Cheap PADI OW Certification

[Nathan Doty]

And I don't get why it's so high in Cozumel. I can get an OW cert from a good dive shop in Austin for $325.

Tourist prices.

 

[NAM001]

I cant say what it is now but 5 years ago it was 125-175 plus materials and card. Unfortunately we are in a fiscal society that says we need to be competitive priced. Just another BS saying for every one lock your prices inline with each other to avoid competition. personally if you look at what you get for our buck OW is terrible over priced. It is a course that is treated like gettng a kidney transplant. the cost is based on what is it worth to you. Its the glass of water at the water stand in the middle of the sahara and no other source for 50 miles. Other comparisons could be the Epi pen fiasco. you are not selling skills you are selling the card to get air. there is nothing difficult about OW that warrants prices like 400$. I do understand pricing along the lines of greater of x per person or 1000 per class. Especially overprices when the class is bare bones minimum required training. For the most part I cant imagine an instructor holding back to absolute minimum course content depending on area. There are instructors that pride themselves on putting out students that have understanding and ther are others that put out students that have jumped through the hoops. In reality what is there to a OW class. clear a mask do a cesa retrieve a reg demonstrate you can ascend while breathing and manual inflate a BC. The rest is watching DVD's and ability to take a test. There is no science left in it. Im not even sure charles boyle and the rest of the boys are important any more.

 

[Nathan Doty]

The cheapest I've found online is about $400 at 2 Tank Hostel.



They live and work in Cozumel. Normal, average jobs/wages. $400 is still a lot to them.

They need to stick to snorkeling tbh. Throw extra $$$ into a jar. Even if they get certs they need gear, they need air... gear rental adds up. Buying gear can add up. Maintaining your own gear...

Get a good mask, get a good pair of fins, get a good snorkle, have fun. Make sure they get scuba rated stuff and they can use it once they start diving and they're off and running.

 

[Efka76]

I see that some people here do not understand basic principles of economy. OW courses are commodity (yes, commodity, admit that for yourself) and many dive shops offer them in Cozumel, Philippines, Thailand, around the world. In many places prices are fixed and depend entirely on location. For example, in Boracay, Philippines, all dive shops offer the same price and nobody makes any discounts. The same with Cozumel. It has many relatively rich tourists from US and this drives scuba diving prices up. That's why OW courses in Coz or Ph, could be more expensive comparing to better developed countries where scuba diving is not so popular. Also, if you pay less, that does not mean that you get worse training. I and my wife paid fixed price but our OW training was "personal" as instructor had me and my wife only and spent with us 6 days instead of 4. We were very happy with services that we received.

Many dive instructors here like to say that you get what you are paying for I always smile when I hear such statement. This can be true if you are world known instructor and usually teach some specialized courses of TDI, RAID, GUE. When I took my TDI courses I made a very thorough research on instructors, however, when I took OW course my criteria were absolutely different: I wanted to take course in PADI 5 star diving center (did not know what it means but sounded serious.... I had even mental association with 5 star hotel, which provides superb services) which had many positive reviews in trip advisor. I am pretty sure the same happens with many beginner divers.

Regarding OW courses in Coz: YOur friends already live in Coz and can save significant costs as they do not require to travel to some country, pay for expensive ticket and hotel. They could just simply shop around, and go with any dive shop which provides them good value for money.

 

[eelnoraa]

Now that you've asked....yes, I do think there is a correlation...not perfect, but it is there, like with cars and food ub and houses and....pretty much everything. If you guys don't think so, do you subscribe to, "You don't get what you don't pay for."?

I do agree with tursiops here to some extent. The most expansive course doesn't necessarily give the best training, but in general the cheapest will most likely be in the lower quality size. Why? Because good training involvez time spent with instructor. Instructor's time is cost. There is no way around it.

 

[Nathan Doty]

I cant say what it is now but 5 years ago it was 125-175 plus materials and card. Unfortunately we are in a fiscal society that says we need to be competitive priced. Just another BS saying for every one lock your prices inline with each other to avoid competition. personally if you look at what you get for our buck OW is terrible over priced. It is a course that is treated like gettng a kidney transplant. the cost is based on what is it worth to you. Its the glass of water at the water stand in the middle of the sahara and no other source for 50 miles. Other comparisons could be the Epi pen fiasco. you are not selling skills you are selling the card to get air. there is nothing difficult about OW that warrants prices like 400$. I do understand pricing along the lines of greater of x per person or 1000 per class. Especially overprices when the class is bare bones minimum required training. For the most part I cant imagine an instructor holding back to absolute minimum course content depending on area. There are instructors that pride themselves on putting out students that have understanding and ther are others that put out students that have jumped through the hoops. In reality what is there to a OW class. clear a mask do a cesa retrieve a reg demonstrate you can ascend while breathing and manual inflate a BC. The rest is watching DVD's and ability to take a test. There is no science left in it. Im not even sure charles boyle and the rest of the boys are important any more.

I did mine 3 years ago, mask clearing, remove and replace under water, locating and purging your reg . Buddy breathing, remove and replace bcd, weights, emergency ascent, basic hand signals, dive the computer... 2 classes per week, watch the DVD and take a test. All skills in the pool and demonstrated in the ocean during checkout dives. The really wasn't much to it.

 

[ggunn]

I see that some people here do not understand basic principles of economy.

Wow. Could you be a little more condescending?

 

[DandyDon]

And I don't get why it's so high in Cozumel. I can get an OW cert from a good dive shop in Austin for $325.

The Austin shop hopes that you'll spend a lot on gear with them if you get hooked.

 

[Carlos Diver]

Why would you want to do something cheap that is a risk behavior? Granted, diving isnt exactly ``hard'' but doing it wrong can be deadly. Pay the money and do it right.

Side note, I got certified in the Florida Keys (Big Pine Key to be exact) in July of 1994 for $210. The first and only time I ever got to dive with my dad. Somethings money just cant replace.

 

[DandyDon]

Why would you want to do something cheap that is a risk behavior?

Because she is a Cozumel native who probably doesn't make much, but still wants to dive with her BF who we presume is an experienced diver to have a buddy.