Different Blends of EANx

[Aerosynth]

@a22shady - thanks for the software recommendation. just downloaded it for Android. I'll check it out.

 

[rongoodman]

I just use 32%(or air in swimming pools). I'm not much interested in going below its 110' MOD until I can add some helium to the mix.

 

[ianr33]

You can buy an O2 analyzer for just over $100
EL Cheapo II Analyzer Kit : OxyCheq - DiveOps, Analyzers and Scuba Diving Equipment
Helps to be handy with a soldering iron.

The oxygen sensors last around a year,maybe 18 months. Cost of the sensor is approx $70

 

[Aerosynth]

@ianr33 LOL... that's the real product name, huh? Almost thought it was a joke when you posted it. That's pretty awesome, though. Not handy with a soldering iron, unfortunately - I would end up crossing two incompatible circuits and open up a hole to another dimension.

 

[vladimir]

Question is... do you guys (or recreational divers in general) usually invest in an oxygen analyzer as part of a gear set, or do you use the store's/boat's when needed? If I bought one, what type of cash would I be looking at?

And the posts about the different mix percentages are great... I am totally getting a better picture here. Awesome!

I have the AnaloxO2EII. $279, plus a $90 replacement of the sensor every four years (or less). Dive shops and boats that supply nitrox always have an analyzer on hand, but sometimes it's nice to cut the queue by having your own. This one is compact, bulletproof, and easy to use.

 

[TSandM]

Oxycheq assembles the El Cheapo for you and calls it the Expedition or something like that, and sells it for about $225, IIRC. It is well worth having your own unit. There are places, especially outside the US, where shops provide Nitrox but not analyzers (it's like that in MX, where I cave dive). And often, on boats, for example, there may be one analyzer and 20+ people trying to use it.

The idea of "best mix" is that you keep reducing the oxygen percentage as your proposed dive gets deeper, so as to avoid toxicity. But, of course, you then get little advantage over air in terms of longer bottom times -- and the bottom times below about 110 feet are so short that, to me, those depths really aren't worth diving unless as the brief deepest portion of an extensively multileveled dive. I keep my tanks full of 32%. It gives me a very useful range of acceptable depths and enough bottom time advantage over air to make it worth buying.

 

[kanonfodr]

I dive 32% for deeper dives (<60 feet) as it allows me a great range in diving and a very acceptable increase in NDL over air. It's also handy as I only have to memorize one table and one table only (vs doing a whole bunch of math for every dive, I'm lazy darnit!!) for deep dives. I am blessed that I have a choice of either shallow reefs where NDL isn't really a worry or deeper dives that utilize fairly square profiles. On 32% I am generally getting bored before I get to the tables.

That being said, using a Best Mix can provide a substantial increase in MDL for some deeper dives without the risk of OxTox that 32% would bring with it, but we don't have many of those dives here so it's not an issue for me, really.

But always, ALWAYS analyze your tanks before you dive them. Whether it's at the dive shop (preferably, as you can alert them to a discrepancy) or before you board the boat, analyze that tank! There is only one shop I don't analyze my tanks from, and that's because they don't do anything other than air. If a shop handles Nitrox I analyze, because you never know what may have happened to the tank while it was in their possession (plus it's good to analyze anyway).

I don't have my own analyzer yet, but that Oxycheq model looks awfully enticing. If the shop handles Nitrox but doesn't have an analyzer, I won't use that tank until I can get it analyzed. And then I will never visit that shop again.

Peace,
Greg

 

[AndrewA]

I have dived mixes from 27 to 40 % recreationally ( and decoed on 50-100%) Most of my recreational dives are on 36% and some on 32% ( I now do most dive deep tom35 m on a "Hot" Trimix).
I bought my first analyser a month after I did my Nitrox course and have never regretted it. With my own analyser I can take my time to check the mix when I want to both in the Shop and at the dive site (without having to wait while others are checking theirs with a borrowed analyser)

 

[=C=]

Question is... do you guys (or recreational divers in general) usually invest in an oxygen analyzer as part of a gear set, or do you use the store's/boat's when needed? If I bought one, what type of cash would I be looking at?

This is a tough one. I mostly dive air because nitrox is very expensive here and it doesn't impact my diving very much. In the USA I would dive enriched air more often. I haven't purchased an analyzer because of the sensor life. All of the reasonably priced analyzers have a life that is reduced by their exposure to oxygen. That said you can take steps to limit oxygen exposure. Many people on the board use otter boxes or similar sealed containers for analyzer storage. Replacement of the the sensors are very expensive or not possible.

price? Expect between 230 and 310 USD for a basic Analyzer.

As a note I have been on boats that have shady Analyzers and decided rather not dive nitrox than take the risk. If I had my own analyzer it would have come in handy.

 

[a22shady]

@a22shady - thanks for the software recommendation. just downloaded it for Android. I'll check it out.

I also have it my incredible. works really good and nice to have that info it provides handy.