Nitrox course - is it a rip off?

[ChrisA]

I'm doing the class for about the same price but with PADI the materials are expensize. The set of three plastic dive tables are $8 each so there is $24 and then you need the book $15, and the class include two rental tanks filled with Nitrox. PADI charges $25 for just the card so that leaves about $75 for the instructor and shop to split some how. I'm in California.

I'd like to get my PADI Nitrox card but I find the price of the course ridiculously expensive. The cheapest any dive school seems to offer is 190 euros. As far as I can see this should cost a dive school about as much to teach as PPB which goes for around 100 euros.

Is the nitrox course only so expensive because its the only way to get Nitrox fills? At least if you find PPB too expensive you can just teach yourself but you don't get that option with Nitrox because you need a piece of plastic to show the fill stations.

 

[BarryNL]

I'm doing the class for about the same price but with PADI the materials are expensize. The set of three plastic dive tables are $8 each so there is $24 and then you need the book $15, and the class include two rental tanks filled with Nitrox. PADI charges $25 for just the card so that leaves about $75 for the instructor and shop to split some how. I'm in California.

Actually, I'm surprised more places don't offer loan materials for the course. As you say, they're about $40. If the instructor uses the same book and tables for only 10 courses they could knock $35 off the price.

 

[BarryNL]

See, and that's why I think it should be taught as a class. Its not just that "1.6 is evil and you will die but 1.4 is OK". Its actually a combination of pPO2 and time (this according to the people at NOAA who literally wrote the book on enriched air diving). So 1.6 might be OK for a short period of time (45 minutes or less) given a perfect set of circumstance, the reality is the perfect set of circumstance may not exist for your dive due to conditioning, cold, current, working dive, length of dive, etc. The thing is, given all that, 1.4 for a long period may not be safe either. Agencies that teach nitrox with a stock pPO2 plus a little algebra are, IMO, cheating their students out of not just knowledge, but the ability to intelligently manage their own risks.

Yeah, I guess PADI teach 1.4 on the basis that NOAA says 1.6 is "safe" for 45 mins, which a diver could exceed, whilst 1.4 is safe for 150 mins - which you might just manage with double 15's, but by which time you're going to be so far over your NDL that death by drowning after O2 toxicity convulsions is probably the preferable option.

FWIW, I thought I knew it all when I took my Nitrox class, but you never know what you don't know. I learned all the above, plus a fair bit on decompression theory and practical advice on how to maximize offgassing and minimize DCS risks. My nitrox class was far-and-away the best scubadollars I've ever spent. YMMV, but probably not if you have a great nitrox instructor.

Well, I'm leaning toward trying to find the cheapest possible way to do PADI nitrox now and then use that for entry onto the IANTD Advanced Nitrox course - where there really is stuff to learn.

 

[*Floater*]

Actually, I'm surprised more places don't offer loan materials for the course. As you say, they're about $40. If the instructor uses the same book and tables for only 10 courses they could knock $35 off the price.

Some do this - you should ask. I didn't buy the books for my NAUI course. I just read the other (better?) ones I mentioned before, and I attend the classroom sessions. If I need any of the tables or the wheel for the test, then the instructor will loan me his. I'm paying $75. (no material, no dives)

 

[grazie42]

BarryNL: My advice would be to talk to an IANTD instructor (as that seems to be the way you want to go). IANTD does have "basic nitrox" and combining the two ie do basic+adv and walk away with an advanced cert in one course will propably save you a bunch of money AND (propably) see you leave adv. nitrox a better diver than if you´d split the courses because your time, both in and out of water, is spent on the "stuff" you want/need to know (adv. nitrox) instead of stuff you don´t...

To me, adv. nitrox is where you really start to leverage the advantages of Nitrox...of course with trimix...let´s just say its a slippery slope )

 

[mstudley]

IANTD does have "basic nitrox" and combining the two ie do basic+adv and walk away with an advanced cert in one course will propably save you a bunch of money AND (propably) see you leave adv. nitrox a better diver than if you´d split the courses because your time, both in and out of water, is spent on the "stuff" you want/need to know (adv. nitrox) instead of stuff you don´t...

Does it really make sense to do combined basic/advanced Nitrox? It seems to me that taking basic nitrox is where to start and combining advanced with deco procedures (or else what are you really going to do with the adv. cert?).

 

[grazie42]

Point taken...let me rephrase...my recommendation would be to talk to an instructor (IANTD since that´s BarryNL´s stated preference) and discuss where you are in your diving now, where you want to go and how to get there. If you do this with the right instructor he´ll taylor a program for you that will se you finished with the skills and certs that you need. I´m not saying that it´s the cheapest way to go, but for me anyways, it was money well spent...

 

[BarryNL]

To me, adv. nitrox is where you really start to leverage the advantages of Nitrox...of course with trimix...let´s just say its a slippery slope )

Let's face it, it should be! More O2 is basically a bad thing - it's just that lower N2 is a good thing and Nitrox is the easy way to achieve that. Normoxic mixes or even hypoxic trimix are probably a better choice for almost any dive.

 

[cerich]

I'd like to get my PADI Nitrox card but I find the price of the course ridiculously expensive. The cheapest any dive school seems to offer is 190 euros. As far as I can see this should cost a dive school about as much to teach as PPB which goes for around 100 euros.

Is the nitrox course only so expensive because its the only way to get Nitrox fills? At least if you find PPB too expensive you can just teach yourself but you don't get that option with Nitrox because you need a piece of plastic to show the fill stations.

Come to the states, I'll do it for $99 bucks....actually I'll do it via email and the web for that. You don't need to do the dives depending on the agency type of card. You pay for the books and tables($40 bucks or so) and I'll pick up the c card.

You or anyone else can pm me to do this.

You will get the NAUI Nitrox recognition card after successful completion.

 

[mccabejc]

You will get the NAUI Nitrox recognition card after successful completion.

cerich, what exactly is the NAUI Nitrox "recognition" card? Can you get nitrox fills and rentals with it? How does it differ from other NAUI nitrox certifications?