Enriched air course PADI
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Prices vary largely with regions. In Sydney, I paid 300 AUD, which at the time came somewhere near 250USD. In Switzerland, at the nearby shop, you're paying 260USD.
What I paid makes for a fun story as well. I had called and specifically asked if dives were included (due to the price, and the fact that it required me to haul my complete gear on the bus, yes I was diving by bus and did it a few times
), and the answer was "yes of course". When I got there, they had changed owner over the week-end and they hadn't told the new one about this . He handled it fine by throwing an instructor with me and off we went, but yeah, I had paid 250USD and there was no dive expected from his side. They have dropped the price now apparently, it's 250$ with 2 dives and 100$ for theory only (online or not, that I don't know).
Do remember that converting all prices to $ is not an easy task and can make for a biased comparison due to the costs of life being very different.
So yes, if the price is adjusted, I don't care about no dives, but when you're paying > 200$ to open a tank, read a screen and turn a knob, I would suggest joining the Patoux Dive School and making your own card instead.
What I paid makes for a fun story as well. I had called and specifically asked if dives were included (due to the price, and the fact that it required me to haul my complete gear on the bus, yes I was diving by bus and did it a few times
), and the answer was "yes of course". When I got there, they had changed owner over the week-end and they hadn't told the new one about this . He handled it fine by throwing an instructor with me and off we went, but yeah, I had paid 250USD and there was no dive expected from his side. They have dropped the price now apparently, it's 250$ with 2 dives and 100$ for theory only (online or not, that I don't know).Do remember that converting all prices to $ is not an easy task and can make for a biased comparison due to the costs of life being very different.
So yes, if the price is adjusted, I don't care about no dives, but when you're paying > 200$ to open a tank, read a screen and turn a knob, I would suggest joining the Patoux Dive School and making your own card instead.
If you are the instructor and choose to only do the bare minimums with the class, is PADI taking the biscuit or are you?
I think it's 100% on you as the instructor. You can make the class great, or you can take their money and leave doing only what you have to do to meet the standards.
It's pretty much the same if your open water class dives are 20min each, which is the minimum. That is on you, not PADI. Own your role in how your classes are run, don't blame the agency.
This reflects the same kind of criticism you see endlessly on ScubaBoard. An agency charges an instructor for the course materials and the certification card. That's it. The vast majority of the cost of a course is determined by the dive operation/instructor. The amount of money the agency gets does not change dependent upon what the dive operation throws into a course. If you have a beef about the benefits of a course in relation to its cost, your beef is with the operation, not the agency.
I have a PADI distinctive specialty that I wrote. The only money PADI gest from it when I teach it is the cost of the certification card, and the certification card is optional. I have taught the course for free to friends who were not interested in the card, and I have charged the cost of the card for some others. I have also charged a course fee to others. The choice was mine--not PADI's.
Is it a standard to make/ensure the student watches a video?
Skulmoski
Contributor
I did mine through elearning. I very much enjoyed the course. I did the skills at Camel Diving in Sharm el Sheik. I did actual rather than simulated diving. The instructor put in extra time topside to go through slates and other theory.
GJS
GJS
Saboteur
Contributor
I did it by conventional learning. We had to read the material and watch the video and do the evaluation questions. Following this was a morning classroom session which was quite thorough (3 1/2 to 4 hours). We spent a lot of time planning various repetitive dive scenarios with the EAN tables using 32 and 36% as well as the less common mixes. No dives, just had to calibrate the meter and measure two tanks and do documentation.
My comments may echo some already made.
The PADI course also involves having the students analyze gases, in addition to the dive planning and simulations. To me, that - gas analysis - was probably the biggest benefit of the actual dives (which i had to do years ago when I took the nitrox course). Frankly, I enjoyed the dives when i did them, but they were a bit anti-climatic. What I learned to do was plan the dives for depth and conditions, AND analyze the gases that I was going to use, and all of that was done before ever going to the water.
So, in the current course configuration, the student comes away with a theory basis, completes knowledge reviews, completes an examination, plans dives, and analyze gases. Even if this may be seen by some as 'bare bones', it still provides what they need to know to dive enriched air with relative safety. So, I see no substantive downside to allowing the substitution of simulated dives for actual dives.
The Instructor can make a material difference in the course. I prepared a handout which I use in my course, to supplement the student manual (and even include quotes made on ScubaBoard by Peter Guy - Peter Rothschild - and DevonDiver - Andy Davis).
