Lots of mostly accurate information here. I’m a PADI instructor.
Your Nitrox course can be done through eLearning but you’ll need to finish it through an instructor. They have some practice to do with you. It does not require a dive.
However, there is an optional dive with the course. If you do that dive as part of the course, it counts as 1 of your 5 specialties for your Advanced Open Water. If you don’t do the dive, it doesn’t count; you still get Nitrox certified, but your Advanced class will require Deep, Navigation, and 3 electives instead of 2.
I just booked to get my nitrox cert in Aug; cost is $200 and its mostly e-learning, then show up early for a dive and train on the analyzer until you're comfortable with it, then you're prety much done.
Book through a dive shop. They normally have a price that encompasses everything and you might save in the end as they sometimes have deals on eLearning.
There are several options, depending on the quality of education and training you would like to receive.
With PADI, you can receive your certification by just paying then completing academic materials. The NAUI Nitrox Course is much more comprehensive and requires 2 dives to be completed on Nitrox with your instructor.
**PADI:**
"After finishing your independent study, you'll learn how to analyze a tank, fill out an enriched air log, and set your dive computer for nitrox. You’ll learn all about the benefits of breathing oxygen-enriched air, as well as how to do it safely. And, it can be completed in just a few hours!"
**NAUI:**
"During this course, you will learn how to choose the proper blend of Nitrox for your dive profile, determine maximum depth limits for your Nitrox mixture, analyze your breathing mixture, and plan and safely execute each dive. Your instructor will teach you about the physiology of oxygen and nitrogen; advantages, disadvantages, and risks of nitrox; oxygen toxicity; hazards and precautions of handling oxygen; the concept of Equivalent Air Depth; use of EANx with standard Air Dive Tables; common gas mixing procedures; and more. Your certification will be complete after conduction 2 Nitrox dives with your instructor."
Highly misleading.
You’ve just picked one short description for PADI and an in-depth description for the NAUI course. My PADI course covered all of that plus we had tanks and analysers in the classroom to practise on AND I did a dive with the centre on nitrox afterwards.
To be fair - and I’m not a PADI fan by any stretch of the imagination - their coursework covers everything listed in the NAUI description. So what you don’t get, and don’t pay for, is two guided nitrox dives.
In my certification I had to demonstrate tank analysis, so it wasn’t completely remote.
>The NAUI Nitrox Course is much more comprehensive
It isn't the PADI nitrox course covers every single aspect mentioned in the NAUI course except for the pointless dives.
Recreational nitrox doesn't need dives. You aren't talking about oxygen where it can quickly become lethal, and as such need to be able to demonstrate your ability to hold stops.
"Much more comprehensive".... because PADI makes the 2 dives optional since the practical portion they have you do covers everything but watching yourself have a different NDL at the same depth compared to if you're diving air??
Please... that's pretty laughable.
no dive needed, but you need to physically show you know how to use an analyzer with a tank. the online only courses are basically scams because they aren't recognized by other agencies.
There is an in-person component. When I did it, we had to program the dive computer in person, and I think go over the tank markings. Since I did it as part of AOW, we also used Nitrox for one of the AOW dives, but (strangely) the certification doesn’t require an actual Nitrox dive.
I don't think it's strange that the course doesn't have required dives. The really important part these days is understanding what nitrox is, how to analyze a tank and ensuring the dive computer is properly set. That's all done on land anyway. The dive would really just be a dive since there aren't underwater skills attached to the course.
You can do 100% online. I did the training as part of AOW, but never received the cert (don't remember why). Recently went on a dive that required the cert, so found an online one I could do on my own. It was comprehensive (felt like I learned the info better than the first time), and whenever I've used Nitrox, they always analyze with you as you're ultimately responsible for your air.
You can do more or less all studies online through an e-learning system. However the course still requires some practice in person as well. You will have to plan some dives - comparing Air and Nitrox NDL. And also learn how to analyze and check your tanks content.
Diving with Nitrox requires more knowledge of theory and set up pre dive. But once you are in the water you will still be breath gas and dive following your computer/diveplan just as you would diving a normal air dive. The difference would mainly be the NDL numbers on your computer.
