Best Certification Agency?

[MXGratefulDiver]

Agency standards are not all posted online ... in fact, most of the "major" agencies don't do that, because they then wouldn't be able to charge their instructors significant coin for a copy of the standards.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

A number of agencies are members of the WRSTC and agree to meet or exceed a specified set of standards for certain courses. Those standards are here: WRSTC Downloads

I believe you will find that most of the members are pretty close to those standards. The one agency I know well is PADI, which used to adhere to them pretty well but has recently made a number of additions to their standards, meaning that they will exceed them when fully implemented. They are being implemented in the U.S. this year, and the rest of the PADI world will follow in the near future.

 

[alewar]

Agency standards are not all posted online ... in fact, most of the "major" agencies don't do that, because they then wouldn't be able to charge their instructors significant coin for a copy of the standards.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

At least GUE and CMAS do post their standards online:

One Star Diver Training Programme

Recreational Diver 1 Standard

I guess with a little effort you can also find the standards of other agencies online, even if not from the official source.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

At least GUE and CMAS do post their standards online:

One Star Diver Training Programme

Recreational Diver 1 Standard

I guess with a little effort you can also find the standards of other agencies online, even if not from the official source.

The last time that happened, PADI sued both the guy who posted them and the forum that hosted his article ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[alewar]

The last time that happened, PADI sued both the guy who posted them and the forum that hosted his article ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

That would be reason enough for me to look somewhere else for certification.

 

[mjrob]

Dang. I was hoping by now that someone would have just answered the original question so we'd all know.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Dang. I was hoping by now that someone would have just answered the original question so we'd all know.

... actually, there was no question in the original post ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mjrob]

I musta' misinterpretated that question mark or sumpthin. nevir wuz mush gud at gramir 'n stuf.

 

[scagrotto]

The last time that happened, PADI sued both the guy who posted them and the forum that hosted his article ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Any specific written version can be copyrighted, but the standards themselves can't be protected from dissemination except by not telling anyone else what they are. Was the guy dumb enough to just post a verbatim copy of the standards?

(The) one good thing about the DMCA is that the forum is certainly off the hook. What happened with the case?

 

[gypsyjim]

I musta' misinterpretated that question mark or sumpthin. nevir wuz mush gud at gramir 'n stuf.

Partially true. The only question mark I see is in the title.

First off, I want to start by saying I don't want this to turn into a rivalry thread, if it does, I won't have any issues with a moderator closing/deleting it.

I've seen a lot of people talking bad about one agency or another on the boards, both about the training they offer and about the way they're organized in general. I'm looking to get my AOW soon, and after that I'm hoping to take Nitrox and a few other specialties. I don't have any kind of loyalty to one outfit or another, but I earned my OW through PADI, now that I'm looking into more advanced education, I'd like to hear what you guys think is the best agency out there.

My local shops are both only PADI, and there's only one NAUI place in Montana, I'm not aware of (but haven't exactly looked) any other outfits existing here. Let me know about your good and bad experiences with one agency over another, but like I said, please don't start a war on who's better or worse.

What I like is how the last line of the op's first post is a complete denial of the intentions that the title itself illustrates. The perfect troll.

As in, "what? I didn't mean to start trouble....gas"