TDI Advanced NITROX

[ralphy]

Further to the last TDI NITROX posting, I was wondering exactly what knowledge the advanced course "gets" you and what are its practical applications?

The main rason I ask is for the issue that I mentioned previously of planning for redundancy for the kind of diving I am likely to be doing in the near to medium future.  Aditionally, for example, how big a twinset should I realistically have to get to last me for the forseeable future?

I'm not planning to find the lost city of Atlantis or anything, so I doubt that twin 18s and four stage bottles are quite for me!!  (was thinking along the lines of twin 7s or 10s)

Ta very much

[And]

Hi

I've been thinking about this myself for a while. TDI advanced nitrox I think is taken using twinsets and a deco cylinder. So its more about redundancy using a twinset. In the TDI scheme your basic nitrox I think is the basic lecture stuff and so using Nitrox for Deco is the theme of the Advanced Course, much the same as IANTD.

As far as what size to go for I thought of twin 7s but I'd need two sets or even three for some days. Twin 10,s not quite big enough for two dives but could use a 15ltr and transfill whip to top them up. I decided to go for twin 12's, cos I can comfortably do two dives off a rib and hopefully as I progress to deeper stuff I won't grow out of them. The only downside is the weight of the cylinders.

Hope that helps

WL

[Mr T.]

TDI Advanced Nitrox, IMHO should be taken rather than the two courses (intro and adv) done separately.

You cover everything in the Adv course that you do in the Intro course (Intro course cert's you upto 40% mix) with added bonus that the Advance course gives you the extra theory, practise and dive skills that cert's you to use upto 100% O2 and certain deco proceedures.

I can't see a reason (other than an individual's budget and available time) why anyone might want to do the two courses separately. We completed the whole TDI Adv EnO2 course in four dives in two day's diving (two in Hodge Close and two in Wastwater - both in the Lakes) with the exams on top of that.

You don't need to be diving on twins to do either course - a single is fine. From memory, the TDI Intro is two dives and the Advance Nitrox is 4 dives.

HTH.

[Dr Stevil]

THe advantage of twin 7s or even twin 10s is that they're light enough to use as standard everydive kit (I don't use anything other than my twin 10s except in the pool). Twin 12s are for me on the borderline between everyday and special use, guess it depends on your build and fitness etc.

Also depends on what BCD you've got: you can get away with twin 7s without a heavy-duty BCD, but for 10s you'd probably want something more substantial eg Buddy Commando or Tekwing or one of the more expensive wings perhaps
HTH
Steve

[Davey Willo]

Bren has made some good points there but I think if given a choice again I'd do it differently....

What I would recommend is to save some money now and just do the entry level nitrox.... you'll never dive over 40% yet anyway.. not unless you intend to go out and buy specialised nitrox clean equipment... better to spend the money you would waste on the advanced now and invest in some new dive rig... then later if you feel that you do want to progress further and are willing to invest time, money, and decompression stops.. then and only then would I progress onto the Advanced and at this time I would combine it with Deco procedures which would teach you how you use it correctly for advanced deco..

So to summarise...
TDI Basic Nitrox now..
Combined TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures later when you feel you're ready to go down that route.

The latter two go hand in hand anyway

All the best whatever you choose
Dave

[Andy Winterburn]

I'm with Dave on this one
I'm in the middle of doing the Advanced and the Deco course with Andy now, however I might never use the Deco stuff at this time.
BUT I have learnt a lot of things which should be planned for at the time of all dives and hope to incorporate them in future dives.
Perhaps what a lot of divers needs is a 'instruction course' where information can be provided, kit analysed, advice on future direction of training and equipment provided. All without some-one making a lot of money
Deco proceedures maybe I won't need it yet, but for the price the tips alone were well worth it

[ralphy]

Thanks very much for your thoughts people - one thing I will say before anything else (and slightly off the subject), is that I apologise for no being able to respond straight away!  Can't seem to get extended periods on the net at the mo, what with work and all, and have been annoyingly busy in the evenings, so please don't think me rude if it looks like I'm ignoring your good advice!!

Back to the matter at hand though - the instructor over here is actually proposing to "package" the basic and advanced NITROX in one go for the princely sum of £180 (don't know how this compares with others).  My friends and I are supplying all equipment, as well as the boat and fuel, so if this appears cheap that may well be why.

Given this option, would that affect your choices?

Also, in response to Steve, I have a Halcyon plate & Pioneer (singles) wing, so would have to upgrade to a 55lb explorer when getting a twinset.

[Sam]

Could someone clarify for me at what stage you need to get cylinder/regs O2 cleaned?  I keep hearing people mention this, but I'm never sure if its because they have to in order to use any mix of Nitrox or only specific mixes?

thanks
sam

(Edited by Sam at 11:35 am on Jan. 31, 2003)

[Dominic]

Any time a Nitrox mix of over 40% Oxygen is used, the equipment must be O2 clean.
Cylinders must be clean even if used with lower mixes, as pure Oxygen is put in during the Nitrox-mixing process. Unless you aren't filling by partial pressure.

[Dr Stevil]

A word of caution about "O2 clean standards"

Apparently there seems to e two levels of "O2 clean" in operation these days, last november I bought an "O2 clean" litre stage from Diverswarehouse, later I noticed that the sticker states certified for use with O2 mixes up to 40%, Andy Hayhurst told me, IIRC,  with that "standard" of "O2 cleaning" all they do is check that it doesn't have loose particles of metal in it!

Also, I believe there are some issues with certain metal (titanium? aluminium?) bodied regs and nitrox use ,  I think Drifty has a link to this topic in an older post
Chee-az
steve