How Much Should Certification Cost?

[Thalassamania]

For the purposes of level 1 basic OW scuba ? Yes. Yes I do.

I'll glady (ok maybe not gladly, but I'll understand Why) pay the premiums later when I take my technical training, and I hope to pick up some Super Instructor tips n tricks at that time.

I've been teaching for over 30 years and diving for over 50, my experience both as a teacher and a self-taught diver who went back for further instruction tells me that the right foundation, provided by the right instructor, can save you a lot of grief and make you a much better diver, much sooner. But I didn't believe that either 'till it was proved to me (as I wrote in an earlier post):

...
I was already a diver, at least I thought of myself that way. I’d been diving for more than 10 years, and had made about 1500 dives. That’s about the point in every diver’s career that they know everything there is to know. Well, knowing everything about diving that there is to know is fine, but back then, when diving was dangerous and sex was safe, it was much more important to look sharp, and I looked sharp.

Besides being 6’2” and a rather muscular 195 lbs., with a strong, clean shaven, cleft chin and thick brown curly hair that fell down to my shoulders, my gear was really gnarly. An orange U.S. Divers Taskmaster suit, was topped with a matching hooded vest, I had a shiny aluminum ’72, a SwimMaster MR-12 regulator with (gasp) an “octopus”, and lots of ScubaPro: a triple pane mask, Jetfins, JetSnorkel, CamPack, five finger gloves, and that weight belt, the one with the blue stripe and the bungies in the back.

Ah … there were my instruments, only the hippest gauges would do, ScubaPro Helium Depth Gauge, Suunto SK-6 Compass and my pride and joy, a U.S. Divers, orange face DOXA 300. And the pièce de résistance, my Fenzy. Yeah, I was as cool a diver as they had ever seen , and poor Ken McKaye had to deal with me.

Exactly how Ken turned that refugee from the Thunderball set into a committed Berkeley Research Diver is a story for another time, suffice it to say that through a combination of Ken’s incredible skill as a diver, patience as an instructor and brilliance as a researcher I found myself, within just a few months, looking exactly like every other Berkeley Diver (well … almost … I did continue to use my gnarly, really cool, gauges, installed, of course, on a regulation U.C.B. Scientific Divers’ gauntlet).

Part of how Ken accomplished this almost miraculous transformation involved the use of some truly unique training exercises like the free diving doff-and-don (in the end we were doing it mask, knife, fins and weightbelt), the doff-and-don buddy-breathe, the circuit swim and the Edward’s Field Crawl. But one exercise that is indelibly engraved in the memory of every Berkeley Diver is the hand signal test. It is as much a part of being a Berkeley Diver as the suit, the surf mat or the gauntlet. The hand signal test. ...

 

[fyh]

Cost of my class was $179.00 when I took it. That included books and gear/tank rentals for the duration of the class.

I had to provide my own Mask, fins, and snorkel for the class, but the shop did not require me to purchase these items from them.

Class consisted of two 4 hour class sessions (day 1 and day 2), a 4 hour pool session (day 3), followed by two days of check-out dives.

The only costs incurred that I didn't list above:
wetsuit - I could have used one of theirs for free, but I wanted my own. ($69)
entrance fee to Vortex Springs for the first day of checkout dives. ($30)
of course, fuel to and from sessions.

Certification really is inexpensive in this area, and we've got some really good instructors.
We had about 10 people in the class, and 2 instructors. If someone needed extra help with a skill, one of the instructors would take that person aside and work with them while the other instructor proceeded with the rest of the class. It worked out well.

 

[PvtStash]

I've been teaching for over 30 years and diving for over 50, my experience both as a teacher and a self-taught diver who went back for further instruction tells me that the right foundation, provided by the right instructor, can save you a lot of grief and make you a much better diver, much sooner. But I didn't believe that either 'till it was proved to me

yeah but back then you didnt have Scubaboard as the Ultimate Repository of All Dive Knowledge at your fingertips 16hrs of every day

 

[Thalassamania]

yeah but back then you didnt have Scubaboard as the Ultimate Repository of All Dive Knowledge at your fingertips 16hrs of every day

True, but I also was not faced with the challenge of separating out the right stuff from the BS. All the right stuff was in the U.S. Navy Diving Manual. If it was in another book, it was BS or it was just a restatement of what was in the U.S. Navy Diving Manual. Simpler times for simpler minds.

 

[Belle67]

How is this "taken to the cleaners"??

she is getting one to one teaching.
She purchased her mask/fin/snkl that she would need anywhere she goes.
For the OW training dives she said its $150, at that price its only $37.50 a dive with an instructor.He still has to pay for his gas,time,air fills,insurance.
Sounds like a bargain to me..Lets say the time the instructor invests to get to site-prep classroom,pool- is 24 hours.Thats makes it $25. per hr .Out of that he pays for pool and classroom time,insurance etc.If pool time is really,really cheap(unheard of)he pays $250. for the pool.Now you have $350.Did you pay for the books,video,or was it included?If included take out another $90./$100. So he is left with $150. That comes out to $6.25 an hour for his pay..Still has his insurance to pay out of that $6.25 an hr..Oh yeah,taken to the cleaners!
Before I retired I had dog walkers to walk dogs at noon..Look at what they make-
My dog walkers make $150. a week/$600. a month to walk 2 dogs for 20 minutes a day,5 days a week..Pay is better picking up poop!

