Nitrox training

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Desert Diver
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Nitrox training

Post by Desert Diver »

What would be the least expensive and least time consuming way to get a Nitrox cert? I recognize that cheapest is not always best but my only interest is being able to dive Nitrox during our Mexico trip in January. I have been mixing ours with a stick, have and can use my analyzers, know how to set up my computer, understand MOD's and toxicity and partial pressures and the danger of high PP's of O2, can read a Nitrox dive table, have studied the stuff intensely, and have been diving it. We are PADI now, since our NASDS cards disintegrated, but I really don't want to pay the $200 each to PADI. I'd rather spend the money diving. Ideas?

Brian
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pensacoladiver
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by pensacoladiver »

I would suggest finding an independent instructor who is willing to forgo the day of teaching if you can demonstrate appropriate knowledge of the principles.

I don't remember as its been a while since my nitrox cert, but I seem to recall dives not even being necessary.

Maybe offer to fill their tanks and go diving... They might even waive the instructor fee.
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fishb0y
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by fishb0y »

Sorry, don't mean to start something... but this post kinda got to me...
All I see is "Just give me a card... I don't care about the instructor's liability".
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fishb0y
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by fishb0y »

Otherwise, most agencies don't require a dive, and with NAUI you can do a large portion online. It's just one of my pet peaves when divers expect instructors to just give them a card.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by CaptnJack »

fishb0y wrote:Otherwise, most agencies don't require a dive, and with NAUI you can do a large portion online. It's just one of my pet peaves when divers expect instructors to just give them a card.
Yeah best to pick your scuba friends wisely!
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by RoxnDox »

fishb0y wrote:Otherwise, most agencies don't require a dive, and with NAUI you can do a large portion online. It's just one of my pet peaves when divers expect instructors to just give them a card.
Then I would say it's a good thing that was not what DD was asking for... ;)
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by pensacoladiver »

I didn't get that impression either. Seems to me that there are probably some good instructors out there that may ask something along the lines of "let's talk about ppo2" and the student nails it with a well rounded answer that covers all the curriculum bases... You would move on pretty quickly to the next topic.

But then again, I'm not an instructor... I don't even play one on tv.
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WylerBear
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by WylerBear »

PADI no longer requires dives. I don't know where you are but I know of at least one shop in Vancouver, WA where the Enriched Air cert is $100, not $200.
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Desert Diver
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Desert Diver »

Thanks RoxnDox. I have had my own retail business since the early 80's and understand liability. That doesn't mean I can't shop for a deal, as others do with me. I've studied Nitrox theory a lot more hours than most people will to get their cert. I'm looking for someone to give me a test to take to prove that. I live in the middle of nowhere so its not that easy to take the course and I feel the $205 PADI course is a lot of money. So back to my original question, slightly modified. What is the easiest and cheapest way to get someone to check me out and see if I know what I am already doing so I can have a card to do it somewhere I don't have a compressor?
Now to drive you guys really crazy, I started diving by building a hookah powered by a 2 stroke lawnmower engine back in the late 70's. I did that the same way, by studying all I could about breathing air and CO and figuring out how to make sure the exhaust didn't get into the oil-less compressor. Lived through it too.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Desert Diver »

WylerBear wrote:PADI no longer requires dives. I don't know where you are but I know of at least one shop in Vancouver, WA where the Enriched Air cert is $100, not $200.
That is what I'm looking for but I NEVER get to Vancouver. We do get to the Seattle area some. It is only a short 270 mile drive. When I do get there I'd rather dive than take a class.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by lizard0924 »

If the only reason you want the c-card is to have access to nitrox when you can't blend your own, why not just take the 1/2 day (or less) nitrox course when you get to Mexico? Typically, the dive center fee is far less than the $205 for PADI's e-learning option you quoted. At our shop, the whole nitrox course (no dives) is $130 and takes just a few hours. Yes, it takes a few hours away from dive time on your vacation, but if cost is your primary concern, it might be your cheapest/easiest option.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Desert Diver »

Thanks Liz, I guess I'm getting confused between the online price and what a dive shop actually charges. My initial thought was to take the class there but looking at their website gave me sticker shock.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by DontPokeTheBear »

I did the SDI class online, you do all the material online, then you just go into a SDI/TDI shop and analyze a tank and do a few other things(I cant remember) and your done. I think the cost was around $150.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by lizard0924 »

Desert Diver wrote:Thanks Liz, I guess I'm getting confused between the online price and what a dive shop actually charges. My initial thought was to take the class there but looking at their website gave me sticker shock.
Our shop charges $25 for the nitrox course if you already did the elearning through PADI.It is definitely cheaper (although takes a bit more time) to just do the whole course at the dive shop.

