Yes or No to Nitrox????

[DavidHickey]

Good Morning,
I know its probably been asked a million times but one more can't hurt I guess. I'm going on a trip to CoCo View in Roatan 05/26/07. I have never dove with Nitrox but from what I've heard I can upgrade to Nitrox for the week for 100.00. I can take the nitrox course at my LDS before I go for 75.00. I've heard alot of people praise Nitrox and others say its not worth it and that the advantages are over rated. I've noticed that I've never seen anyone including instructors and dive masters from my LDS using Nitrox on a regular basis even on week long dive trips. Whats your opinion is it worth spending the extra money? And if so what are the advantages and or disadvantages?
Thanks!
David

 

[String]

How many dives are you planning on doing? $100 sounds like a lot extra to pay. Generally i wouldnt go for it if it cost more than an extra $7usd per dive.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

To me, Nitrox is worth it.

Ways to get added benefit from nitrox: Dive with Nitrox with either an air computer or leave the computer set for air. This gives a significant safety margin. Nice when doing multiple dives per day over a week.

Don't push limits. Take a day off during the week.

Nitrox puts less nitrogen in the system. The ways people also benefit from nitrox is longer bottom times. If you have a high air consumption rate, this will be of little benefit to you. People also say shorter surface intervals, but for a multiple dive day multiple days, this may not be such a good idea.

Have fun. My suggestion, take the class.

TwoBit

 

[The Kraken]

Advantages:
1: Extends NDL
2: Can reduce SI requirement time for repetitive dives
3: Possibly reduces the onset of DCS in shallower recreational diving depths

Disadvantages:
1: Costs more than air
2: Can increase the costs of annual gear maintenance
3: If you own your own tanks, problems can arise from filling practices among shops
4: Difficult to take advantage of increased NDL times unless you have higher vol tanks

the K

 

[SteveAD]

If you regularly end a dive because of ndl instead of air supply, go for it. If you run out of gas before you run out of time, then you need to consider if the other factors are worth it to you.

 

[Igodeep]

Nitrox is worth it without a doubt. If you are doing 3 or 4 dives a day, you will feel less tired at the end of the day, than you did on air. I know there is no scientific proof, but I know how I feel after a dive with a high PO2.

At Coco View it is questionable. When I was there in 2005, I paid the $100, and then they ran out of O2 for three days. If they keep O2 in stock, and you do 4 dives a day, it works out to be pretty cheap. You will not be able to get a particular mix. Everything is between 32 and 36 with them, and unless things have changed, their equipment is in bad shape. 8 out of 10 tanks leaks at the neck O ring. You can tell they have not been serviced in 5-10 years.

I don't mean to make Coco View sound like a bad place, becuase it is not. I just felt like they fell short on a few important things, but overall I did have a great time there, and you will too.

 

[Mark Vlahos]

For me I would say that it is worth it, and I rarely dive air anymore. The price for the class seems quite reasonable to me, and since I have no idea how many dives you will be doing I can not comment on the price for the diving with NITROX rather than air.

One important additional cost is an analyzer. You will learn how to use one in your class. This is an important piece of gear for you to use if you dive with NITROX. I have had a couple of instances where the gas in the cylinder was not what it was supposed to be. This could be dangerous if you did not know and were able to adjust your plan or use a different cylinder.

You can buy analyzers from many different sources or you can make one yourself. The oxycheque El Cheapo is a kit that you can buy and then assemble it yourself. Another good option is to search for the D M Dalton plans. In my opinion the Dalton plans are better, but they are just plans and you need to locate the parts yourself.

Good luck,

Mark Vlahos

 

[Rainer]

I'm looking into CCV. They bank 32%. Most of the good diving seems to be shallow (<50'). I personally dive Nitrox mainly for increased NDLs. At shallow depths on 32%, you aren't seeing much of an NDL advantage over air, espeically as I'd get bored before I ever hit NDLs or ran low on gas at 30'. $100 is also a lot for the week (we paid half of that for Nitrox in Bonaire). In this particular case, I'd probably pass.

 

[Rainer]

For me I would say that it is worth it, and I rarely dive air anymore. The price for the class seems quite reasonable to me, and since I have no idea how many dives you will be doing I can not comment on the price for the diving with NITROX rather than air.

One important additional cost is an analyzer. You will learn how to use one in your class. This is an important piece of gear for you to use if you dive with NITROX. I have had a couple of instances where the gas in the cylinder was not what it was supposed to be. This could be dangerous if you did not know and were able to adjust your plan or use a different cylinder.

You can buy analyzers from many different sources or you can make one yourself. The oxycheque El Cheapo is a kit that you can buy and then assemble it yourself. Another good option is to search for the D M Dalton plans. In my opinion the Dalton plans are better, but they are just plans and you need to locate the parts yourself.

Good luck,

Mark Vlahos

My buddy and I share an analyzer as we mix our own Nitrox, but where have you ever been that didn't have an analyzer for customers to use? I'm quite sure CCV will have an analyzer for guests.

 

[Doubles]

I dove Fantasy Island last November and purchased the "unlimited nitrox" package for the $100.00 -

I believe that Nitrox is worth it if you plan on diving several dives a day for several days - or where your breathing rate is sufficient to take advantage of the extended NDL that nitrox provides.

At FI all divers are assigned to the same boat for the week. At around day 4 the divers on our boat who were diving air (and who had made some night dives like I did) found themselves with a much shorter NDL than those of us who were diving Nitrox. The "air" group had to go shallow sooner and were pushing up close to the NDL while the Nitrox group had a more "comfortable" NDL at the depths we were diving.

As for instructors etc, when you are diving with students who have short bottom times there is no benefit to dive Nitrox and it is an unnecessary expense.

Cheers

-s