Agencies?

[Blackwood]

Meh, I don't really care. We do it differently. Look at a sticker (I prefer MOD, you prefer analysis, w/e), and have your buddy check it. Fair nuff.

Yep. Mainly, my content label is the easiest thing to see if there are two bottles hanging there - may need to lift a bottle in order to see the MOD label on my side. I try to use the most foolproof method consistently (i.e. even if there's only one bottle), and lift the right bottle first. But yah, NBD. And you won't see me with naked stages.

 

[rjack321]

I don't know anyone, including GUE instructors, abiding by the current 100,150,200,250 bottom gas "standard MODs". Nobody is going home dry with full tanks of 21/35 when the supposedly 140ft deep wreck ends up at 160ft.

Not that any of the last 4+ pages helps the OP decide whether to take GUE-F or UTD Essentials and who he (she?) ought to take it from anyway.

I leave SB for a year and in retrospect its obvious the same old trash talk between the same old people is still going on. The list of participants is slightly reduced, because people like me are sick of dozen page threads which are so far off on a tangent and the OP is long gone anyway the original question is moot.

 

[ucfdiver]

I don't know anyone, including GUE instructors, abiding by the current 100,150,200,250 bottom gas "standard MODs". Nobody is going home dry with full tanks of 21/35 when the supposedly 140ft deep wreck ends up at 160ft.

Not that any of the last 4+ pages helps the OP decide whether to take GUE-F or UTD Essentials and who he (she?) ought to take it from anyway.

I leave SB for a year and in retrospect its obvious the same old trash talk between the same old people is still going on. The list of participants is slightly reduced, because people like me are sick of dozen page threads which are so far off on a tangent and the OP is long gone anyway the original question is moot.

All the GUE guys here do, but I suspect that's because the need for top offs in locations where helium top offs can't be done doesn't exist more so than following DIR practices.

 

[Blackwood]

I leave SB for a year and in retrospect its obvious the same old trash talk between the same old people is still going on. The list of participants is slightly reduced, because people like me are sick of dozen page threads which are so far off on a tangent and the OP is long gone anyway the original question is moot.

I noticed the same thing after my roughly year long absence as well. But this place has a way of sucking you back in. Run while you still can!

 

[PfcAJ]

Maybe cuz diving 2135 at 160 isn't going to kack you, and everyone knows that.... ?

 

[rjack321]

Maybe cuz diving 2135 at 160 isn't going to kack you, and everyone knows that.... ?

Apparently you have a different definition of "maximum" than Webster. If you are >150 on a "150" marked bottle I will drag your ass up to 150, period.


Back to the actual topic at hand...
Did anyone ask the OP what his current training level was? What kind of buddies he had? If he was diving caves, wrecks or something else? What his goals were? No, no, no, and nope.

Someone says "UTD" and you guys start ripping into how bad and un-DIR Andrew is. Maybe instead of using every opportunity to be so incredibly negative about someone else you could actually offer something constructive? You know, like personally vouch for an instructor near the OP? Offer to dive with the guy? Find out more about his current training and experience level? Ask what his goals are and give some perspective on how he might acheive them?

Crapping on UTD at every opportunity doesn't make GUE smell like a rose.

 

[PfcAJ]

lol, so if I dive ginnie springs and it hits 101' I stop the dive? Come on, reel it back in a little.

Real diving =/ e-diving.

 

[kathydee]

Back to the actual topic at hand...Did anyone ask the OP what his current training level was? What kind of buddies he had? If he was diving caves, wrecks or something else? What his goals were?

Maybe you could offer something constructive? You know, like personally vouch for an instructor near the OP? Offer to dive with the guy? Find out more about his current training and experience level? Ask what his goals are and give some perspective on how he might achieve them?

Welcome back RJack.

Good ideas. Thread seemed to take a different direction, so we just covered all that elsewhere .

 

[ChaosHokie]

Welcome back RJack.

Good ideas. Thread seemed to take a different direction, so we just covered all that elsewhere .

I'm glad the OP got the information he was looking for, but I'd just like to point out to the contributors in this thread, that I don't think the discussion on z-system sidemounts, rebreathers, stages, deep dives, etc was what the OP was looking for. I had the same question a few months back, because as an average diver, I was sick of the crappy classes I've taken (OW/AOW/PPB) and decided to get some training that covered all the things I wanted to know.

I will say I went with UTD Essentials because for two reasons: it seemed more approachable than GUE's Fundies and I had an UTD instructor within an hours drive. I have not really been told "Great! Now go off and dive a 200' dive with your single-tank bank mount on 25/35! Oh, and the two guys on your team are diving an RB and a SM!" What I have learned is how to be a thinking diver, how to properly plan a dive using good gas management skills, how to shoot an SMB, what good trim and buoyancy are (still working on those ), how to properly position yourself using various kicking techniques, how to support your team, and just a general level of comfort in the water that I could not imagine before I took the course*. Now what I'm worried about is diving with insta-buddies on those random divetrips/vacations that I wind up taking .

Also, for those of you who say "consider the end, then plan accordingly", a lot of us seeking better training, aren't necessarily looking for cave/wreck/deep/whatever when we first start. I know I have ABSOLUTELY no desire to do anything requiring overhead (risk is too high for me) or long deco. I've seen pictures of cave diving...still not interested.









*Haven't passed Essentials yet, still working on buoyancy control. Ugh....

 

[Adobo]

I'm glad the OP got the information he was looking for, but I'd just like to point out to the contributors in this thread, that I don't think the discussion on z-system sidemounts, rebreathers, stages, deep dives, etc was what the OP was looking for. I had the same question a few months back, because as an average diver, I was sick of the crappy classes I've taken (OW/AOW/PPB) and decided to get some training that covered all the things I wanted to know.

I thought the original poster specifically identified side mount as a primary area of interest. I've copied the original post for your benefit:

What do you guys think of the differences between GUE and UTD? I am looking to "officially" go DIR, and am now faced with the choice of agency. I am leaning towards UTD as they offer side mount, and have a training facility within long weekend driving trip of my house. Any reason to go one over the other?

Z system sidemount is very unique. And if the original poster is truly interested in sidemount, finding out the details of the Z system is definitely beneficial.

Also, the original poster asked about specific differences between the two agencies. I would summarize the replies to be:

- in some areas, divers trained under one GUE are more prominent, in other areas, divers trained under UTD are more prominent. If nothing else, lots of people have found that being part of a dive community trained under the same agency is helpful.
- one agency does sidemount and CCR, the other one doesn't
- a bunch of poo flinging

I thought the first two items spoke very directly to the question asked by the original poster. Its not clear to me whether he cares about the CCR thing. If he doesn't then he can simply ignore the related discussion as noise that is not applicable to him.

Also, for those of you who say "consider the end, then plan accordingly", a lot of us seeking better training, aren't necessarily looking for cave/wreck/deep/whatever when we first start. I know I have ABSOLUTELY no desire to do anything requiring overhead (risk is too high for me) or long deco. I've seen pictures of cave diving...still not interested.

"Consider the end" doesn't mean to choose based on cave or technical diving requirements. For some, the end is a 30ft reef dive in warm waters. In that case, the differences between the two agencies may very well be insignificant. For me, when someone says "consider the end", it just means if possible, figure out what you think you will want out of diving this year, maybe next year and maybe the year after that. And make your decisions accordingly.