Taking the Adv Nitrox/Deco plunge. (Warning, LONG)

[Jim Lapenta]

I'm now in the process of taking tech classes. Doing NAUI Intro to tech and heliotrox. 400 for both classes. The instructors are really into tech even though they have a pretty good ow business. One of the instructors is a guy by the name of Chris Laughery who is pretty famous up in this region as an instructor trainer. The instructors he trains are top knotch and have alot of experience. Both as instructors and as tech divers. I have the DSAT materials as that was the way I was leaning initially. But there is no instructor close to me and the one who is closest is a PADI CD with a good rep but he teaches infrequently and the other thing is that the course is 1300 bucks plus materials plus dive costs. It certs to 165 ft ON AIR. Helium is not even introduced till tech trimix (another 1300 for that). NAUI allows the heliotrox sort of as a rec trimix course. Depth to 150 ft, no deco but if the instructor wants to simulate and practice deco stops it is allowed. Now the PADI is 12 dives and for me taking this much time with my schedule at work is not feasible. But by breaking up the components, ie intro and helio, then adv nitrox and deco, then heliair or trimix, I get the same or better knowledge, time to digest it (very important!), time to practice what I've learned in stages, and it breaks down the cost into more manageable chunks. Allows more dives in each discipline. And to me those are things you really can't put a price on.

 

[fire_diver]

As for the OP when doing a course like this we decided to travel from slc to Florida for our classes. I wanted someone who does this all the time.

And thats the way I feel about it too. With as happy as I am with my LDS, I don't think the instructor does much of *this* diving. I know he runs a lot of local and international trips, but they are all tourist, single tank, mayeb nitrox dives. I've never seen a single stage/deco bottle or double in any of the shop pictures.

So right now that leaves me with 2 "local" options. The cave diver who eats and sleeps mixed gas cave diving (and still hasn't emailed me) and my old instructor who does professional mixed gas salvage work. Of course he also loves to dive too.

I thought about travel, but I'm really going to be hampered in that area this year. June-July and Sept are already going to be spent out of town. I don't think the wife would look too kindly on me running off to sunny florida for a week in between.

The LDS cost is what keeps throwing me. The other shops are pretty close to each other in price, but why is the one teaching PADI charging more than double? Maybe I need to call a few PADI shops to see what they are charging for the DSAT classes.

Comrade Stroke

 

[Cheekymonkey]

I just finished TDI Adv Nitrox, and Deco Procedures this past week, my instructor was excellent, and as you pointed out it didnt cost a fraction of what the PADI version does. The Instructor was excellent though and thats what mattered, the classroom time was fairly limited but we spent alot of time in the water, and he made us very comfortable with waht we were doing. He also welcomed us to come back to his future classes as certified divers if we want more practice and don't have a dive buddy to go with. How can you beat that, extra classes to sit in on for free to keep your skills up . But yea anyway stick with the instructor that you trust, and the other stuff will fall together.

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Well if you decide to run off to "sunny florida" get in touch with me and I will put you in contact with my instructor.

 

[fire_diver]

If you're basing your decision on literature alone, I think you're looking at the wrong stuff, it's all pretty horrible IMO.

I not looking at the materials to base my decision. Oklahoma is pretty "tech" limited. SO I need to find a good instructor who really enjoys and does a lot of mixed gas dives. They both just happen to be TDI shops. I will probably read the student materials a dozen times before I ever step foot in the class, that's just how I am. SO if a different agency has better books, I want them to study too.

Comrade Stroke

 

[Steve R]

I just needed to make a post here to remove that annoying nag screen that tells me I haven't made a post with this user name yet (Looking for username uniformity and S/Brd was the last one I took care of)

As has been mentioned, the material is at best a reference tool. One I haven't referenced even once since any of my classes if that tells you anything....lol.

 

[amascuba]

I took my TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures classes from a semi-local dive shop (two hour drive). Overall my instructor taught what was in the books and not much more. He was knowledgable in the diving, but I had to know what questions to ask him to get him to really open up. Personally, I thought the books were lacking in information. I did get some good information out of the classes though, but I'll more then likely start taking my other classes (NAUI helitrox, trimix 1, and other workshops) from my Fundamentals instructor in Broomfield, CO ( 6 1/2 hour drive). He's in the water teaching technical classes atleast once a month and doing the dives. He also runs allot of technical trips.

 

[loosebits]

I did IANTD adv nitrox (which includes deco). I found the book very basic but then again, I had already read all the nifty papers out there on decompression theory (e.g. Understanding M-values, O2 window, etc). The instructor also threw in a TDI adv nitrox card because he didn't feel the 50% limitation in IANTD was appropriate for Florida cave diving. He said he much preferred the IANTD book over the TDI book so I can't imagine how bad the TDI book is but I've seen the TDI trimix book and it is a complete joke (a whopping 9 pages cover trimix).

 

[fire_diver]

After doing a search for IANTD here, I can find no shops that are listed with them, but 2 instructors are. One of them happens to be the same instructor (TDI shop) I am still waiting to hear from.

Geez I wish he would email me. I don't want to be a pest, so I will wait a couple days before calling him to remind him to send me the info.

Comrade Stroke

 

[Steve R]

http://www.iantd.com/search/facilities_search.html

search here?



Or maybe here would be better. Leave the fields blank for the full list:

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