Main differences between PADI and SDI?

[oly5050user]

Hmm... so a profit-driven instructor is better off leaving PADI (who is reviled for being profit-driven) and going with SDI. Go figure!

Note: not picking on you, just found it funny in light of the OP's comment about PADI being profit-driven.

As to SDI "taking a more modern approach to training than most other agencies"... I'm genuinely interested in understanding what you mean by that. I've recently looked for differences along those lines across the various agencies and have not seen anything to support that notion in any meaningful way.

Take a look at their instructor confined and ow training slates. Looks like it was ripped off PADI site.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Affiliation though is pretty open ended. I am affiliated with two shops or should I say facilities. One is kinda local. Been there twice. The other is in Canada and I've never been there. I had to choose a facility when I crossed over. I had facilities all over the country tell me I was welcome to affiliate with them.

 

[RJP]

Since when?

I guess you didn't really bother to read my post

I guess I was splitting the hair between "affiliate with" as in SDI and "teach through" as in SSI.

There doesn't seem to be any shortage of functionally independent SDI/TDI instructors.

 

[oly5050user]

First, SDI doesn't require affiliation.

Second, even if they did you're making a wild-@ss assumption that the shop any individual instructor's teaching through isn't just winging it. My experience is that, by and large, if you're just rolling the dice you may likely be better-off with an independent instructor. A shop's reputation is tied to a building/business. An independent instructor's reputation is squarely on themselves and their name. Further, an independent instructor isn't at cross-purposes when it comes to trying to train you, and sell you gear, and keep the service dept's lights on, and sell travel, etc, etc.

Obviously, the OP wasn't even asking about independent instruction... but the whole discussion comes back to "it's the instructor... not the agency, or even the shop."

That being said... does anyone recall a SINGLE post on SB, ever, where someone came here an railed against an independent instructor? Regarding ANYTHING? Seriously. Shops get blasted, agencies get blasted, instructors at shops get called out, assumptions are made about instructors from one agency or another.... But I've never seen a single "I am SO done with independent instructors" thread in the nearly 10years I've been on SB. Not a single one. ~250,000 SB members. 800,000 unique visitors. More than a half-a-million threads and over 6 million individual posts since SB was started. And I've never see even ONE complaining about an independent instructor. Is it even remotely possible that is due to random circumstances?

Reason could be independent instructors really do not have as much of a volume of students. I teach out of a lds and did a weekend ow course , a Tuesday/Thursday 2week course and a private this week alone.
total of 11 students so far. Have another course starting with 5 this Friday night as well. The greater the volume the more likely there may be complaints. Impossible to make everyone happy all the time. He'll, even my wife gets pissed at me every so often!

 

[drrich2]

If you decide to opt for a Master Scuba Diver rating, PADI requires all 5 specialties be PADI.

If memory serves, SDI is not so picky.

The one thing I can think of that might drive a person at the recreational level to stay true to PADI is if pursuing that rating. But PADI MDS is not a course; it basically means you did OW, AOW, Rescue, 5 Specialties & paid $50 or so for the new card, if memory serves.

NAUI offers a Master Scuba Diver course that is an actual class. NAUI is a non-profit organization, though that doesn't mean NAUI shops & instructors don't like making money.

If you want to stick with one agency, mainly, consider how strong a presence different agencies have in your area. Where I am in the U.S., PADI & SSI dominate; SDI is harder to find, and hunting a NAUI instructor could be a drive! If you're going to take several courses, do both agencies have a strong enough local presence that you'll be able to find someone teaching what you want?

Richard.

 

[RJP]

Affiliation though is pretty open ended. I am affiliated with two shops or should I say facilities. One is kinda local. Been there twice. The other is in Canada and I've never been there. I had to choose a facility when I crossed over. I had facilities all over the country tell me I was welcome to affiliate with them.

Good thing those facilities weren't just winging it!

:d

---------- Post added April 15th, 2015 at 10:40 PM ----------

Reason could be independent instructors really do not have as much of a volume of students. I teach out of a lds and did a weekend ow course , a Tuesday/Thursday 2week course and a private this week alone.
total of 11 students so far. Have another course starting with 5 this Friday night as well. The greater the volume the more likely there may be complaints. Impossible to make everyone happy all the time. He'll, even my wife gets pissed at me every so often!

But if independents are just winging it... wouldn't you think there would have been at least ONE post? Out of 6 million?

:d

 

[Youssef]

Thanks for everyone's replies!

---------- Post added April 15th, 2015 at 09:09 PM ----------



You thought wrong. As others will chime in "It's the instructor... not the agency." As you've apparently concluded, based on your comment, there can be differences between one instructor and another. If you're going to blindly pick another agency... you're blindly picking another instructor. If that's the case, it doesn't much matter which one you pick.

If I was going to "blindly pick another agency" I wouldn't have asked for advice on the matter.
If I find an excellent instructor who I think works for me I have no problem going with whatever agency they teach courses for. Since I haven't yet and it's likely that they could teach both agency's courses I want some information regarding the agencies first.

The one thing I can think of that might drive a person at the recreational level to stay true to PADI is if pursuing that rating.

That wouldn't be one of the factors since SDI do have a Master Diver program.



There isn't a specific reason why I'm considering SDI but some of the factors are that along with PADI they are available in my area, the courses are a bit cheaper, and most centres that teach them have the same instructors teaching TDI courses. I figured if I was being taught by someone who has experience on the technical diving level it's more likely I would be able to find a good instructor.

 

[RJP]

Does the PADI shop's instructors also teach their Tec courses? Not pushing PADi per se, but the agencies are far more alike than they are different.

 

[Youssef]

The one I got my OW from don't teach Tec diving, but I do live in Egypt so I guess there are PADI shops that teach Technical courses as well.

I did some research and I found a dive shop in Dahab with 5 star reviews all around (I would have preferred something closer to Cairo but I don't mind that much). They do teach TDI/SDI as well as PADI so even if I decide to go with them I'd still have to choose between the agencies

 

[tursiops]

I guess I was splitting the hair between "affiliate with" as in SDI and "teach through" as in SSI.

There doesn't seem to be any shortage of functionally independent SDI/TDI instructors.

I'm a SDI/TDI instructor. I was told specifically by the President that I could not teach independently, that I had to teach through a shop because I can't certify a student without listing a shop. I have no idea what you mean by "functionally independent. "

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