PADI or SSI? And Why????

[roblogic]

Instructor's quality and course price are most important to me, but those factors aside I prefer NAUI to SSI and PADI.

I took open water with SSI, advanced open water (AOW) with PADI and Nitrox with NAUI. The reason I prefer the latter is that they teach deep stops and introduce students to their NDL RGBM tables in addition to the regular dive tables. Also, in their AOW equivalent they train divers to go down to 40m (~130ft) whereas PADI (and SSI I think) only train divers to go down to 30m (100ft) - though PADI does offer a specialty course that adds that 10m to your certification if you want it.

SSI offers a "Deep Diver" specialty, so your SSI AOW cert can include deep training to 130ft if you so choose. Seems to me like that sort of training should be mandatory for an "advanced" rating. With SSI you could theoretically get your AOW rating with 24 dives of any variety plus Nitrox, Equipment Techniques, Underwater Photography, and Fish ID specialties - none of which require checkout dives, IIRC.

But you can also get your SSI AOW with 24 dives plus Deep, Wreck, UW Navigation, and Stress & Rescue. It's up to the individual to decide if they want to be well trained and prepared, or just get an AOW card to say they have one. That flexibility can be good from the diver's perspective, but makes it harder for anyone to use the SSI AOW cert to objectively determine the skill level of the card holder.

We've chosen to stick with the SSI route because we're dealing with a shop we trust, and our OW instructor (who has become our mentor) is fantastic.

 

[Babydamulag]

Using a "mentor" is the ticket. The instructor should be honored to have a student/customer calling him/her a mentor. Standards are established to provide that kind of atmosphere. Good job!! Always keep 50 bar.

 

[Fabulous]

SSI offers a "Deep Diver" specialty, so your SSI AOW cert can include deep training to 130ft if you so choose. Seems to me like that sort of training should be mandatory for an "advanced" rating. With SSI you could theoretically get your AOW rating with 24 dives of any variety plus Nitrox, Equipment Techniques, Underwater Photography, and Fish ID specialties - none of which require checkout dives, IIRC.

But you can also get your SSI AOW with 24 dives plus Deep, Wreck, UW Navigation, and Stress & Rescue. It's up to the individual to decide if they want to be well trained and prepared, or just get an AOW card to say they have one. That flexibility can be good from the diver's perspective, but makes it harder for anyone to use the SSI AOW cert to objectively determine the skill level of the card holder.

We've chosen to stick with the SSI route because we're dealing with a shop we trust, and our OW instructor (who has become our mentor) is fantastic.

Good information and clarification for someone who is tossing up between a PADI and SSI course at Magnetic Island. I'll choose the SSI advanced course with the more valuable specialties and do some of the shorter courses back home.

 

[mcclete22]

Good points from all. When I signed up with the store I did so becuase alot of people I knew had taken the PADI course from the same shop and they all had good experiences. I called to talk to the owner, and before we talked money he laid out the program, what we would do, what was included. The shop owner was very enthusiastic about diving, and was very friendly. I knew by the wya he acted he would be a good instructor. I think you should definately go in and talk to the instructor, ask him questions. How he acts then is a good indicator of how he will teach.