I was asking myself the same question the middle of last year: PADI DM or GUE Fundies. I'm a purely recreational diver, have no intention of ever teaching diving (hanging out in 10 feet of chlorinated water every few weekends has absolutely zero appeal to me), my buoyancy is pretty decent, but I can't frog kick backwards in split fins. A serious tech diver friend suggested Fundies, some dive buddies while we were in Fiji on vacation had mixed suggestions, but I wanted to be able to competently plan dives in new spots, execute the plan and go exploring to see cool stuff underwater, and if I couldn't avoid problems, at least get out of a serious mess. I have no intention of (intentionally) diving past recreational limits. While we were on vacation in Fiji, the dive operator was a total hack, and it became clear to me I needed to become a better diver for long-term safe diving for myself and my wife (we were already both PADI certified as rescue divers at this point)
After considerable thought and weighing all the tradeoffs, I decided to go for the DM certification, from the same instructor who originally did my OW and AOW certification in 1994. There was nothing terribly difficult from a diving standpoint with going through the DM certification, either in terms of academics or in the water. The DM certification (at least for me) makes you think about everything you do diving-wise, makes you much more aware of all the different equipment configurations and skill levels out there, and provides you with much better situational awareness of what's going on around you before, during and after a dive - as long as you pay attention to those things. Before going through the DM program, I was much more comfortable as a "follower" diver - happy to follow someone around on the dive, but didn't really have the confidence to lead someone on a dive. Since then, I've led a lot of local dives for fun. In the process, I've become a much better diver. The DM program doesn't make you a better diver, but certainly opens your eyes to a lot of things and provides the opportunity and tools to look at diving from a different perspective
My tech diver friend has been diving with me a lot more this past year, and he seems in a lot of ways to be rediscovering diving for fun. From a dive trip I did with him a few years back, I observed that just because someone is a tech diver, or used to be, it doesn't necessarily mean they are a good diver. Going through the DM program, helping with classes, and from classes and instructors I've been around since, there are also a lot of instructors who aren't particularly good divers. Whether you go the DM or tech route, if you're conscious of your surroundings, pay attention, have a good instructor and dive with good divers, you'll become a better diver. The real question is what do you want to get out of diving. I just wanted to become a better diver, for fun, and tried to keep my ego out of any decision. Scuba diving isn't a competition to me, I didn't have anything to prove to anyone else, and I just wanted to improve my enjoyment of the sport, without going broke in the process. Your original post didn't say what your objective is for further training; my recommendation is to answer that question before you decide which path to take
After considerable thought and weighing all the tradeoffs, I decided to go for the DM certification, from the same instructor who originally did my OW and AOW certification in 1994. There was nothing terribly difficult from a diving standpoint with going through the DM certification, either in terms of academics or in the water. The DM certification (at least for me) makes you think about everything you do diving-wise, makes you much more aware of all the different equipment configurations and skill levels out there, and provides you with much better situational awareness of what's going on around you before, during and after a dive - as long as you pay attention to those things. Before going through the DM program, I was much more comfortable as a "follower" diver - happy to follow someone around on the dive, but didn't really have the confidence to lead someone on a dive. Since then, I've led a lot of local dives for fun. In the process, I've become a much better diver. The DM program doesn't make you a better diver, but certainly opens your eyes to a lot of things and provides the opportunity and tools to look at diving from a different perspective
My tech diver friend has been diving with me a lot more this past year, and he seems in a lot of ways to be rediscovering diving for fun. From a dive trip I did with him a few years back, I observed that just because someone is a tech diver, or used to be, it doesn't necessarily mean they are a good diver. Going through the DM program, helping with classes, and from classes and instructors I've been around since, there are also a lot of instructors who aren't particularly good divers. Whether you go the DM or tech route, if you're conscious of your surroundings, pay attention, have a good instructor and dive with good divers, you'll become a better diver. The real question is what do you want to get out of diving. I just wanted to become a better diver, for fun, and tried to keep my ego out of any decision. Scuba diving isn't a competition to me, I didn't have anything to prove to anyone else, and I just wanted to improve my enjoyment of the sport, without going broke in the process. Your original post didn't say what your objective is for further training; my recommendation is to answer that question before you decide which path to take
