GUE CCR-F vs tech 1

[floppa]

My 2 cents on observing people who speed run Tech Pass -> CCR-F is that there is a possibility of spending all your time doing drills, but have very little experience doing actual dives.


One advantage in doing something like T1 and doing T1 dives is that it gives you a sense of how to plan complex dives, deal with the tradeoffs. A worthwhile skill to develop, even cheaply by doing 32% + 100% deco dives.

I know a few people who technically (S-Drills, V-drills, trim buoyancy etc) seem very competent but seem to be kind of klutzes underwater in terms of thinking through and actually doing a dive. I am not saying that doing T1 will teach you that, but I am saying that doing more complex dives will teach you some of that.

 

[Hungcyon]

I'd do both for the experience, T1 first, get some OC Tech experience(I am aware of the cost unfortunately), then realize that OC tech is not the way and do CCR-F and upgrade route.

In my opinion you want to have some experience and be somewhat comfortable with the ascent procedures on OC before you switch to CCR. If something goes wrong on a CCR1 dive, you're doing a T1 dive all of a sudden. You probably don't want your first time blowing bubbles from 170ft to be on Bailout

 

[grantmac]

I'm sure I'll get lambasted for this BUT:
You can do a non-GUE course like AN/DP and do a bunch of deco diving on various standard nitrox gasses before doing CCR-F and without the gas bill of T1.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

I'm sure I'll get lambasted for this BUT:
You can do a non-GUE course like AN/DP and do a bunch of deco diving on various standard nitrox gasses before doing CCR-F and without the gas bill of T1.

This is the real problem. It’s one thing to blow money on T1 but another to have GUE-trained teammates willing to do tens of T1 dives before moving to a CCR. And no matter how good T1 might be, any course is worthless without applying the skills on actual diving after the course.

I think ANDP could be a very cost-efficient option before CCR-F.

 

[ChrisMBC]

I'm sure I'll get lambasted for this BUT:
You can do a non-GUE course like AN/DP and do a bunch of deco diving on various standard nitrox gasses before doing CCR-F and without the gas bill of T1.

FWIW, the gas bill of T1 is something like $500, which is not nothing but also not a huge consideration in a world of $10k rebreathers and $2k course fees.

 

[Matan]

FWIW, the gas bill of T1 is something like $500, which is not nothing but also not a huge consideration in a world of $10k rebreathers and $2k course fees.

That's really specific to where one lives - a 21/35 fill in Israel is ~180$ today.
10 dives that's 1800$ w/o even counting the Nx50 fills and assuming you have your own cylinders.

Sadly the CCR path (if you know you will use trimix) is not cheaper but more cost effective (you don't save money with CCR - you just spend it more wisely).
I'd hate to see someone go through T1 only to be broke on the He bill - for me after enough T2 dives I was just broke so literally had to wait to get a CCR (again this is my opinion in the US situation might be different).


Matan.

 

[San Diego Climber]

That's really specific to where one lives - a 21/35 fill in Israel is ~180$ today.
10 dives that's 1800$ w/o even counting the Nx50 fills and assuming you have your own cylinders.

Sadly the CCR path (if you know you will use trimix) is not cheaper but more cost effective (you don't save money with CCR - you just spend it more wisely).
I'd hate to see someone go through T1 only to be broke on the He bill - for me after enough T2 dives I was just broke so literally had to wait to get a CCR (again this is my opinion in the US situation might be different).


Matan.

I assumed that number as just the trimix portion of the three experience dives in class, not post-class dives. So maybe like very loose guess of 600ish at your rates for the three Tx dives in class?

For sure racking up 25 dives post-class on helium is gonna be some $$$

 

[SpeedyJ]

Everyone is different, but I greatly appreciated the time I spent on OC conducting T1 dives building my capacity so that when I got onto a rebreather I had plenty of mental processing power available. Looking back, I appreciate the relative safety of OC diving as I began the journey.

A lot of people vastly overestimate their cost savings on rebreather. They overestimate how many tech dives they do per year, and they'll totally forget to factor the time value of money & opportunity cost associated with buying and getting trained on a rebreather, and the costs they incur to keep one running.

This is worth a read:

The Economics of Choosing CCR Vs OC

How many “deep” open circuit dives would you have to conduct—you are using helium aren’t you?—to pay for a rebreather, training and necessary experience dives? It’s question that instructor evaluator Guy Shockey explores in detail in his analysis of the economics of rebreather versus open...

indepthmag.com

 

[PfcAJ]

That's really specific to where one lives - a 21/35 fill in Israel is ~180$ today.
10 dives that's 1800$ w/o even counting the Nx50 fills and assuming you have your own cylinders.

Sadly the CCR path (if you know you will use trimix) is not cheaper but more cost effective (you don't save money with CCR - you just spend it more wisely).
I'd hate to see someone go through T1 only to be broke on the He bill - for me after enough T2 dives I was just broke so literally had to wait to get a CCR (again this is my opinion in the US situation might be different).


Matan.

I mean, if you drain your tanks after every dive then yea that would be expensive.

But that’s dumb.

 

[Nick_Radov]

I mean, if you drain your tanks after every dive then yea that would be expensive.

But that’s dumb.

There are still some places where you can get helium and oxygen supply cylinders to do partial pressure cascade trimix fills but they lack a booster pump to top off tanks. So in those cases you have to drain your tanks after every dive in order to get the correct helium and oxygen pressures before topping off with air from a regular scuba compressor. Boosters are fairly widespread now but this still comes up occasionally in remote areas.