Is there a "hardest cert/most stringent certifier?"

[VikingDives]

TL;DR: Is there any difference between any of the certification agencies anymore, or does it all boil down to the instructor? If there is a best (or better) cert, what is it? I am not looking for the cheapest/easiest or the chest-thumping'est route. I'm looking for the agency this is most likely to ensure that my training will prevent me from being a statistic in some government report.

I got certified almost 20 years ago by PADI (OWD) and DRI (Public Safety Diver) and then took 14 years off from diving. Recently, I went on vacation and did a re-cert and some OW dives in Jamaica. While diving with the "resort divers" I ended up rescuing a dive buddy at the surface (she forgot to connect her low-pressure hose) and helping a panicked diver when she was faced with a swim-through that she wasn't ready for... Both of those situations showed me that I am under-trained for what I was encountering and encouraged me to get more training. Here's the question: Is there any real difference between any of the dive training agencies anymore, or is it more just a question of who your instructor is/and the instructor's experience? I did my AOW training with PADI in 01, and just repeated it last month, and while I learned some things, I can say that on the whole, I have not been impressed with dive training in general. I want to know that my instruction and skill set is the best that I can have and while there's a certain measure of individual responsibility there, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, I don't know what I don't know.

If there is a difference in agencies, what who/which has the hardest training? I don't want to take the easiest route, but I'd rather be trained by the best. Is that a thing anymore?

Thanks.

 

[tursiops]

Choose the right instructor and it won't matter which agency it is.

 

[EricTheDood]

PADI has a Rescue Diver course that's supposed to be very good according to the DMs and Instructors that I dive with locally. I'm taking it later this year. Prereq is AOW so you're right where you need to be. The quality of the instructor certainly matters.

If you want to progress after that, you can either get into Tec diving, or stick to recreational and become a DM and maybe an instructor. Most of the instructors I know in California have day jobs, so it's a lifestyle change, but not a career change.

 

[PfcAJ]

When it comes to agency you've got to look at consistency and what they're trying to teach.

GUE's standards are consistently enforced across the board. You know what you're going to get.

Compare that to padi, iantd, tdi. Those groups are all over the map.

Additionally, GUEs standards as an agency are clearly laid out and everyone is on the same page when it comes to gear, gases, and procedures. Their methods are safe and effective.

 

[Kodad]

Does GUE have a safety diver equivalent?

 

[Kodad]

Sorry, I meant Rescue Diver equivalent ...

 

[VikingDives]

Choose the right instructor and it won't matter which agency it is.

But that's my question/point... Is there a difference in instructional quality in the instructor, based on the the cert agency? Can you say that SSI is uniformly better than PADI, etc?

If I am walking into a new city, is there a "better way" to get certified without knowing the instructor, because I know that he or she has been trained to a better standard?

I guess another way to ask the question is, "If you were doing it all over again, and didn't know anything about anyone or diving, is there a better way to learn, or will I have better odds of learning if I take classes from the instructor at the YMCA, vs the instructor at walmart?

 

[PfcAJ]

Sorry, I meant Rescue Diver equivalent ...

Rec2 includes some "rescue diver" curriculum, I believe.

And yes GUE is uniformly better than the rest.

 

[bamafan]

I agree on GUE. The more I am around the less I am impressed by the other agencies. They all have some good instructors but they also have some crappy ones. It really amazes me how much of a good ole boys club it is with most agencies. I know of cave instructors who have never been through an internship and just had the magic wand waved. I also know of an instructor who went from open circuit to rebreather instructor in 6 months. GUE is the only agency that I know of that doesn't do this and I have never seen one of their cave students who can't at least frog kick. I know plenty of cave divers and some cave instructors that can't even perform a proper frog kick. It really is a shame that the industry is this way but most agencies only care about money and keeping the good ole boys club active.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

GUE training is very good and they hold a strict standard, but it is different animal than the other agencies. They have gear standards as well, and if you are using basic dive shop gear like a jacket BC, split fins, console, snorkel, and standard reg configuration that stuff won't cut it. GUE is a whole new and different learning process/plan in a different universe.
As far as the standard rec agencies and their bare basic standards, I'm not sure anymore who has the most aggressive or best bottom line standards, it used to be NAUI.
The trick is to find an instructor that teaches above the rock bottom standards. Just the bare basics aren't much with any of the regular agencies. Some agencies allow the instructors a lot of freedom to teach courses the way they see fit like NAUI, PADI not so much. I know nothing about SSI.
I used to DM for a guy who taught independent SDI classes and he had some freedom.
It seems to me that (good) instructors tend to teach their courses according to the local conditions of their area. So in my area we have rough cold water with low vis so the instruction tends to be tailored for divers to survive in that environment. A bare basic course in the tropics will not produce a diver with enough competence to deal with my local conditions IMO.