NAUI Advanced vs. PADI Advanced

[tomfcrist]

The one difference that may exist (and I don't know if it does exist) is that an independent PADI instructor can not teach an Assistant Instructor nor Instructor course. But the only NAUI course directors I know/knew were associated with dive shops so that may be a difference -- perhaps you can be a NAUI CD and not affiliated with a dive shop to teach at the instructor level.

There are many NAUI CD's that aren't shop monkeys.

OK then, if that one wasn't silly, then how about "International Diver"

Cant really explain that one for you...but its no more silly than about 90% of classes that instructors will charge you for. IMHO 90% of "Specialty" classes are money grabs, in which the student leaves with no new skillset and a plastic card that qualifies them to do nothing at all. The Hookah course is basically an OW course by the way....just with a hookah instead of a tank.

---------- Post added March 11th, 2015 at 02:56 PM ----------

Record Number of Retailers and Resorts Join PADI - DiveNewswire

Go with the flow.

I will assume you have taken a statistics course at some point in your life....So you should know how useless those numbers are. And I don't need to be a mathematician to blow holes right through their numbers.

This tidbit amused me "Disposable personal income in the United States reached an all-time high in November of 2014"......Really? Not so much.

 

[BDSC]

And I don't need to be a mathematician to blow holes right through their numbers.

It matters not to me at all what they say the numbers are, but since you brought it up, go ahead and blow holes through the numbers mentioned in the article. Here are the numbers the article gives.

"Nearly 1800 retail and resort operators choose PADI in the PADI Americas territory alone, with the entire global PADI Retail and Resort Association now consisting of more than 6300 members."

 

[dpspaceman]

While all of you make great points, and is very informative for me. The case still stands... $275 for AOW and $275 for rescue all included (except books) is a bargain.

If I am able, and no one has told me otherwise, I could complete divemaster in PADI without having to shell out any extra "conversion" fees. This would be a good confirmation to have. Anyone?


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[decompression]

Yes, you could do the NAUI courses and crossover to PADI. Yes, you could do NAUI courses up to DM and then do PADI AI/OWSI training. However, while it can be beneficial to learn other agencies procedures, it is more challenging to teach courses that you haven't completed yourself. Do some research and see which path you'd like to take. And try not to let a few hundred dollars influence you too much.


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[RJP]

While all of you make great points, and is very informative for me. The case still stands... $275 for AOW and $275 for rescue all included (except books) is a bargain.

If I am able, and no one has told me otherwise, I could complete divemaster in PADI without having to shell out any extra "conversion" fees. This would be a good confirmation to have. Anyone?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If a cost difference of $75 for a course is significant enough for you to forgo the benefit of taking that course with the agency that you aspire to teach with in favor of having a few bucks in your pocket... I'm thinking that dive leadership with any agency (at least with an eye towards bargain-hunting along the way) might not be for you.

Hell. To me it would be worth the extra $75 just to avoid having even ONE awkward conversation with a student explaining why I didn't take the PADI AOW and/or Rescue Diver courses... but they should.

That being said, you still run the risk of being penny-wise/pound-foolish here. Consider that as a PADI DM/Instructor you're going to need to buy the PADI AOW materials ANYWAY. (Yes, owning the student materials is a requirement for an Instructor.) So you'll save a few bucks by taking the NAUI AOW course... and then later you'll fork over a few bucks to buy the full PADI AOW student materials at a not-too-distant future date. The same will be true of the PADI Rescue Diver and EFR student materials. So you'll be forfeiting the benefit of actually having taken a course that you'll be expected to teach one day... in exchange for what is likely ZERO savings if not an actually HIGHER total cost.

If nothing else, your approach will be a good object lesson for how hard it is to actually come out ahead teaching diving. Good thinking!

:cool2:

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I'm a PADI guy, from OW through professional credentials. No regrets. (but even I have been know to refer to Put Another Dollar In)
DivemasterDennis

 

[tomfcrist]

"Nearly 1800 retail and resort operators choose PADI in the PADI Americas territory alone, with the entire global PADI Retail and Resort Association now consisting of more than 6300 members."

