How much for TDI Solo Cert?

[CptTightPants21]

How much does the typical TDI Solo Cert cost? I recently called up two shops and got quotes of $300 and $500. $300 seems reasonable to me, but $500 seems like a bridge too far.

What did your certification cost and do you think there is anything in the class that can justify the $200 price difference/make it worth taking the $500 class?

 

[Wookie]

Solo is an SDI cert. it's important because it's meant for recreational diving, not tech diving. I charge $100 over what SDI charges for the online portion. Course, you have to buy a liveaboard trip to take the class.....

 

[Michael Guerrero]

I think the value piece depends on where you are as a diver. If you've done your due diligence with research, practice, and redundancy, you may not get a ton out of it. If you've never done a solo dive and never thought about what it would take to do one safely, you'll probably get a lot out of it if you have a decent instructor.

Mine was part of a package deal so I don't know how much it cost. I'd lean toward the $300 amount or less though.

 

[tstormdiver]

The shop I teach solo for charges $300 for the cert done at our local quarry.

 

[CptTightPants21]

Thank you. I have already done a lot reading and planning into doing solo, I tested out different pony configurations and sizes, etc. If anything the course would be a refinement of skills and procedures and "make it legal" at Dutch.

 

[Doppler]

I charge $450 and the course is run over four to five days... I do not believe that price is excessive. And in fact it seems to me that paying $300 for a four-day program is way to little. Oh, and putting the program together in less than four days is possible, but I am not able to do so.

 

[CptTightPants21]

For a 4 or 5 day course, absolutely not. But these are basically 1 day of lectures, 1 day of diving.

What do you do/cover in addition to the minimum requirements that makes it a 4-5 days course?

 

[drbill]

Many have said I could teach a solo course since I've been diving solo since the early 1960s. However, I have yet to take a real solo certification. I research operators in locations I plan to dive very carefully so I will be allowed to dive my dive. I don't mind buddying up, especially at destinations and dive sites I've never dived but being an underwater imager I really prefer to be byt myself in part so I'm not distracted and in part out of respect for a potential dive buddy who may wish to explore further.

With respect to your specific question though, I don't think $500 is necessarily too high for a 4-5 day course especially if there are only a few divers in the certification class and it is well taught and comprehensive.

 

[Doppler]

For a 4 or 5 day course, absolutely not. But these are basically 1 day of lectures, 1 day of diving.

What do you do/cover in addition to the minimum requirements that makes it a 4-5 days course?

Read the SDI book... I wrote it. That's what I teach, essentially. I may not be the fastest or most efficient instructor, but experience tells me that it takes an average student several tries to get things squared away; especially several compound "what ifs" happening at once... or at least following closely one behind the other. In my opinion, the program was never intended to be a weekend specialty. However, that's just my take on it.

 

[Steve_C]

Are dives included in the cost? In my case the lecture parts were 2 or 3 evenings. I forgot which. Then for the dives we did them in the ocean from a boat since that was the more interesting diving that I did.

In my case the instructor was also a tech instructor, friend, dive buddy, and we have had numerous dive discussions over the years. He does not hesitate to point things out to me and I do not hesitate to listen. So I cannot always separate what I learned in class from what I learned out of class. But, bottom line, I found the course worthwhile. I know that there are some things I do now, that I knew before, but did not actually do. Think it made me a safer all around diver.