Worth still doing Peak Performance Buoyancy after AOW?

[VikingDives]

It could be worthwhile if the instructor knows/cares about what they are doing. I'd say that'd be the exception, not the rule amongst instructors that teach PPB. Fundies or UTD essentials are probably the only classes you could take where you'd guarantee, sight unseen, to get buoyancy dialed in.

All that being said, what everyone above said will help. Go to a pool and have a buddy video you. Adjust your own weights for proper trim. Practice hovering motionless, etc.

I'd talk to an instructor and see if they can work with you in the pool if I were you. That should cost less, and get you further.

 

[jadairiii]

Find a GUE instructor and take fundies. Here is my daughter, day 4 of her GUE Rec 1 class (GUE's basic scuba class), she had never been in the water with Scuba in her life. I find it such a rip off that there are still scuba classes that require you to immediately take additional scuba classes after completion just to have functional skills.

FYI, to pass her Rec1 class she had to hold that position while shooting an SMB to the surface and having her buddy on her long hose. You get what you pay for.

 

[Dody]

Find a GUE instructor and take fundies. Here is my daughter, day 4 of her GUE Rec 1 class (GUE's basic scuba class), she had never been in the water with Scuba in her life. I find it such a rip off that there are still scuba classes that require you to immediately take additional scuba classes after completion just to have functional skills.

FYI, to pass her Rec1 class she had to hold that position while shooting an SMB to the surface and having her buddy on her long hose. You get what you pay for.

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.

 

[Centrals]

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.

Money could be spent on something a lot more practical eg diving.
I consider both OW and AOW very important because most of the fundamental/knowledge skills are being taught. The only issue is the instructor and time. I am glad I did not have this problem because both classes were small ie. 2 students. And I did both separately aboard so plenty of time to ask questions and even practiced.

 

[rduquesnoy]

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.

You can't really compare Fundies to OW. Fundies is designed for people with already (some) experience that want to improve their skills or, like myself, see it as the first step into technical diving. I also don't see how OW + buoyancy + AOW can be a lot less expensive then Fundies or Rec 1 (but prove me wrong ).

A GUE class is not necessary to become a good diver, I believe it has less to do with the agency and more with finding a good instructor.

 

[jadairiii]

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.

I really doubt that when you add up all the costs with the "add-on's" and time invested that fundies is any more expensive than taking 3 classes and hoping that you are at the same skill level as my daughter was after one class.

Money could be spent on something a lot more practical eg diving.

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.

 

[Marie13]

I really doubt that when you add up all the costs with the "add-on's" and time invested that fundies is any more expensive than taking 3 classes and hoping that you are at the same skill level as my daughter was after one class.

A friend did Fundies a couple of years ago with an instructor that came in from out of town at a dive location about 90 minutes away. All costs in USD. $600 for class fee, IIRC. About $1K for other stuff like lodging (everyone shared a house), food, fills, some gear add ons. Plus four days of vacation time. So $1600.

Any recreational classes done at the local dive site won’t require you to take the time off work (classes on weekends), lodging if you don’t mind driving 3 hours round trip each day, can do class in rental gear or stuff you already have.

Edit: maybe it was 5 days? Can’t remember.

 

[tursiops]

It could be worthwhile if the instructor knows/cares about what they are doing. I'd say that'd be the exception, not the rule amongst instructors that teach PPB.

I'd say you are denigrating a ton of instructors.

 

[rddvet]

I would be very hesitant to take a peak performance buoyancy class through a major agency like PADI. Most of the instructors that teach them don't have good buoyancy skills themselves. If you can find a highly regarded, quality instructor it may be worth it. Unfortunately, that's not always easy to come by and often people pick instructors they think have great buoyancy, but in reality don't. I've got a couple PADI instructor friends who teach it and I have seen a ton of students on their 2nd day of a cavern class with better buoyancy and trim.
The reason fundies gets recommended so much is both the quality of the instruction and the oversight by the training organization. An agency like PADI doesn't care what you do after you become an instructor for a certain class as long as you're following minimum standards and not killing people. With GUE, there is oversight on all instructors over time and the standards they must abide are unable to even be compared to a PADI. As for the comment that fundies is overpriced, it's not. It's 5 completely full days of learning and GUE sets the maximum an instructor can charge for that class. So it's standardized.
I would wager that most people learn more from fundies than they do from OW and AOW.

 

[jadairiii]

A friend did Fundies a couple of years ago with an instructor that came in from out of town at a dive location about 90 minutes away. All costs in USD. $600 for class fee, IIRC. About $1K for other stuff like lodging (everyone shared a house), food, fills, some gear add ons. Plus four days of vacation time. So $1600.

Any recreational classes done at the local dive site won’t require you to take the time off work (classes on weekends), lodging if you don’t mind driving 3 hours round trip each day, can do class in rental gear or stuff you already have.

Edit: maybe it was 5 days? Can’t remember.

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".