Cost of GUE Fundamentals class?

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vimaldude

Contributor
Messages
162
Reaction score
20
Location
SF Bay Area
# of dives
200 - 499
I was reading some reports about GUE Fundies class and it made me think about taking it. I went to the GUE website and looked at different courses etc but I couldn't find anywhere the listing of fees for these classes. I gather from comments in earlier post that these classes can get expensive.

So besides the $75 registration fee, how much would a GUE Fundie class cost?:huh:

Also, I have about 70 logged dives (25+ dives in Monterey). I am reasonably comfortable in water with average buoyancy skills. Am I ready for this class or should I log some more dives?

Thanks.

Vimal.
 
So besides the $75 registration fee, how much would a GUE Fundie class cost?:huh:

Also, I have about 70 logged dives (25+ dives in Monterey). I am reasonably comfortable in water with average buoyancy skills. Am I ready for this class or should I log some more dives?

I think Fundies is about $500 per student on top of the $75 registration fee. It sounds expensive (and yeah, it's a lot of $$ no matter how you cut it), but if you think about it, you're getting five FULL days of instruction and feedback, often 8am-8pm or later. We worked it out for our class and it was something like $8/hour for the instructor's time. A lot of people say Fundies is the best money they've ever spent on dive education.

70 dives with 25 in Monterey sounds just right. You're probably right in the sweet spot of being experienced enough to get the most out of class, and new enough to not have cemented in a lot of bad habits that need to be unlearned.
 
GUE class prices are set by the individual instructors. So ask the instructor you want to use.
 
I think Fundies is about $500 per student on top of the $75 registration fee. It sounds expensive (and yeah, it's a lot of $$ no matter how you cut it), but if you think about it, you're getting five FULL days of instruction and feedback, often 8am-8pm or later. We worked it out for our class and it was something like $8/hour for the instructor's time. A lot of people say Fundies is the best money they've ever spent on dive education.

70 dives with 25 in Monterey sounds just right. You're probably right in the sweet spot of being experienced enough to get the most out of class, and new enough to not have cemented in a lot of bad habits that need to be unlearned.

I agree that the cost is reasonable for what you get in the class. From the course description, it looks like about 5 times the work in Padi OW.

I need to figure out if my commitment to diving is enough to justify this investment:wink:

Vimal.
 
it looks like about 5 times the work in Padi OW.

That sounds about right, it's very demanding and the standards are quite high (though the focus should definitely be about learning and not passing or failing).

I need to figure out if my commitment to diving is enough to justify this investment:wink:

Definitely! Another option is taking UTD Essentials, which is a very similar class (I took this as well), it was a bit shorter and less $$ (but that also depends on the instructor). The important thing is that both classes teach the same skillset and team diving philosophy.

In the meantime, feel free to ping us with any questions you might have.

Kenn
 
Another option is taking UTD Essentials, which is a very similar class (I took this as well), it was a bit shorter and less $$ (but that also depends on the instructor).

Essentials is not the UTD equivalent of Fundamentals. UTD Rec 2 is a much closer (nitrox, SMB deployment, pass/fail, more than two days in the water, etc).

As for GUE-F pricing, as others have mentioned, it's up to the individual instructor. Cheapest I've seen recently is $500, and the most expensive is $1500 (MX).
 
Do it! That's why we have MasterCard and Visa. It was that much again ($550) for my food and lodging during my adventure in High Springs recently. A word of advise for anyone going to High Springs - stay in Gainesville. It was an extremely difficult format for myself as I have an intention span of about 20 minutes and we went about 10 hours a day. Brutal.
 

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