Is Padi advanced worth taking ?

[ElectricZombie]

I've never taken a PADI class, but I did take a NAUI Advanced class when I first started diving. To be honest, I think it's a waste of money. You don't learn anything...you basically do a few dives and you get a card. You can learn more from diving with a good buddy.

 

[GQMedic]

Is the PADI AOW worth taking? I'm not going to address agencies, but I do think taking the AOW is worth it.

Be it you've been diving for a while or fresh out of OW, the AOW is going to further your reach in respect to diving. You will recieve better exposure to navigation, in addition, you will dive deeper depths, make night dives, make boat dives, learn additional skills, under the watchful eyes of an instructor, as such, you further the skills in your diving arsenal and continue on the road to a competant and confident diver. Learning more, as well as mastering the skills you learned previously is always a huge plus.

By all means, dive in.

torbaydiver once bubbled...
I'm considering doing my Padi advanced, but from what I've heard people who have taken it said it was just diving that you could have done with your buddy!
I would be interested in people's opinions on this!

 

[Diver0001]

torbaydiver once bubbled...
I'm considering doing my Padi advanced, but from what I've heard people who have taken it said it was just diving that you could have done with your buddy!
I would be interested in people's opinions on this!

Sorry if I'm repeating, haven't read the other responses.

1) AOW is a prereq for Rescue. Rescue is a great course. Forget about what you hear about AOW. set your goals on rescue.

2) Learning more is never a bad thing.

3) It all depends on the instructor. Get a good one.

R..

 

[gilou28]

The key is the instructor....not the course nor the agency...

A good course with a bad instructor won't be worth much....


So if you know the instructor and know is good or if he's referred by other students, go ahead!!!

That's called knowledge transfer.....

 

[Don Burke]

torbaydiver once bubbled... I'm considering doing my Padi advanced, but from what I've heard people who have taken it said it was just diving that you could have done with your buddy!
I would be interested in people's opinions on this!

There _is_ a certain element of getting your ticket punched.

Since you can pick your specialties within the course, you can tailor it to your needs. Personally, I was a pain in the butt for my instructor because I kept asking questions.

I made mine worthwhile. I suppose someone could just go along for the ride and learn very little.

Some instructors will let you take Nitrox at the same time. I wish I'd asked about that.

 

[TDunbar]

One other point........

It's difficult to take more out of a class than you put into it. Poor instruction aside, the course materials provide important information you'll need to more safely explore sites and conditions outside of the OW recomendations. One can easily miss the new information and skills presented in AOW if they aren't very comfortable with the basics. But if you are........ it can be a very worthwhile class.

 

[bobert]

I agree that who teaches you the course will have a lot to do with what you think of your experience. Having said that I strongly suggest that you take your AOW ( mine was PADI) as it is the next step in your diving education, it gives you more dives under competent supervision, and most importantly it will strech your diving knowledge (deep, navigation,etc.).

 

[d33ps1x]

pipedope once bubbled...

Most of todays 'specialities' were part of the course.
Some of todays specialities didn't exist yet.

Oh yah. They didn't have cameras back then so I guess underwater photographer was out.
ut:

 

[Don Burke]

d33ps1x once bubbled... Oh yah. They didn't have cameras back then so I guess underwater photographer was out.
ut:

I hear they had cave painting and flint chipping.

 

[El Orans]

is worth doing, just don't think you are an advanced diver afterwards. But it is a necessity to continue your diving ecducation.