Which agency publishes the best manuals?

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

If you were to do all your training with one agency and the manuals were the only means (no instructor, no videos, no classroom, just read the manual and do the dive) then which agency would you prefer?

Some points in the grading criteria could be:

Quality of text
Diagrams and photographs
Overall breakdown of the curriculum from OW to Advanced Trimix (or Master Diver etc)
Are tables present in the book or do you need to purchase them separately?

Anything else that I have missed but is important to you.

Thanks -

Sinbad

 

[JohnnyC]

Honestly, PADI probably puts the most into their material. Now you can argue against their standards, but if you're just basing it off the quality and completeness of their instructional material, they can't be beat.

I took AN/DP and XR through TDI, one of the manuals was their new one, and aside from falling apart, it was just ok. The other was still spiral bound.....

My IANTD cave diving manual is one of the worst. It looks like it was written in the 80's. It still has Tom's chakra chapter. Sorry, I'm not aligning my crystals with the proper vortices in Sedona, AZ just so I can dive a cave in Mexico.

 

[toby43]

If you were to do all your training with one agency and the manuals were the only means (no instructor, no videos, no classroom, just read the manual and do the dive) then which agency would you prefer?

Some points in the grading criteria could be:

Quality of text
Diagrams and photographs
Overall breakdown of the curriculum from OW to Advanced Trimix (or Master Diver etc)
Are tables present in the book or do you need to purchase them separately?

Anything else that I have missed but is important to you.

Thanks -

Sinbad

Its not the agency, its the manual...

 

[BoltSnap]

No such thing in the dive industry at all. Some have "pretty" books with no substance and others have crappy looking material with archaic text.

 

[toby43]

No such thing in the dive industry at all. Some have "pretty" books with no substance and others have crappy looking material with archaic text.

I think you should say what you really think...

 

[oya]

The TDI manuals that Steve Lewis wrote were the greatest. Friggin hilarious!
@Doppler

 

[Wookie]

Honestly, PADI probably puts the most into their material. Now you can argue against their standards, but if you're just basing it off the quality and completeness of their instructional material, they can't be beat.

I took AN/DP and XR through TDI, one of the manuals was their new one, and aside from falling apart, it was just ok. The other was still spiral bound.....

My IANTD cave diving manual is one of the worst. It looks like it was written in the 80's. It still has Tom's chakra chapter. Sorry, I'm not aligning my crystals with the proper vortices in Sedona, AZ just so I can dive a cave in Mexico.

I agree with all of this. Based on your criteria, PADI manuals are the closest to filling the bill. Boring as hell, but they will do what you want. Now, manuals written by Doppler for TDI, by Bret Gilliam for TDI/SDI, and by Harry Averell for just about anyone have much more personality and are interesting to read, and you might learn something. But within your limits, it's PADI for the win.

 

[toby43]

I agree with all of this. Based on your criteria, PADI manuals are the closest to filling the bill. Boring as hell, but they will do what you want. Now, manuals written by Doppler for TDI, by Bret Gilliam for TDI/SDI, and by Harry Averell for just about anyone have much more personality and are interesting to read, and you might learn something. But within your limits, it's PADI for the win.

You HAVE to read Bret Gilliam on deep air I think in Deco Pro manual. Outstanding.

 

[RyanT]

My old PADI manuals (OW, AOW, Rescue) were about the best I've seen. The newer ones may be good, but in flipping through them, they now have so much extraneous stuff crammed in that they read like they were written by an ADHD kid hyped up on too much sugar. My NAUI Nitrox manual from the late 90's or so was one of the best I've seen. Clean, well written, excellent diagrams and tables. The newest manuals I have are TDIs Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures (not written by Brett Gilliam). Both of those are really terrible.

 

[northernone]

UnderwaterDive Instructors and Explorers has extraordinary training.

Seriously now, anything by Steve Lewis I've got my hands on is amazing. Readable, no fluff and with deep content to build on later.

I am on the padi wagon but embarrassed to show the vacation styled manuals to people who are educators or professionals in their personal life.

Regards,
Cameron