Worth still doing Peak Performance Buoyancy after AOW?

[Centrals]

Problem with that thought is that most people don't really get any "better", skill wise, with just doing more dives. Most just reinforce their already bad habits.

Instructor is the issue.
There are competent instructors everywhere.
I must be very lucky.

 

[Marie13]

So I took the time to check this out. Now, understand, the prices I am quoting from doing a very short internet search, are all about in the "ball park" price wise, some a bit more, some a bit less. And this is in Ft Lauderdale, where a lot of the "open water" dives are from the beach, which saves the diver the cost of the boat dives. Most shops included "everything" in basic open water certification, after that, materials, boat trips, and gear were all extra, so the prices I am quoting are for the class itself, pool sessions (if any) and beach dives:

$695.00 - Basic PADI Course, live instructor, with 1 boat trip (beach dives are “free”)
$705.00 - AOW – does not include rental gear, (not clear if boat trip is included)
$175.00 - Peak Performance plus course materials and rental gear (boat trips not included)

All GUE classes will certify you in Nitrox, PADI does not, so that is an addition fee, of about $150.00.

By my calculation, to get to where GUE Rec 1 or Fundies will get you, you will have invested about $1,700.00 +, not including transportation costs of getting yourself there.

I did find one shop in Ft Lauderdale that had a basic PADI class for $179.00, all "inclusive". Again, you get what you pay for.

Let me know if these prices are "way off". I did think the AOW was a tad high, but all the cheaper quotes I could find were silent as to what was "not included".

I wasn’t putting GUE Rec 1 against OW/AOW/Nitrox. It was Fundies against specialties like PPB since people were saying the OP should take Fundies instead of PPB as that’s what the OP was asking about.

In the Midwest, you’re essentially telling someone to spend approximately $1600 and give up a week of vacation time vs a weekend (PPB is probably one day) class that costs maybe $250 at the most. If someone only gets two weeks vacation time a year, that’s a tough pill to swallow, in addition to the cost.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

You should be able to, at the minimum, perform all open water skills from a hovering position in open water. Perfect buoyancy comes from practice. Good luck. Once you get it, its a game changer.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Others believe that even though GUE fundies is top quality, the price is a rip-off. It is often more expensive than regular OW + buyoancy +AOW. And not everyone can pay it at once.

My fundies course was 4 days, $800. $200/day for quality training. That is perfectly reasonable.

People often get fixated on price, but don't factor in value. I spend thousands on various con ed courses that were simple ticking of check boxes. Instructors typically told me "do this" and I would. They rarely taught me anything. I could have just taken the instructor and student manuals and taught myself and saved myself a lot of money and hassle.

As an instructor, while I was going in that direction anyway (thanks mostly to people with whom I interracted here on scubaboard), fundies changed how I taught as well as dive in a big way.

To me, fundies is a freaking bargain due to the value. Had I taken that after open water instead of these poorly taught con ed courses, I would have saved thousands.

 

[BlueTrin]

Personally, I found my fundies class expensive before to do it, then after doing it I found it incredibly good value.

It actually saved me time.

I only wished I could have split it in 2: it was too much to absorb for me in one go.

 

[Marie13]

You guys are not being practical OR realistic. I get the impression the OP is just your basic recreational diver. Maybe has some local diving. Didn’t mention anything about tech aspirations.

Fundies vs PPB vs time with an instructor? Which do you really think he would likely do?

 

[rddvet]

I love when things devolve into what’s cost effective or cheaper. That’s not the metric to go by. Spending $1600 for fundies will sure as he’ll be better money spent than taking aow and peak buoyancy

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

You guys are not being practical OR realistic. I get the impression the OP is just your basic recreational diver. Maybe has some local diving. Didn’t mention anything about tech aspirations.

Fundies vs PPB vs time with an instructor? Which do you really think he would likely do?

Fundies is a recreational dive course. It has value unlike PPB. The OP can find an instructor who teaches at or near that level, but do they know how to flush out the instructors who talk out of their a**es?

 

[BlueTrin]

You guys are not being practical OR realistic. I get the impression the OP is just your basic recreational diver. Maybe has some local diving. Didn’t mention anything about tech aspirations.

Fundies vs PPB vs time with an instructor? Which do you really think he would likely do?

But then you don’t really need to do a specific class if you find the right instructor: personally I have booked with an instructor just a day of 1 to 1 to improve my trim and buoyancy and that wasn’t in any kind of class.

In the end it comes down to finding a good instructor and the problem is that when I was at that point, I would not be able to know what qualifies a good instructor.

It’s not an easy one

 

[Marie13]

OP, just go dive. Work with a buddy in a pool or shallow dive site having buddy video you to see if things need tweaking. Otherwise, work with a local instructor.