Certifications from different orgs (PADI, NAUI)= better?

[MikeFerrara]

All Agenccies must adhere to minimum RSTC Guidlines (Recreational Scuba Training Council).

Not at all true.

I personally prefer PADI due to the amount/qualityof training materials available, and the way that they are presented. But I won't say anything bad about the others.

Quality what? Pictures? Oh, wait, all the pictures are of kneeling "divers" so that can't be it.

The important thing is to keep diving and get better at it. Find a good instructor and the "bottom's the limit".

Practice what? If your taught wrong and you practice doing something wrong, you'll only get really good at doing it wrong.

To the OP,
One card gets you about the same access as another. That's what this certification game is about...buying access. However, the standards of the various agencies do NOT require the same training and individual instructors do NOT offer the same training.

Over and over we hear this nonsense about it being the instructor and not the agency. Honestly I don't know how so many people manage to get themselves out of bed and to work in the morning without help. Just where would one suppose that the instructor learned to dive and to teach if not through the agency?

You can become an instructor with 6 months diving experience and 100 dives. All this nice instructor knows is what the agency required them to learn and all they can do is what the agency required them to be able to do. You really think the agency doesn't make a difference?

The requirements set forth in the agencies standards as they relate to both the entry level student AND the instructor is absolutely ALL important and shapes the whole thing from START to FINISH.

It is true that there are a number of agencies with nearly equally low standards which turn out almost equally poor divers. that, of course, is why we see what Colliam describes.

I just don't see a big difference at the OW level. Most newbs have a long way to go. I certainly did. It is not reasonable to expect them to have outstanding bouyancy control, minimalist gear configurations, incredible insight about how to handle problems, etc.

I don't see it as a good thing and it certainly does NOT mean that there is not other way or that there isn't anyone doing it better. It just means that there is a lot of garbage on the market and lots of people who are willing to buy that garbage.

Personall, I don't expect a new OW diver to have any buoyancy control because I know for a fact that the largest certification agency only requires a cople of minutes off the bottom in an entry level course and a couple of minutes isn't enough time to learn it. Additionally, course materials leave out some information that's critical to being able to control your movement and position in the water column. The result is that divers have to go learn it someplace else or just invent it on their own. Many fail and, with experience, just get more comfortable with being bad at it.

On the other hand, if you do find an agency/instructor combination that offeres a good program, an entry level student can be VERY proficient at the basics...ie, buoyancy control. After all, isn't teaching tha basics the whole purpose of an entry level course? How can you get more basic to diving than controling your position in the water? It isn't common but it is being done by some. The only thing that's unreasonable is the non-stop excusses of those who can't or won't do it.

 

[al1]

PADI is easier to get. Have you ever heard of anyone failing a PADI course. Like everyone on this board says it all depends on the instructor.

 

[Colliam7]

PADI is easier to get. Have you ever heard of anyone failing a PADI course. Like everyone on this board says it all depends on the instructor.

Interesting. There is another current thread on SB started by a diver who apparently failed a PADI course - the IDC, no less - and he seems to have become rather 'agitated' as a result of the experience. I have seen people who failed to complete PADI OW certification. They simply did not possess the combination of watermanship ability, motor skills, and mental attitude necessary. They were advised by their instructor that, perhaps, diving was simply not for them. I have heard the same is true with SSI and NAUI. In fact, I suspect more people fail to complete OW requirements than fail the Driver License examination in many states.

It probably helps to keep in mind the goal of entry level scuba training - which is for people to get certified, not to fail to get certified. If they fail to get certified, they are less likely to buy diving related equipment, less likely to spend money on diving related travel, less likely to spend money on additional ('advanced') training. Diving is a business. Whether we like it or not, it is. Courses are NOT even priced by what it actually costs to provide them. They are priced to encourage people to pursue diving instruction, and to an extent priced by what the market will bear. If we taught courses according to what it actually costs, including a fair wage for instructors, we would have fewer people pursuing it. That would not be good for business.

 

[Charlie99]

I don't see much advantage, if any, to changing cert agency for different classes. OTOH I did find it useful to have different instructors for OW, and AOW; and then a third instructor for rescue.

Being an active participant in the class rather than a passive absorber of training makes a big difference. Each instructor did things (dive planning, dive navigation, gear arrangement, buddy positioning, etc.) a bit different. Their responses and explanations to questions about these things (many of which weren't part of that particular class) were very useful.

 

[DGriffin]

My LDS offers SDI, NAUI, and PADI. Most of the same instructors teach each of the classes.

To offer a slightly different slant, I believe the instructors are (for the most part) going to teach the way they teach, regardless of the curriculum. There will (may) be some tweaking depending on the agency requirements, but probably not a lot.

I took my OW through SDI and my AOW through NAUI. FWIW, I thought the coursebook for SDI was poorly written, but offered a fair amout of information I could potentially review again in the future. NAUI's AOW coursebook was actually written by someone who had command of syntax and grammar, but I could never see using the book as any sort of reference. Will I try PADI next? Absolutely.

 

[ScubaRandy]

PADI is easier to get. Have you ever heard of anyone failing a PADI course. Like everyone on this board says it all depends on the instructor.

Yes, I have failed students because they didn't meet the requirements of the course... Would I do it again?

Certainly.

Randy

 

[stevephilanyc]

I've been traveling to dive for about 30 years and the certification organization does not matter. Having any c-card and logs to verify dive experience (relatively recent for some ops) is all you need.

Steve

 

[divewithjay]

SSI allows you to combine dives so you could actually do it in 6 dives.