Maybe you should skip Mexico and just come to Bonaire instead? ;)
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Desert Diver
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Desert Diver »

Boy would I like to. Over the last 16 years we have made some good friends in Q. Roo and we like to see them. So it is more than the diving. But the diving ain't bad. We will be there 3 weeks and put 1500-2000 miles on a rental car and with luck 15-20 tanks of air or maybe enriched air.
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WylerBear
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by WylerBear »

Check with Richard Anderson with Seven Seas Scuba in Seattle.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Dusty2 »

I probably won't make any friends here but, 1 agency is not important. You don't have to have a padi card. Any agency is fine. and 2 there is no need for you both to be certified. As long as one of you has the card your good to go. and 3 I don't ever remember anyone asking for the card but then I'm always filling my own tanks which are nitrox vized.

Sounds like you have all the needed info but remember the instructor has to pay a fee to the certifying agency and expose him or herself to the liability issue so don't expect them to do it for free.
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Desert Diver
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Desert Diver »

Thanks Dusty,
So how does it work with a separate agency? Do you have to carry 2 cards? Where we dive in Mexico I don't think I could find anybody to rent me a tank of air. I used to talk them into it occasionally but they control your diving expenditures by controlling the air supply. All boat dives, all kind of pricey, and we both would need the card.

Brian
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Dusty2 »

Brian, It doesn't matter who your cert card is from. It is a completely unrelated matter. As long as you have the card from a recognized agency that's all that matters. I started out Padi and changed to NAUI. It's quite common for people to change agencies because of shop affiliation or personal preference but they all follow government guidelines and the certs are accepted by other agencies the same as their own. If you wanted to go to NAUI or SDI for your AOW or wreck cert or whatever it wouldn't be a problem. PADI seems to be the most common especially at destination dive ops but it really doesn't matter.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by kdupreez »

You'll get 2 cards regardless.

At least with PADI you will always get a separate card for every specialty you do. And I agree with Dusty, wrt Nitrox, the Agency doesnt matter. All thats "required" for the class is that you have some form of OW cert with any agency.

If you could do a 3hr course in mx for $130, just go for that option.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by BASSMAN »

I think you should hold out for the $100.00 cert from any instructor who wants your money!
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Desert Diver
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Desert Diver »

Well you know...sometimes you want to learn something....sometimes you just want to be able to do it.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by LowDrag »

From what I have learned recently everyone is right about agencies. I am switching from SSI to NAUI for AOW, Drysuit, Nitrox and any other cert I find myself wanting down the road. When I talked to the NAUI instructor, I specifically asked if we had to go thru his NAUI OW and he said no but that he would like to touch on a few points to see where we are at and get us (wife and I) up to speed with NAUI ideals. So getting a cert from different agencies is no issue.
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Grateful Diver »

At the non-professional level, agencies are completely interchangeable. My initial nitrox certification was TDI, although the cards I issue to my students are NAUI. The curriculum is virtually identical ... which has some interesting history if you go back to the early 1990's, when most recreational agencies opposed even making nitrox available to the non-technical diver.

At any rate, when looking at course costs, you should always ask what it includes. Many places will quote you a low price, but you have to purchase a "student kit" which includes a handbook, nitrox tables, and a few other odds and ends. That kit can cost you more than the class. Other agencies/instructors will quote you a higher price that includes the student materials ... which when you make comparable comparisons will end up costing you less thant he lower quote. Some will even charge you extra for the C-card.

So always ask, when getting any class quote, what the quoted price includes and what else you'll need in order to get the certification.

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Desert Diver
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Re: Nitrox training

Post by Desert Diver »

Hi Bob,
We got the cards. Used NASE. Cost $75 all in which was fair. Did video of us checking FO2 on tanks and filling out a nitrox log and marking the tanks. All online which worked well for us but if you didn't have the tanks of nitrox and the analyzer it would take some shop time. And now we are in Cozumel and find little interest in getting us nitrox. At least one day we would have extended our dive a little and come up with less nitrogen but so far, in 9 dives, we haven't had a dive under an hour. Our last one was 1:25 and we came up for tired not for air, nitrogen or lack of reef. Wow!

Brian
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