I used to dive OC and was reluctant for several of the reasons listed above,Initial start up cost of buying a unit and taking the time to learn it properly through new training. I first started to consider it when i was doing a lot of dives with a CCR DB. The bottom time he was getting compared to me, I had a decent sac rate and was slinging stages to do longer dives but after our morning dive i would have to run to the shop for fills for the afternoon and he was still good to go, once in a while between dives he had to change sorb. After a week of diving we compared our gas bills and thats when it really made me want to make the switch. Caves are my personal heaven to dive but i also enjoy deep wrecks, so naturally i started to make the $$ comparison for Tri-mix diving and yet again the breather was expensive to get the original bailout fills but after several dives with only needing the back gas the savings on fills was in the hundreds of dollars compared to OC. If i wanted to continue doing multiple cave and wreck trips every year the savings in gas alone was going to afford me an extra trip a year, and over 3-4 years my unit was "making me money" in the savings compared to my former OC gas bill. With the proper training and knowledge of my unit i am more then comfortable feeling it is safe, I am well aware of the risks involved in diving and the added risks of CCR diving. Since making the switch i have noticed things in the caves i had never seen on OC as i have so much more time to take in everything now.
