What can I learn from PADI Tec 40 course?

[Teller]

I agree--IANTD Rec Trimix seems like a better way to go.

...if money is no object and you're willing to limit yourself to a small fraction of dive centers around the world...

Why is that? Would a PADI center deny a IANTD certification? I dont think so.

 

[victorzamora]

Brent, I think the comment was referring to a limited amount of sites that mix Trimix. I know in a lot of the vacation areas I dive, asking for EAN32 is like asking for gold-plated Unobtanium....and was especially the case just a few years ago.

 

[Teller]

Brent, I think the comment was referring to a limited amount of sites that mix Trimix. I know in a lot of the vacation areas I dive, asking for EAN32 is like asking for gold-plated Unobtanium....and was especially the case just a few years ago.

I assumed that since he is close to FL he could get mix fairly easy.

 

[DevonDiver]

Well, that's okay then... assuming he wants to conduct all of his technical diving within the FL area...

(yes, availability and cost of tmx fills was the issue I was referring to... nothing to do with agency acceptance)

I'm not an advocate of 'deep air', but 40-50m air diving is quite practicable in many locations, especially 'warm water' areas. I don't consider 40-50m 'deep air'... that term used to apply to much deeper depths....

Air is cheap and plentiful...tmx is not. The more remote, and less developed, the locations you dive... the more critical that consideration becomes.

I can't talk for anyone else, but if I restricted myself to tmx for diving in this depth range, I'd have accomplished only a tiny fraction of the technical dives I've done..

Tmx is a tool.... use it when you calculate a need for it. It's not a dogma. Air diving is a good entry into tech... it helps offset costs (helium) to a later stage in development, when you might need it to venture to deeper depths. It's also good for overhead diving (wrecks and caves)... where END is more critical.... but who'd recommend a noobie tech diver to start flinging themselves into overhead where helium was necessary... Progression one step at a time is prudent.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Training wise IMO/IME, it's better sense albeit more expensive to start using Recreational Triox through Trimix early in your tech deco course progression. You would then have a reference experience of expected "clear-headed" performance to compare against should you choose later to undergo the nitrogen narcosis of Extended Range Deep Air Decompression Diving. (PADI Tec 40 on the other hand uncomfortably starts you initially with Deep Air instead).

 

[drrich2]

My interest is similar to the original poster's, I think. I occasionally dive around 80-100 feet when I dive (a minority of my dives, but it happens), usually EAN 32 but sometimes air.

My interest in such a course would be to gauge whether it would be worthwhile to use deco diving, and perhaps side-mount, to get more bottom time on those rare occasions I might benefit.

For example, though I'm mainly a 'pretty tropical coral reef & a few wrecks' diver, I'd like to hit the Oriskany some day. And I'd like to try the sand tiger shark wreck diving off coastal North Carolina. Don't know if I'll ever do either, but let's call it bucket list stuff.

In the 120 - 130, even down to 150 foot maybe, range, NDLs are pretty limiting. You buy plane tickets, pay charter costs, ride the boat all the way out & back...might be nice to stay down awhile. Maybe 20 minutes of finning around instead of 5?

But all my training is rec. I don't know how much deco. time it'd cost me to stay down an extra 10 or 15 minutes at depth. And what all gear hassles would be involved. Side-mount with a pair of 80's and a pony bottle of nitrox for accelerating deco.?

I've already got the Deep Diver cert., but I can see where Tec40 might be worth my time.

Richard.

P.S.: Of course, a side-mount hardness costs money, learning to dive the new gear, all this for probably just a few lifetime dives...you see where adding the costs of Trimix would push this decision from 'Maaaaaaaaaaybe' over to 'Wow! No way!'

 

[RDRINK25]

My interest is similar to the original poster's, I think. I occasionally dive around 80-100 feet when I dive (a minority of my dives, but it happens), usually EAN 32 but sometimes air.

My interest in such a course would be to gauge whether it would be worthwhile to use deco diving, and perhaps side-mount, to get more bottom time on those rare occasions I might benefit.

For example, though I'm mainly a 'pretty tropical coral reef & a few wrecks' diver, I'd like to hit the Oriskany some day. And I'd like to try the sand tiger shark wreck diving off coastal North Carolina. Don't know if I'll ever do either, but let's call it bucket list stuff.

In the 120 - 130, even down to 150 foot maybe, range, NDLs are pretty limiting. You buy plane tickets, pay charter costs, ride the boat all the way out & back...might be nice to stay down awhile. Maybe 20 minutes of finning around instead of 5?

But all my training is rec. I don't know how much deco. time it'd cost me to stay down an extra 10 or 15 minutes at depth. And what all gear hassles would be involved. Side-mount with a pair of 80's and a pony bottle of nitrox for accelerating deco.?

I've already got the Deep Diver cert., but I can see where Tec40 might be worth my time.

Richard.

P.S.: Of course, a side-mount hardness costs money, learning to dive the new gear, all this for probably just a few lifetime dives...you see where adding the costs of Trimix would push this decision from 'Maaaaaaaaaaybe' over to 'Wow! No way!'

Kind of what I was looking for. I have no interest in full cave. However cavern is a possibility. I like wrecks! I recently went to the NC coast and once you hit some of those wrecks you have 5 min and have to surface. I too already have the Padi deep as it is a pre to the tec 40. I wouldn't mind learning the advantages of tmx. I also heard taking an advance ean/tmx cert is available?

 

[Michael Guerrero]

Adv Nitrox/Deco Pros from TDI??? Seems like that would get you what you are looking for. You learn to use high FO2 Nitrox mixes and procedures for safe/efficient deco.

For the gear piece, you could try and find a mentor w/ a spare set of doubles/SM rig and practice with them. The gear piece is probably the easiest of the whole equation, and there's tons written on the Internet and here on SB to help you out.

EDIT...oops, yes fraction of O2, not pp. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[uncfnp]

To me the limitation of Tec 40 is that it only certifies you to use EANx50. TDI Advanced Nitrox certifies to 100% for deco gas. Combined with Deco Procedures, for me at least, it's a better fit.

Ah, Michael beat me to it...

 

[victorzamora]

You learn to use high ppO2 Nitrox mixes and procedures for safe/efficient deco.

Actually, it prepares you to dive with high FO2....not ppO2. You can dive dangerously high ppO2s with just AOW and Nitrox certs.

drrich: First of all, you don't have to dive AN/DP in sidemount. Secondly, the cost of a sidemount harness is NOTHING compared to the rest of Tech gear and training.