Iantd Nitrox or Padi Nitrox

[mlloyd]

I have done the IANTD course. The material was ok but as in any of these classes its the instructor who really counts.

It is such a simple class that either one should suffice.

 

[exnewwavedivers]

Basically, what you learn in PADI courses and courses from other agencies does not vary much. Sometimes, some people may claim that one agency is more technical (more information) than others based on the manual. A closer look will reveal that they just have about the same information except that PADI materials are packaged in such a way that it is easier to read and understand.

At the end of the day, it is your instructor who makes the difference. For instance, when I teach courses, I've been observed by other instructors to talk too much, which most of my students appreciates because they feel they learn a lot more.

 

[u.p.dvr]

My instructor, a very experienced tek diver let us look over both sets of teaching material. IANTD IS defintely more detailed in the mathematical i.e. planning side of the sport. If your looking to advance down the road into trimix, I think the IANTD would be more useful into getting a start on the math required for the more advanced mixed gas planning. Nowadays you can buy computers and software to do this but that's not much of a comfort, at least for me, if I have no idea what calculations the computer is doing. if you want to stick with rec nitrox the PADI course is great without overburdening you with theory.
one thing that amazed me is how many people are actually not even comfortable using std. dive tables.

 

[Quero]

My instructor, a very experienced tek diver let us look over both sets of teaching material. IANTD IS defintely more detailed in the mathematical i.e. planning side of the sport. If your looking to advance down the road into trimix, I think the IANTD would be more useful into getting a start on the math required for the more advanced mixed gas planning. <snip>

I just recently finished the IANTD Advanced Nitrox on the basis of my PADI Nitrox cert (from a while back). One of my classmates had gone straight from IANTD Nitrox to Advanced nitrox (literally one day to the next, without even getting wet in between). I couldn't see that either of us had any theory/knowledge advantage over the other, even though the theory was very fresh in his mind. My advantages were all practical since I'd already dived rec nitrox quite a lot and was familiar with anaylyzing EANx tanks, calculating MODs in real life, etc. I don't think it really matters which agency you use at this stage, even if you *do* want to go on to tek diving later.

 

[Daryl Morse]

You might want to check out a ANDI facility and see what they have to offer. The level 2 Complete Safeair course is a bit more then the PADI nitrox course. The information that you get from a ANDI manual seems to be quite a bit more then what you get in a PADI manual. They do not have a fancy film to show you but what you are paying for is the knowledge which makes up for that.

I recently took the ANDI CSU course. I highly recommend this course. Search for my thread on ANDI CSU if you want to know more about what I learned in the classroom and the dives.

 

[wedivebc]

I recently took the ANDI CSU course. I highly recommend this course. Search for my thread on ANDI CSU if you want to know more about what I learned in the classroom and the dives.

I second and third Bruces and Daryl's endorsment of ANDI CSU. I did my nitrox through IANTD, it was a good course but... I am a current PADI instructor as well as ANDI instructor. I refuse to teach PADI nitrox because the information is inadequate for truly understanding the concepts you need to know.
ANDI has better written material than IANTD. PADI will sell you 2 tables and teach you how to plan dives using the 32 or the 36% table. Pretty lame in my mind.

Here is Daryl's thread. http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=97330 It is pretty good.

 

[mossym]

i think 3 years later they have probably made up their mind..quero found a thread from 2002..

 

[wedivebc]

i think 3 years later they have probably made up their mind..quero found a thread from 2002..

Doh...

 

[Daryl Morse]

i think 3 years later they have probably made up their mind..quero found a thread from 2002..

LOL!

 

[Quero]

i think 3 years later they have probably made up their mind..quero found a thread from 2002..

Guess I should take a specialty class in thread navigation! :heh_heh: (Though I'm probably subconsciously drawn to the topic by some other force because of my [somewhat unpleasant] experience with the IANTD course.) Sorry for having dragged you other folks through what was apparently my virtual psychotherapy. :sorry19z: