SSI or PADI

[rsingler]

I am am instructor for both PADI and SSI. I truly enjoy teaching for both. Both follow the international standards, so at a general standards level they are, in fact, identical.

To get to the point quickly...yes. Go to the shop you are comfortable with.

Yet here are some differences:
PADI says, "We have a proven program that has taken a military oriented specialty and made it available to the general public. We do it in baby steps. Lots of baby steps. We tell our instructors, "If you follow our standards, we are behind you 100%." PADI defines to the n'th degree what your performance should be, and they do it well.
But they also note that if you teach MORE than what is in the curriculum, and a student is injured thereafter, they may not be able to defend you. After all, who made YOU the arbiter of what a student at this level should know or be able to perform?

Then, on the other hand, SSI follows exactly the same international standards. But they ostensibly allow their instructors to teach their curriculum in any order they feel appropriate. That's something PADI says is unacceptable: you have to build on what you learned before! And PADI is right, in many ways. Still, it's nice, as an instructor, to be able to recognize that you just can't accomplish what PADI wants you to accomplish on any given weekend and still meet standards, and to alter the order of training to meet your local practice and dive conditions.
And there are things that are in the SSI curriculum that are not in PADI. For example, on an emergency buoyant ascent (which PADI doesn't even teach, as opposed to a CESA), SSI teaches students to have one hand up (on the corrugated hose to vent), and the other on a weight pocket handle to potentially dump weight at the surface. That's a good fine point (for an issue that will hopefully never occur).

Edit: AOW Diver in PADI? An experiential set of introductory training. Edit: AOW Diver in SSI? Four full specialties, with a few more dives under your belt. Does it really matter? Only if you, the diver, cares that it matters.

My point is that I like them both for different reasons. Their electronic curricula are different, but similar. SSI has better graphics and theoretical explanations, and PADI has more detail.
SSI has better electronic integration, and PADI has a more reliable e-system.

So with those differences, it all comes down to what we noted before: go to the place that feels better.

Either way, when you show an e-card at a dive boat, they'll both be accepted.

My 2¢.

 

[boulderjohn]

Both follow the international standards, so at a general standards level they are, in fact, identical.

Is that really true now?

The RSTC standards have not changed in many years, and I know there was a time that the two followed thoe standards precisely; Those are minimum standards, though. About 5 years ago PADI changed its standards significantly by adding many new requirements.. Did SSI make the ame additions?

 

[rsingler]

Is that really true now?

The RSTC standards have not changed in many years, and I know there was a time that the two followed thoe standards precisely; Those are minimum standards, though. About 5 years ago PADI changed its standards significantly by adding many new requirements.. Did SSI make the ame additions?

John,
You've been teaching far longer than I, and I can't even speak to technical instruction between the two agencies. Perhaps you can comment on some of the changes that are not in the RSTC, that PADI implemented.
If we walk through the OW Diver requirements step by step and compare the two programs, there's very little difference that I can see.

- SSI doesn't mandate PADI's Low Pressure Inflator malfunction release, but I am allowed to add that to my curriculum.
- SSI doesn't mandate training for a loose cylinder band, but again, I can add that to confined water training.
- PADI doesn't include the beginning Rescue Skill "Approach to the Diver In Distress", thought they talk briefly about it. But they would not be happy with my adding that skill training to OWSD.
- SSI emphasizes the Emergency Buoyant ascent with flare while PADI focuses on the CESA.

But when it comes to snorkel training, neutral buoyancy, breath control, mask flood and remove and replace, no-mask swims, equipment remove and replace at surface and U/W, SMB deployment, reg recovery, freeflow regulator, etc., etc., the two are pretty much identical. As I noted earlier, PADI goes into much greater detail in describing proper Instructor technique, and this has a significant advantage for the training of Zero to Hero Instructors: they have a detailed reference to refer to, while SSI is more mentor-dependent. But even there, SSI's Instructor Manual is big and thick, just like PADI's. SSI doesn't have a Guide To Teaching, for general and philosophical advice, but some of the concepts are included in the IM. PADI is clearly better there.

