Certification is costly

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Mr. Ed

Contributor
Messages
107
Reaction score
48
Location
13045
# of dives
None - Not Certified
I paid in excess of $800.00 for eLearning, OWC, Drysuit and Nitrox Computer certification. The cost included 4 paid pool sessions. I had to buy a different BCD, Mask and Fins using 3 of the 4 pool sessions without any skills training. I am paying $50.00 for 2 hour weekly pool session not knowing how I have to pay before I can begin open water training.

Not knowing the total cost of pool sessions and the length time it will take is disturbing. It’s like throwing money to the wind not knowing where it will land. Other than this I have no complaints.
 
Maybe is too late now, but a good research up front of an LDS and what is needed for dive courses could have save you some dough ! . We did ours for under $550 each and all we needed to purchase upfront was mask and fins. Everything else was provided free of charge.
 
Cert costs are very location dependent. If you’re in a higher COL area, cert will probably cost more.

Edit - if you’re requiring more pool time for whatever reason, then it’s to be expected that you would pay for it.
 
It's very geographic. Remember also often the shops pay a lot for the pool. Some places up here OW alone is about 1k.

The plus side is the certification is for life.
 
The short answer is yeah. I always laugh when driving by the local shop that says "free scuba lesson". Yeah, 3 thousand dollars later you are ready to dive.

Based on local shop to me published rates, you are in the right ballpark except appear to be paying more for the pool sessions. PADI Open Water Course - Diver Dan's

By the way, they show the eLearning alone is $245.

I'd also not do anything beyond Open Water until after you complete the class and know you like it, but too late for that now.

Depending on where 13045 is, dry suit might be a must.

We also don't know how comfortable you are in the water and why you are doing pool sessions with no skills training.
 
Why were you buying different BCD, mask, and fins? Why were they trying pools sessions when you didn't have the gear squared away? OK, I can understand a little of it, you got a mask that doesn't really work or something like that. At most that should have just blown one pools session, not 3 of them. I'm really struggling to figure how you made it to 3 pools sessions and have not started any skills training.

Out of coursity, what is your geographic location? Drysuits are not typical of most open water classes, but in some places it is. The drysuit itself can be as difficult as the rest of the in water skills. The task loading starts getting exponential, not cumulative.
 
That zip is for Cortland, New York -- which reminded me of a similar thread in August with someone from Cortland, New York: Older guy Certification

@Mr. Ed -- are you the same person as @edhjr? And are there specific challenges that you are having that require extra pool sessions?
 
Why were you buying different BCD, mask, and fins? Why were they trying pools sessions when you didn't have the gear squared away? OK, I can understand a little of it, you got a mask that doesn't really work or something like that. At most that should have just blown one pools session, not 3 of them. I'm really struggling to figure how you made it to 3 pools sessions and have not started any skills training.

Out of coursity, what is your geographic location? Drysuits are not typical of most open water classes, but in some places it is. The drysuit itself can be as difficult as the rest of the in water skills. The task loading starts getting exponential, not cumulative.
Those were also kind of my thoughts. Broncobowsher

Dry suit for OW? ,
Different BCD, mask and fin, then what was wrong with the first set?
You ask for a course plan or skill schedule?
Are you doing this on your own without an instructor?
 
Buying the BCD was probably entirely superfluous. And that one item probably took up roughly half of your total cost right there.
 
Yes, it's expensive. A voluntary undertaken leisure pursuit that's a luxury in the eyes of much of the human populace. If you don't live near local diving, and you rely on airlines to get you to good diving you want to do, you're looking at a few grand/trip.

I, too, wish it were much cheaper. But it's not. And there are a number of other hobby pursuits where a personal set of quality, brand-name gear can run you a big price tag.

Some people confident in their research and careful about what they buy, buy used and save money.

Drysuits can be expensive; most don't use drysuits, but then again, they can open up a world of local diving for some people.

If you want to contain costs, your best long range bet is learning to contain costs on dive trips.

Not knowing the total cost of pool sessions and the length time it will take is disturbing.
This is true, but it's a necessary situation. You don't pay for certification; you pay for training in the attempt to qualify for certification. What if something happens and you don't meet the requirements? It happens, and it happened to me. My '4' open water checkout dives didn't see me meeting the standards; I did follow up checkout dives on a cruise stop in St. Thomas, which did.

If you want to save money, and won't just dive local, when you're ready, start a thread asking about where to go, what you want to do, and how to keep it budget. I can post you trip reports that include budget summaries and estimated total trip costs. A number of people can advise you on cost containment.

Richard.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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