What has changed since early 80’s?

[broncobowsher]

LP steel 72s are now 3000 PSI Aluminum 80s, the new default cylinder.
Weight belts are gone, most everything is weight integrated into the BC.
Neoprene has changed and fits better.
Open water certification now starts at 60' (subject to interpretation of various rules).
Tables have been replaced by computers. Tables are taught as a theory of how things work, then the students are handed a computer.
Nitrox went from forbidden to mainstream.
Lights went from dim battery eating huge lights to small high power LEDs
Specality courses, waiting for the PADI "tie your shoes" course. There are hundreds of them.
Technical diving is getting a lot more mainstream. Not uncommon to find rebreathers, deco bottles, drysuits with heaters, etc. Stuff you would never have seen in the 80s outside of sci-fi.

That '83 cert card is still good. but it would be worth it to find a shop and do a refresher class. Often it is just sitting in the back row of a regular class. What you learned nearly 40 years ago will come back fairly quick. The share air on a single regulator training is gone, octo regulator training.

 

[CT-Rich]

Dive lights in the 1980s sucked.

Interestingly, it’s not what has changed, but what hasn’t. Good quality gear from 1980 would be fine today. Regulators, tanks and gauges, fins, masks would be on par with a lot of gear available today and performance wise would be similar.

a few things have changed a lot. BCDs have evolved, computers have replaced most gauges. Dive lights and cameras are light years better. Exposure suits have also much better.

Most of the biggest changes are philosophical. The evolution of dive specialties live cave, wreck, tech, solo, added safety gear (DSMB, ponies), which existed but weren’t common.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

In 1983 the NAUI Advanced course I was assisting with had a unit on game collecting. Haven't seen that taught in a regular scuba course in a few years.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Nitrox and computers, newer deco algorithms...solo diving

Dive computers were just becoming available mid 80's if I remember but dang were so expensive. No Nitrox back then.

I was in a BSAC club doing sports diving courses 1986 1987.... in reality we are all solo divers when we get in the water. You were already doing dives in BSAC Sports that tec divers do now. All dives were planned deco dives unlike PADI NDL. You brought you watch and tables and had to calculate deco at depth if your dive plan changed. Tanks on the anchor line when doing wreck dives so when you had to do DECO you used the regs on the tanks on the anchor line. Learning how to tie knots and what knots were used on tag lines or other ropes for what uses was also taught in BSAC sports diving. Never in PADI. Maybe it was just my instructor or being in a BSAC Club you just were taught more things over a period of time.

Deco stops were often the most boring part of the dive unless sharks took an interest in you.

Oh and for some reason the chap in those photos from back then looks a lot different today. It is me is that you when you look at them.

 

[broncobowsher]

I did forget the SMBs.
As far as masks go, I think they have improved. Volumes reduced, field of vision widened, fit and materials are more conforming. You would have been in the transitioning days of rubber to silicone.
And yes the fins, amazing how the old stuff comes around again and again as the right ones. Thankfully you missed the hayday of fin marketing design. Split fins, articulated fins, and a few other marketing ideas that have passed. Still plenty of designer fins in shops but the old school fins are still on the market and doing well. And speaking of fins, add in the frog kick as something I don't think anyone ever talked about in the 80s. It's a thing now. Not usually taught in basic but when you start getting advanced it comes into play.

 

[TMHeimer]

In 1983 the NAUI Advanced course I was assisting with had a unit on game collecting. Haven't seen that taught in a regular scuba course in a few years.

Along those lines, I did a group occasion dive in about 2008 with my poke spear attached to my leg and someone told me not to spear flounders as "they are my freinds".
I didn't dive until 2005, but obviously there has been a huge swing toward Don't Touch Anything..... EVER. No gloves in the tropics rules. Don't even collect an empty shell let alone a live one (I recall the shell boiling pots by motels on Sanibel, FL in 1971).

 

[Scubadillo]

Still have my SP MK10/109 and adding MK15/G250/R190 to my kit.
I will have my 70’s steel 72 hydro’d once things open more and then take the 2 al 80’s to be visual eddy tested and hydro’d on the other side of the metro-mess (DFW area).
My old Voit MR-12 is functional too but may be relegated to pool dives only.

Had to toss my Dacor Turbo I fins due to starting to break down...may try and find similar to replace.

My wife is about to get her C-Card and thinks everything has changed from when I took my classes. Only the names have changed to fool the unknowing into buying relabeled old technology....very much the same as the IT world.

 

[pauldw]

If you're curious about changes in the dive industry over those decades, here are some threads you could look at:
Bloody dive shops...
Master Scuba Diver Course
Are the majority of dive shops bad?
I Don't Understand Dive Shops
Manufacturer reputations

Some good books, albeit a bit dated so most of the history probably predates your original certification, are:
https://www.amazon.com/Diving-Pioneers-Innovators-Bret-Gilliam/dp/1878348426
Diving Pioneers: An Oral History of Diving in America: Hanauer, Eric: 9780922769438: Amazon.com: Books
and for the greatest of all dive areas, almost as good as BC, there is https://www.amazon.com/Diving-Oregon-Images-Modern-America/dp/1467124087

 

[wildbill9]

No more horse collar BC's with the crotch straps and co2 cartridges for emergency ascents. Well that may have been the 70's but I am old. I remember when I bought one of the 1st.BC's that had a power inflator......ahhhhhh..........those were.the days. NOT but nobody ever had a problem with how deep i dove as long as I kept to manual dive tables

 

[tech_diver]

A major change to diving since the 1980s, I can't freedive to 70 feet anymore...