GF99/99
Contributor
Yes, math is off.Works out to about $5/cuft. (~28 liters per cuft)
Eastern end of the Great Lakes (MI/OH), $2.50/cft from two sources I personally know. Western end of the Great Lakes, IL/WI, try $4.60-$5/cft last year. I personally paid $4.60. The dive shop in the western Chicago suburbs paid $600 for a T bottle. My tech instructor's shop in Madison, WI was charging $5/cft last I checked into it. Virtually all CCR divers out of that shop. For 20/20 for my Helitrox class, it was about $90 just for the helium (20%) for a 3000 psi fill in one of my LP85s (dive SM). So $180 for the helium for one pair of 85s. I was getting fills at the same west suburban dive shop yesterday, and the owner told me someone had recently called about helium availability. Right now, a T bottle in the Chicago area is going for $700. That doesn't include the delivery charge. Owner is hoping price comes down by spring. Last year it was $600 for a T bottle when I was paying $4.60/cft I hope to go CCR next year, but it doesn't fit into my dive goals for this year. I could drive to the Detroit area for $2.50/cft, but what with 10 hours round trip driving time, hotel cost (I wouldn't be doing that drive in one day), and the cost of gasoline, it's not cost effective. If I was already in the area, I'd definitely get the fills.
I get narced easy and the cost is worth every penny to me. The first dive to 115ft with 20/20 was amazing. I had an END of about 75-80ft.
This is my thread from last year on helium costs.
The Great Helium Hunt of 2021
AN/Helitrox starts in a couple of weeks. It’s going to be an adventure getting helium, so I decided to have some fun with it. I’m in the Chicago area and several shops do He fills. If they have it is another matter. Shop A - closest to me (still an hour), plus will overfill my 85s a bit...scubaboard.com
Yeah prices in the last couple years have gone up almost 50% but from what I have heard which @Marie13 has just confirmed this is not that far off from some prices in the US as well.
Goes to show OC trimix diving (unless you have wads of cash in hand) is kind of a thing of the past unless HE prices drop dramatically. Or as @Miyaru hinted at hydrogen would be and interesting substitute but I would be way way to scared to play around with that highly volatile gas. Ill just keep paying the $30 for 3l trimix fills. Especially with the lack of any safety standards in SE Asia. Love this pic I snapped last time picked up a G of oxygen notice how each guy is smoking (but at least they have there corona mask on
) also notice how almost not caps are used and a couple actually have broken valve handles. This is very common dudes just knock over full tank of O2 all the time. 