Yes indeed. Thanks for coming to my defense. The class and books, log book, and private instruction came to just over $300. This price included all gear (outside of the basics) and air. Also I am free to come to the pool whenever I feel like it as much as I want to practice skills I have learned...oh, without charging me for any gear rental and free air whenever I come in. My gear was about $280, I didn't get cheap stuff that I would have to replace anytime soon. And as far as the rest of my gear to purchase... I am not going skimpy on that either... I am getting high gear that should last me a good long time both allowing me to "grow into it" per say as I gain more skill, and in quality. Ie: lady hawk back float (air2), ScubaPro mk 17gv/g250v reg, uwatech smart z wrist hoseless computer, weight for integrated bc, Henderson hyperstrech 7m, hood and gloves, 2 steel tanks, and other misc gear. As far as the price.... I was estimating the cost. Pardon me for not giving a more accurrate number from a sales slip! About $3000 is probably more reasonable.. unless I decide on some other things to tack on.

It may seem excessive to get so much so soon, but this is something I WILL be doing for a long time. I could have gotten cheaper gear true, but my bf wants to get me geared up for any type of diving we may want to do... Our budget for gear will decrease considerably once we get married and have 4 children to support together, so we are getting all mine now. Not to mention I will be purchasing a dry suit in the next year because of the cold temps where I am. Was figuring in ALL of my gear in that $3000-$4000 range. It was not the lds that suggested the gear but our choice to select that gear.

Overall, I don't think I did that bad!

 

[Nick_W]

Yes indeed. Thanks for coming to my defense. The class and books, log book, and private instruction came to just over $300. This price included all gear (outside of the basics) and air. Also I am free to come to the pool whenever I feel like it as much as I want to practice skills I have learned...oh, without charging me for any gear rental and free air whenever I come in. My gear was about $280, I didn't get cheap stuff that I would have to replace anytime soon. And as far as the rest of my gear to purchase... I am not going skimpy on that either... I am getting high gear that should last me a good long time both allowing me to "grow into it" per say as I gain more skill, and in quality. Ie: lady hawk back float (air2), ScubaPro mk 17gv/g250v reg, uwatech smart z wrist hoseless computer, weight for integrated bc, Henderson hyperstrech 7m, hood and gloves, 2 steel tanks, and other misc gear.

Overall, I don't think I did that bad!

I have a pair of Jetfins in the ballpark of $100 for, a mask that ran me $20 and a snorkel that is, well, a tube with a mouthpiece on it that I paid $2.50 for andhonestly I only have on there so I can be a good example for students. That is a grand total of around $120 worth of that gear. And that stuff has served me very well. Granted its personal stuff, so if you want to spend more, have fun. $280 isn't bad, I've had students tell me they dropped $400 on mask, fins and snorkel.

As for the rest of the gear, its all personal preference as to what you want to use, but I can tell you that first of all, I wouldn't go buying that much gear until you're sure that you want to stick with diving and second that you're sure that's the gear you want.

Now, I'm not going to start bashing the gear you've chosen there but I will say that just because something is expensive doesn't mean its the best or will last longer. Most of the gear out there, if properly cared for, is going to last as long as you want it anyway. In other words, you're going to want new gear before you need new gear.

Based upon what you say you're purchasing, I stand corrected, looks like you may not be overpaying for stuff after all. I still think you're getting hosed though as I think you're being sold some stuff you don't need, may not want, or could get stuff that's better for less money. But like I said, its all personal preference, so have at it.

And I don't remember what you said in your original post, something about the BC, regs and "other accessories" or something. When you're talking about the cost of gear, to me "other accessories" would be an SMB, or maybe a tablet or a small dive light. Two steel tanks, cost wise, would not fall into the "other" category.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Overall, I don't think I did that bad!

I don't think you did that bad either. I love the fact that they gave you unlimited pool time. It seems to me that they really care about your instruction. The money you spent for gear already seems commensurate with quality gear prices to me, but I've never owned a $20.00 mask. Good luck with your diving, it seems you're off to a good start.

 

[Belle67]

I don't think you did that bad either. I love the fact that they gave you unlimited pool time. It seems to me that they really care about your instruction. The money you spent for gear already seems commensurate with quality gear prices to me, but I've never owned a $20.00 mask. Good luck with your diving, it seems you're off to a good start.

Thanks Scubakevdm!

I still go over there and practice even though I have gotten my sign offs. My ow isn't until mid may so I want to continue practicing and improving on what I have learned. They still do not charge me any rental fees for anything. I really appreciate them for that.

As far as a mask for $20, the only ones I have seen like that are the ones kids use to snorkle with in a pool. Mine is a soft silicone that cost me about $75.

 

[Nick_W]

I love when people thank those who pat them on the ass and get defensive with those who politely tell them they may have spent or may be planning to spend too much on gear.

Oh well, have fun.

 

[ucfdiver]

I love when people thank those who pat them on the ass and get defensive with those who politely tell them they may have spent or may be planning to spend too much on gear.

Oh well, have fun.

I'm guessing she got defensive because (according to your profile) you're not certified, yet you're telling her what she's doing wrong.