At one point in the past I had students analyze 5 'unknown' gases, including a 50% and a 100% deco mix, as well as a hypoxic trimix bottle (to see their reaction, and understanding of how a mixture could become hypoxic) . I changed that latter item when i moved to a shop that doesn't have the capability to pump trimix, however.
PADI no longer produces the 32% and 36% slates, but I do go over the use of the Equivalent Air Depth Table for Enriched Air, in combination with the RDP. Since most divers these days use computers, I emphasize the importance of a) reading the owner's manual for whatever computer they may have/use, AND b) setting their computer for the proper mix, that they determine by analysis. I am honestly not particular interested in whether they watch the video, so being able to document that is, for me at least, relatively unimportant.
Enriched Air diving is NOT - from my perspective - neurosurgery, rocket science, or rocket surgery. But, students MUST understand the risk, and signs and symptoms, of oxygen toxicity, they must understand their responsibility in using Enriched Air safely and effectively (through proper planning, and executing), and I believe that can be, and is, accomplished in the current 'dry' course format.
I have said in previous threads that I cannot understand the justification for shops to charge large fees for the course. But, that is also a shop, NOT a PADI decision (and is an example of why PADI requires that students sign a Non-Agency Disclosure Statement, I presume). We charge $79 US for a 4 hour 'dry class'. That is our choice. Some other shops in the area charge more. I do see at least one senior instructor in our shop do the class in an hour, and I wince. Nonetheless, I continue to do the class the way I think it best helps the student divers to learn to use enriched air effectively and safely.
The PADI course also involves having the students analyze gases, in addition to the dive planning and simulations. To me, that - gas analysis - was probably the biggest benefit of the actual dives (which i had to do years ago when I took the nitrox course). Frankly, I enjoyed the dives when i did them, but they were a bit anti-climatic. What I learned to do was plan the dives for depth and conditions, AND analyze the gases that I was going to use, and all of that was done before ever going to the water.
So, in the current course configuration, the student comes away with a theory basis, completes knowledge reviews, completes an examination, plans dives, and analyze gases. Even if this may be seen by some as 'bare bones', it still provides what they need to know to dive enriched air with relative safety. So, I see no substantive downside to allowing the substitution of simulated dives for actual dives.
The Instructor can make a material difference in the course. I prepared a handout which I use in my course, to supplement the student manual (and even include quotes made on ScubaBoard by Peter Guy - Peter Rothschild - and DevonDiver - Andy Davis).
At one point in the past I had students analyze 5 'unknown' gases, including a 50% and a 100% deco mix, as well as a hypoxic trimix bottle (to see their reaction, and understanding of how a mixture could become hypoxic) . I changed that latter item when i moved to a shop that doesn't have the capability to pump trimix, however.
PADI no longer produces the 32% and 36% slates, but I do go over the use of the Equivalent Air Depth Table for Enriched Air, in combination with the RDP. Since most divers these days use computers, I emphasize the importance of a) reading the owner's manual for whatever computer they may have/use, AND b) setting their computer for the proper mix, that they determine by analysis. I am honestly not particular interested in whether they watch the video, so being able to document that is, for me at least, relatively unimportant.
Enriched Air diving is NOT - from my perspective - neurosurgery, rocket science, or rocket surgery. But, students MUST understand the risk, and signs and symptoms, of oxygen toxicity, they must understand their responsibility in using Enriched Air safely and effectively (through proper planning, and executing), and I believe that can be, and is, accomplished in the current 'dry' course format.
I have said in previous threads that I cannot understand the justification for shops to charge large fees for the course. But, that is also a shop, NOT a PADI decision (and is an example of why PADI requires that students sign a Non-Agency Disclosure Statement, I presume). We charge $79 US for a 4 hour 'dry class'. That is our choice. Some other shops in the area charge more. I do see at least one senior instructor in our shop do the class in an hour, and I wince. Nonetheless, I continue to do the class the way I think it best helps the student divers to learn to use enriched air effectively and safely.
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My wife and I were charged 20$ each plus the PADI fees for our Nitrox cert. It was done by our DM in Mexico and we learned what was needed to ace the test and do the dives. We spent the time we needed to learn on our own. For the math whiz it was minutes to learn and for the math challenged, it was hours. Once we both had it, he went over it and gave us the test. He did the paper work and it didn't take long for the whole process. The cost seemed reasonable. The fees charged at our LDS (225$) seem quite outrageous. PADI has nothing to do with the difference in cost between the two.
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