Is Nitrox worth it?

[DandyDon]

I like Nitrox for any of the 100+ feet deep wrecks populary dived in the Keys - did a few of them last week - even with 80 cf tanks.

In Cozumel, where it runs $10 a tank and the dives are often planned around 60-100 feet, I might dive air for the first one, then Nitrox for the second dive.

The shorter surface interval with Nitrox is nice, excpet there are usually Air divers on the boat, so the boat does a longer one anyway.

 

[HowardE]

Nitrox - worth it ... yes... worth $18 a tank? NO - that's rediculous.

In short... I dive nitrox almost always.

My regular dive site is a 60' deep reef... On air, the NO STOP LIMIT (that is BEFORE the grey area on the PADI RDP) is 47 minutes. The same dive to the NO STOP LIMIT on Nitrox 36% is 89 Minutes. We generally do 2 dives to 60' for 60 minutes each, with a 30 minute interval. If other people are on the boat diving air... it's a lot different for them... We are usually the first ones in the water, and the last ones out.

 

[tjmills]

$18 per tank is gouging you. Find a new dive operator and see if they compete. I doubt it.

I always dive Nitrox but not at $18/tank

 

[DandyDon]

I'll bet it's $10 tank rental, $8 more for Nitrox - but the boat trip with tanks, weights, and one Nitrox upgrade would be a reasonble price. They break down prices differently on Marathon compared to Key Largo - confusing.

 

[mccabejc]

Nitrox is a major PITA, IMHO. Around me (Southern California) there are VERY few dive boats and very few dive shops that do nitrox. Some shops fill O2 clean tanks, some don't. Some can fill the tank in less than 1/2 hour, some places you need to drop it off and pick it up later. Some can't do nitrox fills if the right guy isn't there. Some charge an arm and a leg for fills, some don't. And some charge you twice what every other dive shop charges to O2 clean your tanks...

That being said, now that I've got the logistics figured out for doing nitrox I'll probably do it on half my dives, when I can swing it. And when I go to places like Bonaire, where nitrox is routine, cheap and easy, I'll do it on all my dives. Less N2 is a good thing, and even though there isn't a whole lot of data proving the benefits of nitrox I'll still go thru the hassle and expense just because it seems like an obvious benefit.

 

[wardric]

I'm sure there will be a lot of posts saying "I always dive nitrox. Air is only good for tires!"

I find that nitrox is good for some dives, and adds little for others. If you go dive the Thunderbolt in Marathon, then nitrox will significantly add to the allowable bottom time / lower your nitrogen loading. On the 30' reef dives common in the Keys, whether you are on nitrox or air makes little difference.

Whether the dive profile is flat bottomed or multilevel also makes a big difference. I almost always dive nitrox in SE Florida (Ft. Lauderdale to West Palm Beach areas) because the typical dive there is a relatively square profile to 60-80' range.

In Maui, I usually dive air, since even on a dive to 100+', I'll only be at 100' for a while, then 70', then will spend lots of time around 40' or less. Nitrox would lower my loadings, but the multilevel profile lets me dive a nice long dive on air with reasonable N2 loadings.

I wont repeat what Charlie just wrote but I agree with him. As an example, on a wreck like the Kingshorn (80 ft, flat), nitrox will give more no dec time and therefore, a longer dive but of course, with a 80 cf tank, air might be the limitation. It aplies aso to reefs that are at a deep and constant depth.

On a wreck like the Keystorm (around 120 ft but on a slope so rising to around 20 ft), since you can go to the bottom and gradually rise to the top while visiting the wreck, nitrox is not as necessary and you can plan a 45-60 min dive on air by doing a multi-level dive. Shore dives in freshwater are also often easy to do multi-level in an interesting way so nitrox is not always a major benefit.

So, depending on the dive site and the dive plan (and your tank capacity), nitrox can be required, great or unnecessary. But of course, that doesn't take into acount the extra security margin (if you dive with air no dec parameters while using nitrox). I use it accordingly to the dive I plan.

So the answer to your question IMO is Yes but 18 USD seems very expensive for just a fill

 

[sEANx32]

If you decide to go Nitrox, and haven't done anything with Nitrox in 6 months. Remember to go over your materials again. Don't forget you have to plan for your partial pressure limits for the O2. I like using Nitrox and diving it like it's air. It gives me an extra level of safety and I just keep an eye on my O2 levels. Also I'm still new and breath way too much air to truly see the benefits of the extended bottom times. Also don't forget to figure in for your max depth depending on the mix. I dive a rock quarry in PA that doesn't go deeper than 100 or so feet, so I can dive all day long on EANx36 with no worries of depth. Just some saftey items to remember.

Also, $18 for JUST a fill seems steep to me as well.

Hope this helps some. Anyone pleese feel free to comment on or correct my logic.

 

[Pyrofish]

I just looked up one that I'm goign to in Marathon in a few weeks and their fills are $4 air/ $14 nitrox. Rental tank is $10 air / $18 nitrox. According to the site that grf88 posted, this is the norm for Marathon. Good to know, plan lots of extra cash for refills... check.
Jason

 

[daniel f aleman]

Less N2 is a good thing, and even though there isn't a whole lot of data proving the benefits of nitrox I'll still go thru the hassle and expense just because it seems like an obvious benefit.

Especially if you're over 40 years' of age.

 

[AndyNZ]

Is Nitrox worth it? On the right dive, totally. I pay $110 to do two dives on some local wrecks that are in 30-35m of water. Even if you treat them as multi-level dives it's difficult to get more than 40 mins per dive on air. So that works out about $1.40 per minute. With Nitrox I pay and extra $30 for two fills and extend each dive to around 60 minutes, so 140/120 = $1.16 per minute.

There seems to be some misconceptions about the safety of Nitrox here. If you dive Nitrox but stick to air NDLs then there is a small (theoretical) safety advantage but really not worth taking into account - most dive tables are well tested and as long as you don't dive to the limits of the tables then you'll be fine.

If you dive with Nitrox on Nitrox NDLs you have no magical safety factor - if you dive to the NDL you have exactly the same level of nitrogen in your body tissues as if you'd dived on Air to the Air NDL. So please don't treat it as a licence to not dive conservatively!!!