In Open Water training, there are a few more differences.
- I dislike that there is no set technique for the pre-dive buddy check in SSI. They cover all the pieces, but not in a memorizable fashion.
- SSI seems to recognize the dilemma faced by Instructors who teach small classes alone: you can't both maintain control of your 2-person class and do an open water CESA. The Emergency Swimming Ascent is recommended, but optional in the ocean, with a note that "The Instructor should not conduct this exercise if they cannot maintain control of their entire class during the exercise..." That said, not doing an open water CESA is a deficiency, in my mind. It's an important mental hurdle for many students. And the sense of accomplishment after completing it is a great motivator for new students.
- SSI actually includes an optional section on calculating SAC during OW Dive #4, including the formula for calculating it.
- PADI is much more prescriptive when it comes to mnemonics for critical skills: BWRAF, 5 pt Ascent/Descent.
- EDIT: PADI allows primary or alternate OOA donate; SSI is either, but recommends primary donate.

Again, beyond these differences, they require the same set of skills: progressive descents from controlled to visual; progressive flooding; reg recovery; air sharing; sharing ascent; simple compass navigation.

It's a good question. I don't have the history as an instructor to know first-hand what changes both systems have made, and what new pieces SSI might lack in their curriculum. But at a beginning diver level, I feel both systems to be very comparable.

 

[boulderjohn]

PADI added a lot of skills a few years ago that you did not mention, including as only two examples the surface weight release and the MB deployment. In the OW, the students are required to dive #4 as an independently planned and executed dive, with the instructor only intervening if needed. Trim is supposed to be taught in addition to proper weighting. Thse are off the toop of my head--I don't have a lot of time.

- PADI is an alternate donate; SSI is either, but recommends primary donate.

This is not true. PADI does not dictate the methodology used to secure an air source in the OOA emergency. Any of the normal methods is acceptable.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The card that most operators care about is a VISA or MasterCard. Maybe American Express.

 

[rsingler]

PADI added a lot of skills a few years ago that you did not mention, including as only two examples the surface weight release and the MB deployment. In the OW, the students are required to dive #4 as an independently planned and executed dive, with the instructor only intervening if needed. Trim is supposed to be taught in addition to proper weighting. Thse are off the toop of my head--I don't have a lot of time.

This is not true. PADI does not dictate the methodology used to secure an air source in the OOA emergency. Any of the normal methods is acceptable.

You're absolutely right. I acknowledge that PADI permits primary donate. I'll edit my post. But a friend's PADI OW instructor wouldn't teach her with a 40" hose, and insisted on PADI's textbook configuration. Whether or not it's in standards, not a few shops and instructors have interpreted their pictures as "rules." My pointing out that the standards allow different equipment configurations didn't make them budge.

Good point about OW Dive #4, too. +1 for PADI on that!

As for trim, SMB and surface weight release, I was unaware of them as recent additions, though as I think back to my own training, you're certainly right about that. As new additions that may not be in the RSTC standards, both SSI and PADI include them, which was my primary point. I think that in at least these two systems, the curriculum is comparable, with differences as noted. I am happy with my association with both programs.

 

[spc751]

My experience with SSI vs PADI is that with an SSI instructor says "keep trying you will figure it out". A PADI instructor says "I see why you are having difficulty, try doing it this way".

 

[Trace Malinowski]

@Jim Lapenta is correct. PADI, NAUI, and SSI are the three most recognizable names in North American diving (including the Caribbean which is part of North America for those who have forgotten 5th grade geography). You'll never impress a shop owner with a C-card. Generally, the more elite your C-card, the less liked you'll be. There is nothing like a nice respectable low-level C-card that screams, "Sell me the next course!" along with the familiar sound of a durable plastic credit card leaving the wallet to make you the shop's new best friend.

 

[Scuba Scott]

...But a friend's PADI OW instructor wouldn't teach her with a 40" hose, and insisted on PADI's textbook configuration. Whether or not it's in standards, not a few shops and instructors have interpreted their pictures as "rules." My pointing out that the standards allow different equipment configurations didn't make them budge.

That is an instructor problem, not a PADI problem. I know because I checked with PADI and received verification I am good to go teaching long hose, primary donate, neutrally buoyant, necklaced backup, backplate, etc and long as the equipment is safe and serviceable (and I know what I am doing in that config.) Pretty much everything I have seen mentioned as a failure of PADI is really just because an instructor chooses to teach to the minimums so again, we have the issue of "it's the instructor, not the agency". Of course you have to know a little about your student. You have to teach them gear they will be using. Nothing wrong with teaching more than one configuration.

Yes, PADI still requires the CESA.

 

[soder3]

In my OWD class wit SSI they taught both smb and surface weight release (and putting it back on). Those skilled had to be passed both in confined and open water.