Nitrox Specialty with PADI

[kevmiami]

Feeling A little ripped off by PADI - $199 might be a fair price including the two hours of hands-on experience (I'm taking the hands-on part tonight), but for $200, it should allow me to printout a book or manual, which it does not - that's just a rip-off.

Definitely a rip-off - I'm very pleased to have the ability to use Nitrox; but the hands-on was pretty much a 30 minute tank sampling exercise and then just general B/S and then the "come take more PADI classes" sales pitch. Neither the online class or the hands-on spent nearly any time on really discussing different blends/depth/time (i.e. using a much a higher blend for longer, shallower bug hunting) or calculating daily O2 limit for multiple dives per day (e.g. Bonaire).

[windapp]

The Nitrox course is a lot of money for something that you can basically research on the internet. However, you need it to get the card, and you need the card to get your tanks filled with nitrox. I took my course with an outfit that included two boat dives and all the rental equipment I required. It was only $200. The Nitrox, Dives, and rental were worth more than $100 so I basically got the course for $100.00.

[Colliam7]

Feeling A little ripped off by PADI - $199 might be a fair price including the two hours of hands-on experience (I'm taking the hands-on part tonight), but for $200, it should allow me to printout a book or manual, which it does not - that's just a rip-off.

Out of curiousity, are you paying $199 to PADI, or to your LDS? I would agree, that the prices charged in some cases for the Enriched Air course can be excessive. For the online / eLearning course, PADI charges $205, according to their website, a fee which also covers 'unlimited access to the manual online'. And, the point is made that the LDS to which the stduent will go for the practical portion, may / will charge an additional fee. It makes one wonder why an individual would choose that approach. We charge $79 for the entire (PADI) course, PLUS the cost of the manual / crewpak (less that $20). And, that price includes the required academic material, a lot of discussion about matters such as picking the best blend for a particular dive or series of dives - the how and why (and even specifically use Bonaire diving as an example in calculating oxygen exposure over a week of diving), the practical applicatons, a tour of / orientation to our fill station, and hands-on analysis of 5-6 various 'unknown' gas mixes (I usually include a hypoxic trimix blend, as well as a 100% bottle, just to see the students' reactions). Hmm. Maybe we are under-charging.

[kevmiami]

My best friend and dive buddy bought it for me directly form PADI (I think it showed up on registration as about $200) ; no dollars were paid by us to LDS. I assumed there was some sort of revenue sharing (was just guessing). Unlimited access means you can only access while logged in - not the best way to look at a manual or refresh (only good for 1 year). The online course effectively said trust your life to your computer for determining when and how long you can be in the water - Nice.