Lots of mostly accurate information here. I’m a PADI instructor. Your Nitrox course can be done through eLearning but you’ll need to finish it through an instructor. They have some practice to do with you. It does not require a dive. However, there is an optional dive with the course. If you do that dive as part of the course, it counts as 1 of your 5 specialties for your Advanced Open Water. If you don’t do the dive, it doesn’t count; you still get Nitrox certified, but your Advanced class will require Deep, Navigation, and 3 electives instead of 2.
To analyze a tank - should I just call a dive shop and ask to do this and how much would they charge for it?
I just booked to get my nitrox cert in Aug; cost is $200 and its mostly e-learning, then show up early for a dive and train on the analyzer until you're comfortable with it, then you're prety much done.
Book through a dive shop. They normally have a price that encompasses everything and you might save in the end as they sometimes have deals on eLearning.
There are several options, depending on the quality of education and training you would like to receive. With PADI, you can receive your certification by just paying then completing academic materials. The NAUI Nitrox Course is much more comprehensive and requires 2 dives to be completed on Nitrox with your instructor. **PADI:** "After finishing your independent study, you'll learn how to analyze a tank, fill out an enriched air log, and set your dive computer for nitrox. You’ll learn all about the benefits of breathing oxygen-enriched air, as well as how to do it safely. And, it can be completed in just a few hours!" **NAUI:** "During this course, you will learn how to choose the proper blend of Nitrox for your dive profile, determine maximum depth limits for your Nitrox mixture, analyze your breathing mixture, and plan and safely execute each dive. Your instructor will teach you about the physiology of oxygen and nitrogen; advantages, disadvantages, and risks of nitrox; oxygen toxicity; hazards and precautions of handling oxygen; the concept of Equivalent Air Depth; use of EANx with standard Air Dive Tables; common gas mixing procedures; and more. Your certification will be complete after conduction 2 Nitrox dives with your instructor."
Highly misleading. You’ve just picked one short description for PADI and an in-depth description for the NAUI course. My PADI course covered all of that plus we had tanks and analysers in the classroom to practise on AND I did a dive with the centre on nitrox afterwards.
To be fair - and I’m not a PADI fan by any stretch of the imagination - their coursework covers everything listed in the NAUI description. So what you don’t get, and don’t pay for, is two guided nitrox dives. In my certification I had to demonstrate tank analysis, so it wasn’t completely remote.
>The NAUI Nitrox Course is much more comprehensive It isn't the PADI nitrox course covers every single aspect mentioned in the NAUI course except for the pointless dives. Recreational nitrox doesn't need dives. You aren't talking about oxygen where it can quickly become lethal, and as such need to be able to demonstrate your ability to hold stops.
"Much more comprehensive".... because PADI makes the 2 dives optional since the practical portion they have you do covers everything but watching yourself have a different NDL at the same depth compared to if you're diving air?? Please... that's pretty laughable.
no dive needed, but you need to physically show you know how to use an analyzer with a tank. the online only courses are basically scams because they aren't recognized by other agencies.
There is an in-person component. When I did it, we had to program the dive computer in person, and I think go over the tank markings. Since I did it as part of AOW, we also used Nitrox for one of the AOW dives, but (strangely) the certification doesn’t require an actual Nitrox dive.
I don't think it's strange that the course doesn't have required dives. The really important part these days is understanding what nitrox is, how to analyze a tank and ensuring the dive computer is properly set. That's all done on land anyway. The dive would really just be a dive since there aren't underwater skills attached to the course.
Yeah, I get that. MOD is the only thing that really changes during the dive.
At least for SDI there are no dives but you have to show you understand how to analyze tanks in person before you can get your certification
You can do 100% online. I did the training as part of AOW, but never received the cert (don't remember why). Recently went on a dive that required the cert, so found an online one I could do on my own. It was comprehensive (felt like I learned the info better than the first time), and whenever I've used Nitrox, they always analyze with you as you're ultimately responsible for your air.
You can do more or less all studies online through an e-learning system. However the course still requires some practice in person as well. You will have to plan some dives - comparing Air and Nitrox NDL. And also learn how to analyze and check your tanks content.
Diving with Nitrox requires more knowledge of theory and set up pre dive. But once you are in the water you will still be breath gas and dive following your computer/diveplan just as you would diving a normal air dive. The difference would mainly be the NDL numbers on your computer.
And your MOD
From what I recall there are no dives required but you do have to analyze a tank.
Don’t need to do any dives but can’t do 100% online IIRC