So what did you learn from your self-study? All the theory about nitrox, or just enough to pass the recreational exam?
NAUI OW diver, and downside to doing Nitrox thru PADI?
- Thread starter FreeFlyFreak
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OP
FreeFlyFreak
Contributor
Way more than I learned from the 37 page glossy PADI booklet or the instructor.
I sincerely doubt I learned it "ALL".
I dont know ALL about anything.
You are obviously trolling at the moment.
Of perhaps you seriously have the misguided belief that I think I know it all.
I don't.
You have extrapolated my comment that I learned more from my own study than I learned from the 37 page glossy booklet too far.
Perhaps you took this quote "I had learned all the theory by myself" as meaning literally ALL the theory. Instead of all the theory that is contained in the PADI booklet plus some additional.
That is understandable I guess, I could have worded it better so it could not be misinterpreted, but mistakes happen.
Enjoy!
I am
Yeah, was just trying to clarify what you meant...
Good on 'ya for doing the reading. More people should.
OP
FreeFlyFreak
Contributor
No worries.
That is why I am here.
I like to learn as much as possible about a particular subject.
Especially when it is an activity that could cost me my career if I get badly bent, or my life if I do something stupid.
You mentioned Dunning-Kruger earlier, I have seen more than my fair share of people killed or injured by this, in other risky activities I take part in, flying and skydiving.
The trick is to learn as much as you can to minimize risk, but realize that you know almost nothing in the big scheme of things to keep yourself cautious.
I have had good friends killed that they thought they knew it all and fell right off the edge of the risk reward ratio.
That's unfortunate. The advantage to paying an instructor should be that the instructor shares their experience in the subject with the students. When I teach the nitrox class, I spend a fair amount of classroom time telling my students about what they will find when they go to actually use nitrox... i.e. how different shops do things differently, based on my experiences. This is stuff that isn't covered in the book, but is really useful practical knowledge.
For example...
Book says: when a shop rents you a nitrox tank, they will insist that you analyze it. And they will provide you with an analyzer to do so.
Reality: not necessarily so, on both counts.
Book says: you must have a dedicated cylinder with "NITROX" stickers on it, and it must be O2 clean, for a shop to fill it with nitrox.
Reality: definitely not true.
PADI has been putting a lot of effort into their online offerings, and selling the system to instructors as "so the students learn everything online, you just test them and certify them!" Which, unfortunately, encourages instructors to be lazy in what they offer their students.
GreggS
Contributor
Concerning costs, my wife and I got nitrox certified thru SDI. 100.00 for the course + 35.00 for the materials. No additional costs. Studied the materials, went in and took the test, reviewd the test, then analyzed a tank. C-card included.
NAUI had paper records, back in the day, and couldn't find, for the life of them, my Nitrox certification, from back the 1990s, when I needed a replacement card a few years back. They were cool about it; sent me, gratis, electronic versions of the text, which I didn't bother to read; were a bit concerned that I hadn't carried a logbook in years (don't keep track of day to day driving either); that, and that godawful simple test. No testing on a tank or in the water, since there was, strangely, no NAUI personnel in my area; and my only cash-expenditure was for a FEDEX envelope with my C-card.
One of the few times that I wasn't nickel and dimed, by agencies operated by hobbyists . . .
One of the few times that I wasn't nickel and dimed, by agencies operated by hobbyists . . .
Not sure I really want to get into the business of defending PADI, but with an organization as large as theirs, what's one good way to make sure that your students actually get taught the material? Teach it yourself, electronically, and test as you go, then test at the end, then have the instructor test them and see what they retained.
The good instructors resent it. The lousy instructors coast. But at least it's defensible.
Now, I've been trying repeatedly to get PADI to data mine all those quizzes, and tell me which questions my students struggled with, before they show up for class. Alas, it's apparently not worth their effort to help me be a better instructor. I get a report that says "P" and a score, but nothing about what they missed.
With today's crop of learners, I can't say their approach is wrong. Even if all the pictures and "busyness" on the e-Learning pages is distracting as hell to an old fashioned student like me.
The Nitrox e-book they sent me, reminded me of Puppy Driving School (yes, they're actually accredited in the state), when I was caught, doing something just short of light speed on HWY-1 in Northern California. Lots of stats on the consequences of DUIs; egregious injuries by distracted drivers; death and dismemberment, framed by distracting photos of the cutest of puppies . . .
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Bob DBF
Contributor
Distracting and annoying, I'd rather read twenty pages of text than play two hundred pages of Pictionary. I understand writing to the lowest common denominator, I just don't see why they couldn't do a kids version and adult version, and they could make money on losing the color and all those pages they don't have to print, or even better giving more useful information.
Bob
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