Ok, here we go. A little lesson in inflating your numbers.

They say that in the PADI Americas region nearly 1800 stores CHOOSE PADI in 2014, implying that they weren't previously a PADI affiliated shop, but the worldwide total membership is 6300. That would mean that the "new" operations in padi Americas accounts for over 28% of the entire padi worldwide operation. Complete horse manure.

Additionally, even if there were 1800 new standup operations in the region, that number is useless without recognizing the number of operations that either unaffiliated or closed thier doors. It's like a bag of chips that says 20% more on the bag. 20% more than what? How many of those operations are also affiliated with another agency? Of course they don't want to talk about that.

Then there is the disposable income figure, which they grabbed from Rutgers. What they fail to take into account is that the new found disposable income stemmed from a temporary drop in fuel prices. Yes that means more money to go to other things, but the majority of Americans are choosing to pay off the debt they have up to their eyeballs due to the economy being in the tank. People that claim the economy is getting better are out of touch with reality. The US and it's residents are habitually on dire debt, and it's not going to be solved by the lower gas prices. Let's not forget why the gas prices are so low...you can research that one yourself.

I am starting to get into a rant here, so I'm just gonna disengage prior to completely going off topic.

 

[BDSC]

Ok, here we go. A little lesson in inflating your numbers.

They say that in the PADI Americas region nearly 1800 stores CHOOSE PADI in 2014, implying that they weren't previously a PADI affiliated shop, but the worldwide total membership is 6300. That would mean that the "new" operations in padi Americas accounts for over 28% of the entire padi worldwide operation. Complete horse manure.

That doesn't seem to be what they are saying. They say a record number of shops/resorts switched to PADI in 2014 but they never give that number. Then they say 1800 stores CHOOSE PADI (current tense) and that makes sense because the article was published in March. If they were speaking about the 1800 being converted last year, wouldn't they have used the word CHOSE (past tense)?

 

[tomfcrist]

Ok, here we go. A little lesson in inflating your numbers.

They say that in the PADI Americas region nearly 1800 stores CHOOSE PADI in 2014, implying that they weren't previously a PADI affiliated shop, but the worldwide total membership is 6300. That would mean that the "new" operations in padi Americas accounts for over 28% of the entire padi worldwide operation. Complete horse manure.

That doesn't seem to be what they are saying. They say a record number of shops/resorts switched to PADI in 2014 but they never give that number. Then they say 1800 stores CHOOSE PADI (current tense) and that makes sense because the article was published in March. If they were speaking about the 1800 being converted last year, wouldn't they have used the word CHOSE (past tense)?

You have a point there, it may just be the way I read that blurb...the article still gives no tangible evidence that supports any position pertaining to the state of the industry...or padi for that matter.

 

[RJP]

This tidbit amused me "Disposable personal income in the United States reached an all-time high in November of 2014"......Really? Not so much.

Technically, they are incorrect. It has continued to climb, having reached new "new highs" in both December of 2014 and January of 2015.

You'll need to take your amused disbelief up with the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

"Disposable Personal Income in the United States increased to 13260 USD Billion in January of 2015 from 13207.40 USD Billion in December of 2014. Disposable Personal Income in the United States averaged 4575.83 USD Billion from 1959 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 13260 USD Billion in January of 2015."

Do note the analysis is intended to look at the total pool (no pun intended) of disposable income (ie "how much money is out there") rather than a more fine-grain distribution (ie "how many people have how much money.")

---------- Post added March 11th, 2015 at 08:49 PM ----------

You have a point there, it may just be the way I read that blurb...the article still gives no tangible evidence that supports any position pertaining to the state of the industry...or padi for that matter.

SUMMARY: PADI has the LARGEST share of the market and continues to GROW their market share.

Whatever your personal beliefs about PADI are, do you really not think that says something meaningful about PADI from a commercial standpoint? (As someone who has lived/died my whole career by "Monday morning market-share data" I can assure that it does.)