Those of you that have stuck around a while know I'm fairly critical of most shops in the Chicago area.... Alot of them cater to OW students and warm water divers. A few shops actually cater to Great Lakes Divers. A buddy in the dive club suggested I check out a shop near him, as he had found out they bank nitrox. (36%)
My usual trek for a fill involves 3 hours, a time crunch to get there before closing (8pm), skipping my evening workout, and alot of Chicago traffic. I took off for DJ's Scuba Locker shortly before 7pm, they close at 8:30pm. I took off out lower wacker to the Interstate. Traffic on I-290 was light for the few exits I had to take to hit Damen. Ogden was a ghost town as I pulled into the shop in a record 25-30 mins. I lugged my doubles in and asked for 32%. The shop banks 36%, and when I heard "I'll have to mix it, I only bank 36%", I was a little hesitant to what he meant since my tanks arn't O2 clean. I asked "can you cut it?", to which the response was "Sure, it'll just take a little time"... This I'm used to and was expecting as I draining the tanks on my drive in... The owner (Dan?) proceeded to fill the tanks while another lady (his wife? DIdn't catch her name) proceeded to key me into their system, take my nitrox card# and ring me up. Meanwhile we chatted about Florida, the keys, bull sharks, etc... and next thing you know, the fill is done. Dan has two analyzers setup, one to air, one to my tanks, then has me switch over my tanks to the air calibrated analyzer, then both come into sync. I sign out the nitrox log and am on my way. Out the door and back home in 2 hours tops... Shop appeared clean, organized, and well stocked for both beginning student and experienced diver. Highly recommend y'all check them out, especially if your looking for pre-banked Nitrox (Only two shops in town that I know of - I'd recommend both.)...
-Tim
My usual trek for a fill involves 3 hours, a time crunch to get there before closing (8pm), skipping my evening workout, and alot of Chicago traffic. I took off for DJ's Scuba Locker shortly before 7pm, they close at 8:30pm. I took off out lower wacker to the Interstate. Traffic on I-290 was light for the few exits I had to take to hit Damen. Ogden was a ghost town as I pulled into the shop in a record 25-30 mins. I lugged my doubles in and asked for 32%. The shop banks 36%, and when I heard "I'll have to mix it, I only bank 36%", I was a little hesitant to what he meant since my tanks arn't O2 clean. I asked "can you cut it?", to which the response was "Sure, it'll just take a little time"... This I'm used to and was expecting as I draining the tanks on my drive in... The owner (Dan?) proceeded to fill the tanks while another lady (his wife? DIdn't catch her name) proceeded to key me into their system, take my nitrox card# and ring me up. Meanwhile we chatted about Florida, the keys, bull sharks, etc... and next thing you know, the fill is done. Dan has two analyzers setup, one to air, one to my tanks, then has me switch over my tanks to the air calibrated analyzer, then both come into sync. I sign out the nitrox log and am on my way. Out the door and back home in 2 hours tops... Shop appeared clean, organized, and well stocked for both beginning student and experienced diver. Highly recommend y'all check them out, especially if your looking for pre-banked Nitrox (Only two shops in town that I know of - I'd recommend both.)...
-Tim
