Should you have to dive with Nitrox before getting Nitrox certified?

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Several folks have said Nitrox increases bottom time and reduces nitrogen loading. Actually it does either or, not both. If you're at the NDL on Nitrox you have the same amount of nitrogen in your system as when you're at the NDL on air. One can increase bottom time or increase conservatism to NDLs with Nitrox.

I don't see the point of requiring dives for Nitrox certs. Its all about the MOD and being able to analyze tanks (and be able to accurately reflect the mix on your computer.)

Carl
 
One can increase bottom time or increase conservatism to NDLs with Nitrox.
Or both.

A square profile dive to 25m on air gives you an NDL of 29 minutes. A square profile dive to 26m on EAN36 gives you an NDL of 50 minutes. Do a 40 minute dive on EAN36, and you'll have a longer bottom time and a lower nitrogen loading (i.e. more conservatism).

You're guilty of a fallacy of the excluded middle.
 
PADI doesn't require any dives at all and I could literally go sign up for their eLearning course right now, get Nitrox certified, and start diving with it tomorrow.

It's not quite THAT quick... :D

After you take the online class (which is crazy expensive compared to what most shops charge for a traditional book + DVD course) you still need to demonstrate two practical applications (Analyze tank, complete fill log, etc) and plan and perform two predive simulation exercises with an instructor.

I did my certification with two dives and like others have pointed out...other than two extra dives, there was nothing specific on the dives that contributed to the theory that I learned.
 
The only "practical" that is needed for nitrox is to know how to use the oxygen meter for testing your tanks. A dive isn't needed otherwise because it doesn't need any new skills other than watching your depth (which you should do anyway).
 
SDI Nitrox does not require dives either. But it did require the 2 hour "class" with an instructor. So it is not as easy as just go online and get a C-card in the mail the next day.
 
SDI Nitrox does not require dives either. But it did require the 2 hour "class" with an instructor. So it is not as easy as just go online and get a C-card in the mail the next day.

But you should be able to get a temporary card that will work for you immediately.
 
If you have an instructor lined up to go over the exam results with you, you most definitely CAN be "diving nitrox tomorrow". The class is only a couple of hours (if that) on the computer, maybe another hour or so going over the exam with an instructor and a few minutes analyzing a couple tanks. I did the TDI course online and had no problems with the price or lack of "required" dives. It's all predive planning anyway, there are no dive skills necessary to dive nitrox so why require any dives?
 
But you should be able to get a temporary card that will work for you immediately.

You can't even get a "temp" card until you have taken the "class room" portion and the instructor has signed off on you and entered your course passing information online. Until that is done it only shows as you having completed the online training and there is no temp card.
 
I think that for many of us it was helpful to actually use the analyzer, fill out the sticker with name/mix/MOD/date and put it on YOUR tank, fill out the tank log, and then gear up accordingly (making sure it's YOUR tank you're using, and setting your computer). For those of us whose experience had been limited to resort diving, we may not have had to pay attention to what tank we were using--we could grab ANY tank. I think it was useful to actually go through the motions and, moreover, to observe our instructor (and other divers on the boat) do the exact same thing, which reinforces that this is not one of those things that is learned in class and then ignored by "experienced" divers. I think it reinforces the seriousness of not just analyzing a tank but the concept of analyzing one's OWN tank. For those of us who use rental tanks, it makes us think about it being OUR tank. It may seem like trivial stuff--nothing to "learn"--but I think it's a good idea.

As for the question itself of whether the student should "have to dive Nitrox," well, as I said, I think taking ownership of that rental tank and gearing up with it on the boat is a good idea, and so it would be a little silly to not dive that tank.

That said, it's reasonable that PADI dropped the requirement to actually do a dive. The benefits I see in it may not be applicable to all divers.
 
There is very much a practical aspect to not requiring the dive. Here in Colorado, as in much of the central portion of the United States, there is not a whole lot of local diving, and very, little of it is done to depths that would call for nitrox. In the Denver area, the deepest you can get is maybe 35 feet. Consequently, most shops in the state do not have the ability to make nitrox for their customers, because there is almost no call for it.

On the other hand, we do a lot of nitrox certifications. Our state has for decades been among the leaders in the nation annually for the highest number of divers per capita. These people do a lot of vacation diving, and a lot of it is done on organized trips. (Our unofficial state motto is that we are only a plane flight away from great scuba.) Many and perhaps most of these people would like to be nitrox certified when they go on those trips, and they want to be certified before they get there. Shops that do not normally offer nitrox tanks still have a couple nitrox tanks on hand so that students can go through the process of measuring the O2 percentage in the tanks. It was a great benefit to those shops when the rules changed and they no longer had to force their nitrox students to do a meaningless dive in a cold and murky lake.
 

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