From PADI to SDI-TDI

[shark_tamer]

Recently, I was suggested to switch from PADI to SDI/TDI to further my education in scuba diving.

The next course I'm plannig is Rescue Diver.

I will not elaborate on the pros & cons given to me to switch to SDI/TDI, but only picking your brains !!!!!

Anybody here certified with them ?? and why should I switch ?? or not ???

Thanks in advance.

 

[loosebits]

This would probably be more appropriate in the Basic Suba Discussions forum. TDI is not strictly a technical agency (it's been a long time since nitrox was considered technical) and rescue is usually considered a recreational class.

Now to answer your question, I would bet it doesn't matter at all. Agencies, for the most part, are just people you have to pay to print your card. I'd spend more time considering switching toilet paper than I would agencies.

 

[Nailer99]

I certified through rescue with PADI, then took Advanced EANX and Deco through TDI. My main reason for this was that I liked and trusted the TDI instructor. I have since met a Tec- Rec (PADI) instructor that I would consider taking training from, but for me, it's all about who's teaching the class, not the certifying agency.

 

[texdiveguy]

All the different agencies have there goods and bads. I have training like many divers from several agencies,,, mostly based on the type of training we were seeking at the time and the programs we felt would meet our needs. I look at the program and then search out the best program/instructor for my needs in that area. PADI/TDI/SDI/SSI and so on all offer something of value in terms of continuing ed.. Rescue at the rec. level is a good choice as a basis for going further into the tec programs....you will learn the basics and then hopefully your choosen adv. programs will incorp. safety/rescue to meet that displine. Aside from training...keep logging those dives...the real teacher is experience and using the skills you have learned. Best of luck!

 

[Mike Edmonston]

Don't worry about the alphabet soup. The agency is IRRELEVANT! Choose an instructor that you trust and you will be just fine. It's all about the instructor, not the Agency.

Cheers.

Mike

 

[Hoosier]

Don't worry about the alphabet soup. The agency is IRRELEVANT! Choose an instructor that you trust and you will be just fine. It's all about the instructor, not the Agency.

Cheers.

Mike

Agree with Mike's reply. The agency doesn't teach you how to do, but your instructor.

PADI also starts their own Tech diving world. There has been a lot of bashing about PADI's new tech course quality, but I am sure that PADI will catch up the market as soon as there is enough $$$ on the tech market. PADI is very good at smelling money.

Don't get me wrong, it is all about money like any other academic business including a university.

 

[pir8]

There really is no such thing as switching agencies if you think about it. Unless you want to do your open H2O course againwith the other agency. By the same token there is nothing wrong with taking classes from different cert agencies, I have and will continue to do so even though I am an instructor for some but not all ................YET.

 

[Colliam7]

I will not elaborate on the pros & cons given to me to switch to SDI/TDI, but only picking your brains !!!!!

My (perhaps uninformed) sense is that the course content among training programs offered through different agencies is more similar than dissimilar, as others have suggested. The rungs on the training ladders may not match exactly, but you end up at about the same place. Therefore, a particular instructor may make a substantial difference.

While you declined to elaborate in your OP, it might be informative for many of us to understand the reasons you were given. My interest is not in switching, nor is it to get into any argument / debate about it, just to learn from the experience of others.

 

[dl348]

Like others have said, there's not many if any compelling reasons for you to switch agencies. SDI/TDI C-cards are accepted whereever PADI ones are and vice versa. I've completed courses with just about every agency out there and can't say that one specific agency was clearly better than another. Just find an instructor that you're comfortable with and go with him/her. Also, ask some of the other divers in your area which dive centers and instructors they recommend. Just my 2 psi.

 

[mrjimboalaska]

Don't worry about the alphabet soup. The agency is IRRELEVANT! Choose an instructor that you trust and you will be just fine. It's all about the instructor, not the Agency.

Cheers.

Mike

Ditto!