How important is it to stick with your original agency for ADV OW?

[tursiops]

i do hear that different agencies may have slight variations on hand signals though (not the basic hand signals), could be great to try out another agency which may or may not have a better training philosophy?

But yeah, shop the instructor is what i've read as the general guideline

Most courses do not have specific hand signals that are used. Instructors do, but they have probably learned them from another instructor...and just passed them along without question. Even the hand signals for basic things like STOP or HOW MUCH AIR I HAVE or QUESTION or OK or SEVEN or DECO or BUBBLES/LEAK or SEAHORSE are done differently by different people, and are often misunderstood.