Dive Tables and Dive Computers (p. 52-64) Nitrox tables, RGBM tables, computers, etc.
6. Oxygen Precautions and Preparing Nitrox (p. 66-77) Handling oxygen and cylinders, different fill methods, your responsibilities.
7. Knowing What You Breathe (p. 78-83) Analyzing, labeling, logging, etc.
8. (Glossary, Tables, Formulas, Dive Tables, and the Index cover the rest)

I don't have the stuff you used for your PADI Nitrox, but that's my quick summary of what was in the book. (Perhaps if granolatree's local shops would take some time to read it through, there wouldn't be so many apparently flawed ideas flying around.)[/QUOTE]"

I just took the NAUI course and I thought it was a well written manual and a lot quicker read than War and Peace. Admittedly though I did find War and Peace to be a little lacking in details around the use of equivalent air depth tables.

My suggestion would be to take the course. It tends to be a pretty low cost one, and it's fairly short so you're not out much money or time if you decide that devil gas... er, I mean EAN is not for you.

My thanks to all. The PADI course book is A5 and at 93 pages is less than half the size than the NAUI A4 book, so perhaps I should have said "War and Peace" in comparison. Anyway, though I thought the PADI course was more than good enough for practical purposes, I'll take the NAUI course out of interest; my instructor is offering the course next month. Hope it's metric though.

 

[mempilot]

Nitrox? Why the heck would anyone want to dive Nitrox for? Trimix is where it's at. All the advantages of Nitrox without all the narcosis.

 

[ClayJar]

Anyway, though I thought the PADI course was more than good enough for practical purposes, I'll take the NAUI course out of interest; my instructor is offering the course next month. Hope it's metric though.

All the NAUI books are metric-enabled. In fact, they usually write things like, "...still for actual depths from 21 meters (70 feet) to 33 meters (110 feet),..." (p. 55). Examples may be in "U.S./Imperial", but they are usually accompanied by metric examples (or "The procedure is identical in an S.I./metric calculation." for some that are trivial). All the charts are either multi-system (dive tables) or in pairs (figure 4-1a in fsw, with figure 4-1b in msw right below).

(They're called "NAUI Worldwide", so it'd be a crying shame if we couldn't work in meters and bars. On second thought, forget the meters. )

Nitrox? Why the heck would anyone want to dive Nitrox for? Trimix is where it's at. All the advantages of Nitrox without all the narcosis.

Well, I seem to be flat out of firstborn, for one.

 

[Jimmer]

Nitrox? Why the heck would anyone want to dive Nitrox for? Trimix is where it's at. All the advantages of Nitrox without all the narcosis.

Patience my friend, we'll all catch up sooner or later...you're just ahead of the currve

 

[JiveMaster]

Nitrox? Why the heck would anyone want to dive Nitrox for? Trimix is where it's at. All the advantages of Nitrox without all the narcosis.

Heck yeah...Plus it makes your voice sound funny!

 

[Lowrider Steve]

We just took our first trip with Nitrox a couple of weeks ago. We did more diving (Bonaire) and had more energy in the evenings than trips on air. I definitly joined the ranks of the folks who say you have more post-dive energy on Nitrox.

On Bonaire it was free, but I'd pay the extra for feeling better in the evenings!