Training System: PADI vs. TDI

[Diver0001]

Well.... I'm sure the instructor has a lot to do with the quality of the course but a big part of me would prefer to take an "advanced" wreck penetration course from a thoroughly technical agency. PADI and TDI grew from very different roots and intuitively (and perhaps irrationally) I would trust TDI's methods more.

I don't know if that's rational at all. It's just an opinion.

R..

 

[jadairiii]

Prior to any tech training......Rescue, Nav, Wreck, Deep, Nitrox, Self-Reliant Diver, and DEMP (DAN) certifications ....will all be acquired...

Or, you could take a GUE Fundamentals course, saving money and time.

The "Self-Reliant Diver" is pretty funny. You just made that one up, right?

 

[Diver0001]

Or, you could take a GUE Fundamentals course, saving money and time.

The "Self-Reliant Diver" is pretty funny. You just made that one up, right?

GUE fundamentals covers certain topics in depth but the courses he listed cover a lot broader development than he could get from fundamentals alone.

It's comparing apples and oranges. You may find your apple delicious, but it's never going to be an orange.

R..

 

[Hawkwood]

...The "Self-Reliant Diver" is pretty funny. You just made that one up, right?

Why do you say that?

 

[boulderjohn]

Well.... I'm sure the instructor has a lot to do with the quality of the course but a big part of me would prefer to take an "advanced" wreck penetration course from a thoroughly technical agency. PADI and TDI grew from very different roots and intuitively (and perhaps irrationally) I would trust TDI's methods more.

I don't know if that's rational at all. It's just an opinion.

R..

I would think be that most PADI technical instructors have wide backgrounds in how they reached that point in their lives. The same is true of most technical instructors I know. I myself have technical training from 5 agencies. The PADI program is only new in that it is their name. It was called DSAT before PADI took it over.

Here is just a bit from my own experience.

1. My own original tech experience was through TDI. The instructor made it clear from the start that he had GUE/DIR training and we would be following the GUE curriculum instead of the TDI curriculum. After a while he said that we had finished TDI standards a while ago, but he was going by the standards of a more advanced GUE course and would not be certifying us for TDI until we completed those GUE requirements. Frustrated, I contacted TDI and learned they had no problems with that at all.

2. I crossed over to UTD for a while with their strict DIR approach, after which I went back to TDI to complete my trimix training with a different instructor in a different state. He had no idea what the GUE or UTD curriculum was. He did not know squat about DIR and didn't care. We did the TDI curriculum strictly.

3. I later spent several days in Cozumel tagging along with a PADI trimix class. (I saved a lot of money that way.) Although the instruction was by no means strictly DIR in its approach, and the instructor actually made some jokes about it, it was much more DIR in its attitudes and requirements than my advanced TDI courses. It was extremely thorough.

4. When I got my cave training from NSS-CDS, I also got a PADI Cave Diver certification, which many people do not know even exists. The requirements were just about the same as for NSS-CDS. That instructor could have given me certifications from a variety of agencies.

Consequently, I really think you have to go with the instructor more than the agency in this case.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

Or, you could take a GUE Fundamentals course, saving money and time.

This is the first time I've seen a GUE course recommended with the benefit of saving money. I'm intrigued.

 

[koozemani]

The "Self-Reliant Diver" is pretty funny. You just made that one up, right?

no, i'm pretty sure its a thing.

 

[rongoodman]

I think it's the PADI equivalent to the SDI Solo Diver cert.

 

[mathauck0814]

Last I checked, fundies didn't cover depths to 200 feet or overhead environments.

 

[jadairiii]

Last I checked, fundies didn't cover depths to 200 feet or overhead environments.

Thanks, but maybe next time read the guy's post. He has yet to take even a nitrox course (which I will point out also does not prepare him for depths of 200')

Fundies will give him all the building blocks in one course to achieve his ultimate goals. That simple. It will teach him the trim he will need at 200' (avoid silt), the multiple kicks he will use in a wreck @ 200, a great foundation on decompression, rescue, nitrox, standard gas for all depths (and why) and more. Then when ready he can add is tech pass using doubles and canister light. The only "new" skill he will need then for mix will be using deco bottles but with that foundation, it will be simple. Teaching someone trimix takes all of about 20 min if they can count to 10 on their fingers.

I guess the only downside is that after his tech pass (or even a rec pass) when he shows up for his TDI or PADI trimix class he will have much better skills than the instructor.

Perfect example was last month I did a dive with an out of town full mix/full cave diver and a GUE Rec 1 diver (maybe 20 dives under her belt), we dove as a team on some shallow reefs. Afterward when talking to the mix guy he asked why we did not use scooters (which we have plenty of). I explained that our other member was a brand new diver, he was shocked, thought she had been diving for years. What is that worth? When was the last time you ever had a full mix/cave diver say that about a brand new PADI diver?