Alphabet Soup - whos the best?

[Hocky]

Hi Guys

Can anyone add to the organisations that I have listed here.
I'm just trying to get to grips with all the organisations that are out there and what they offer.Are the qualifactions they offer accepted internationally? Do we really need that many organisations? Who's the best? Who's the worst?

Heres what I have so far:

PADI
CMAS
SSI
SDI
NAUI
NASDS
AUSI
TDI
IANTD
DSAT
BSAC

Are there more?

Thanks

Hocky

 

[Aegir]

YMCA

 

[Dectek]

ymca

beat me to it.

 

[Walter]

...........is opinion. How they differ is factual. I do not have access to the standards of all agencies, so a comparison of them all is impossible. People will tell you all agencies meet the RSTC standards therefore they all have the same standards. This is simply not true. They all meet or EXCEED RSTC standards. An objective look at them will show they are very different regardless of how "alike" people tell you they are. You will find a small % of instructors in all agencies who exceed agency standards and teach a very good class. The vast majority of instructors follow agency standards to the letter. If that instructor's agency has high standards you'll get a good class. If that instructor's agency has standards on the low end, you'll get much less out of your class. None of the agencies are perfect, they could all improve.

There are two major viewpoints on teaching diving. Only you can decide which viewpoint is right for you.

Viewpoint 1.

Diving is fun and easy. It is possible to make the course easy as well if we eliminate skills that might possibly frighten anyone on their first day of class. If too many skills are included it results in task loading which will interfere with a student learning necessary tasks and make them an unsafe diver.

Viewpoint 2.

Diving is fun and easy. It is possible to make the course easy as well if we begin with simple skills and allow plenty of practice time on each skill. Once a simple skill is mastered, other elements are added to the skill allowing plenty of time to practice each element. When those added elements are mastered, still more elements are added in the same manner. By approaching skill development in this manner we are able to teach quite complex skills in a manner that makes it easy for students. Skills that might seem frightening to a student on the first day of class are a logical and easy progression by the time those skills are presented in class. This gives a student confidence and the ability to solve problems without panic.

Some agencies use viewpoint 1, others use viewpoint 2. There are some which fall somewhere in between. There are more than 2 agencies. Most divers are PADI certified. PADI is the largest agency by far. PADI follows viewpoint 1. NAUI & YMCA follow viewpoint 2.

Decide what's best for you, then interview potential instructors. Find out how the instructor teaches. What does that particular instructor include? Agency is merely one factor among many in deciding which course to take, it is not necessarily the most important factor.

For a point by point comparison of the standards of three of them go to http://diverlink.com/newdiver/agencycomparison.htm

For a fairly complete list go to: http://diverlink.com/training/agencies.htm

HTH,

WWW

 

[carlislere]

I think NASE is still around.
RonC.

 

[setohw]

GUE - the DIR people. They do more technical training, but do, I think, offer intro classes about the DIR philosophy.

-Seth

 

[Ed Jewell]

Don't forget PDIC (Professional Dive Instructors Corporation International). They are one of the founding members of the RSTC and are an internationally recognized training agency. By the above discription of Viewpoint 1 vs. Viewpoint 2 of diver certification, PDIC definitly falls within the Version 2 standards.

 

[SubMariner]

With all due respect Walter, both your overview and the "point by point comparison" on Diverlink are entirely subjective.

YOU have a certain opinion about which skills should be taught and how. This in turn colours your conclusions.

However, I *do* aggree with your statement that the person "Decide what's best for [them], then interview potential instructors. Find out how the instructor teaches. What does that particular instructor include? Agency is merely one factor among many in deciding which course to take, it is not necessarily the most important factor."

~SubMariner~

 

[Ladydiver]

Hi Hocky,

There is a compiled list of organizations that do training at LearnScuba.com. Check it out and if you come up with any that aren't on the list, please let me know. I would like to keep the list as up to date as possible.

Also, if you come across any that are on the list but are not in business anymore, let me know about those too.

Cheers,

 

[Walter]

..................and I freely admit both my analysis and conclusions are total subjective. The point by point comparison, OTOH, is totally objective. I went through each agency's standards and listed every single requirement. Then I marked which agencies have which requirement. An agency either requires a topic/skill or it doesn't. You can't get any more objective than that. The value of that topic/skill is open for debate. That is where I get subjective. The NAUI folks always try to ding be because NAUI doesn't require students to run a straight line with a compass. The always point out the recipical course they do require includes a straight course and is more difficult. This is true, but the fact is NAUI does not require a straight course. Do they need one if they require a recipical course? Not in my opinion. My offer to make changes in the comparison if errors are found stands. If you see a mistake, point it out to me and tell me where it is located in the standards, I will fix it pronto.

WWW™