Best Price for PADI Rescue Diver Certification in Dallas Area

[nelsonj8]

I've been looking around for rescue diver classes in the metroplex and it seems that most courses I've found online are 300 dollars and up. Is that the going rate everywhere?

I'm working towards master diver or dive master (haven't decided yet) and would like to get best package deal that I can for all the certifications I need. Currently I am advanced certified with a nitrox and whale shark specialty certification.

Any suggestions out there??

Thanks in advance

 

[driftwood]

If you are current on your EFR, call it $250 for the Padi class in Austin. Rates vary between $185 and $250 depending on the certifying agency in the Austin area.

Quick question you should ask yourself, Master Diver and Dive Master are two different paths.

I see Master Diver as a dead end collection of cert cards and Dive Master as the entry level of being a professional diver. Looked at both and decided to spend my money on more diving. The killer for me going the Dive Master route was the requirement of liability insurance. Coming from a real estate background, once a pro always a pro. Hence the need for for insurance.

I think most divers would benefit from a rescue/stress and recovery/.... class and pick up either the Dive Master/Dive Con books and go through them just like you were taking the class.

 

[Cap335]

You will probably be better off to go face to face with the local shops to get a good price. I know I would be more likly to deal on a package with someone in person.

 

[Steve_C]

You wanting a card or to learn the most. There is not a direct correlation between cost and quality but I think you would be better off hunting around and go with the one that will give you the best instruction. The actual instruction you get for a given cert can vary greatly from one instructor to another. Some do the min. Some offer more.

 

[lsorenson]

I think you would be better off finding out who is the best instructor is regardless the agency!!! But this is just my thoughts...!

lee

---------- Post added February 8th, 2014 at 10:16 PM ----------

LOL... words right out of my mouth Steve...!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The last thing I would list as a requirement for a rescue class is lowest cost. Nice if it is but that's all it would be.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[nelsonj8]

I am pretty much doing this for the card. I have a friend that is an inactive divemaster that I learn the most from. I have refined my skills with him in buoyancy, navigation and most recently shooting SMBs. So what I learn and read about I usually reinforce with him and other dive masters I destination dive with.

That being said, I found one for 175 and 50 for EFR. Is that a good rate? Based on driftwood's range I'm thinking that's as good as I am going to find.

My motivation is to be an assistant instructor and maybe eventually instructor to make some money on the side. I just want a reason to dive every other weekend in Texas and enjoy teaching. Are there shops that recognize you are going to do multiple certs and give you a package deal for all of them up front? Just want to get the most for my money.

Thanks for the responses thus far

 

[lsorenson]

I guess the joke is on me... Must be a slow day...!!!

I am pretty much doing this for the card. I have a friend that is an inactive divemaster that I learn the most from. I have refined my skills with him in buoyancy, navigation and most recently shooting SMBs. So what I learn and read about I usually reinforce with him and other dive masters I destination dive with.

That being said, I found one for 175 and 50 for EFR. Is that a good rate? Based on driftwood's range I'm thinking that's as good as I am going to find.

My motivation is to be an assistant instructor and maybe eventually instructor to make some money on the side. I just want a reason to dive every other weekend in Texas and enjoy teaching. Are there shops that recognize you are going to do multiple certs and give you a package deal for all of them up front? Just want to get the most for my money.

Thanks for the responses thus far

 

[divezonescuba]

If you are planning on going further than rescue, getting good rescue instruction is way more important than price. In the PADI divemaster, assistant instructor, and instructor courses you will have to do rescue skills over and over again. If you learn them poorly to start, you will be fighting your poor skills all the way through.

Since we have no dog in this fight, here is one thing that you might look for. Find an instructor that uses dummies instead of exclusively live divers for some of the exercises and scenarios. The dummy allows you to do things that are more realistic. For example a dummy can stay on the bottom without tell tale bubbles in the case of an out of air search and recovery exercise and scenario.

Similarly, you can subject a dummy to a lot more learning than you can with a live person during the non-responsive surface exercise #7. A live "victim", class member or not may not be willing to be subjected to being a "victim" after repeating the exercise as many times as might be necessary with multiple students.

You also don't have as many objections to lip locking the dummy as you do with live students. There's a difference between pretending to giving rescue breaths and really doing it.

That is not to say that you should not also have live "victims", but also having dummies provides another dimension to the training that you can't get with only live "victims".

 

[Mike]

Dang, guy wants the cheapest instruction he can find cause he is going to get the knowledge from somebody unqualified, and then he plans on being the teacher to others later on... sounds like a nasty downward spiral to the bottom... G.I.G.O.