Most current version of PADI Deep Diving Manual?

[Searcaigh]

OF course you could do IANTD Advanced Recreational Trimix with at least a Rescue Level Cert, Nitrox Cert and a suitable number of deep dives, which will certify to 50M if I recall correctly, and from there move on to Normoxic and Hypoxic Trimix etc., on OC.

 

[markmud]

Interesting Paragraph!

Hi DevonDiver,

Thanks for your post and link. I enjoyed reading both.

This paragraph was interesting:


thanks,
markm

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm trying to find out what the most current version of the PADI Deep Diving manual is so I can get a copy and have any knowledge reviews completed before heading off on the next diving trip. Naturally PADI doesn't seem to want to put this information out there so they can force students to buy the books (at markup rates) from dive schools, but most dive schools I've encountered could care less where you got the book as long as you have the correct one.

I'm not honestly thrilled about having to do the Deep Specialty before being allowed into TEC 40 since both are for the same depth and TEC 40 is far more comprehensive... but PADI needs to make a few extra dollars somehow I guess. Frankly I'd rather find another organization to start Tech with anyway, but PADI is too convenient everywhere I travel and especially where I live. Will see.

Any PADI shop staff here who can let me know the correct book version so I can grab a copy online before the trip would be much appreciated.

Since you are coming into your technical training with this attitude, I think you should instead look for an agency that gives all of its materials away for free and doesn't charge for instruction, either. I would recommend one to you, but I can't think of any. I have trained with 5 different tech agencies (UTD, TDI, NSS-CDS, PSAI, and PADI), and every one of them charged me for the course materials, those dirty money grubbers!

You should also extend that to the rest of your life, too. I mean, why should you have to pay a plumber for the cost of equipment and services? Everyone you deal with should be offering to do everything for you for free.

 

[markmud]

Since you are coming into your technical training with this attitude, I think you should instead look for an agency that gives all of its materials away for free and doesn't charge for instruction, either. I would recommend one to you, but I can't think of any. I have trained with 5 different tech agencies (UTD, TDI, NSS-CDS, PSAI, and PADI), and every one of them charged me for the course materials, those dirty money grubbers!

You should also extend that to the rest of your life, too. I mean, why should you have to pay a plumber for the cost of equipment and services? Everyone you deal with should be offering to do everything for you for free.

Hi John,

I agree with you! I hate BigPharma, BigOil, and BigDiver... They are always ripping off the working man.

I had to go to see a doctor for a sinus infection. He had the gall to charge me a $55 copay! He went to med school for 12 years, borrowed money for med school fees, and then had the gall to charge me for his services! He has a social contract with society to provide me with health care for free. It is my right!


BigDiver needs to institute a tax on wealthy divers so working-man divers get their training for free. They owe society because it is not fair that they won life's lottery.

markm

PS: I don't know how BigDiver, Instructors, and LDSs survive charging so little for their services. I will hazard a guess that successful dive ops survive on a net after tax margin of less than 5%. Who is getting wealthy in SCUBA?

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm trying to find out what the most current version of the PADI Deep Diving manual is so I can get a copy and have any knowledge reviews completed before heading off on the next diving trip. Naturally PADI doesn't seem to want to put this information out there so they can force students to buy the books (at markup rates) from dive schools, but most dive schools I've encountered could care less where you got the book as long as you have the correct one.

Just one more point: buying the book is not a requirement for the course. You don't even need one. PADI does not force you to do pay a cent. They do want you to pay for the book they created if you choose to buy it, though. A lot of people who sell books are like that.

 

[Sevenrider860]

Any PADI shop staff here who can let me know the correct book version so I can grab a copy online before the trip would be much appreciated.

I don't think your original question was answered.

The current TEC Deep Diver manual in use is dated 12/05 and is shown as Version 1.01. I am not seeing it available as just the manual, it looks to be only available in a Crew Pack. Your TEC40 Instructor will also supplement the manual with some knowledge reviews and quizzes specific to the TEC40 course. If you don't wish to purchase the Tec Deep Diver Crew Pack through the shop or instructor where you are taking the course, do a search on Amazon and you will find some vendors selling the crew pack for about $94.

It has been pointed out that if you don't have the Deep Dive Specialty, logged experience can be accepted by the instructor.

Given the attitude you express in your post towards PADI, why start a course with a chip on your shoulder towards your future certification agency? PADI will make a few extra dollars off you if you decide to train through TEC50 and earn the certification, just so you know upfront. There are other excellent technical diving training organizations available and, as has been pointed out many times here on ScubaBoard, it is the instructor not the agency.

When you examine the total expense as you progress through your technical diving education and experience, the $94 or $100 you spend on materials is likely to be the least of the costs. And if it makes you feel any better, this one time TEC Deep manual can be used for TEC40 through TEC50 instruction.

 

[boulderjohn]

When you examine the total expense as you progress through your technical diving education and experience, the $94 or $100 you spend on materials is likely to be the least of the costs. And if it makes you feel any better, this one time TEC Deep manual can be used for TEC40 through TEC50 instruction.

You will also need it if you go on to Trimix.

The PADI program is different from some other programs, including TDI. With TDI, the major academic instruction for decompression is backloaded in the pre-trimix instruction--just about all of it is in the decompression procedures course. The Intro to Tech course teaches only a little more than learning about about the equipment. The Advanced Nitrox course is pretty much all about nitrox. It makes sense to take the Advanced Nitrox course at the same time as the Decompression Procedures course because it does not do you a lot of good to learn about higher blends of nitrox if you can't do any decompression with it.

PADI both frontloads the information and blends it. The academic material for the Tec 40 course is extensive, much more than you really need for the modest goals of the course. It is also blends it all together--you are leanring about equipment, decompression theory, advanced nitrox, dive planning, and making decrompession stops in one blended course. Tec 45 builds on that, so you have most decompression theory and skills done by the time you are finished with that course. Tec 50 builds on that knowledge and does not repeat it, so it is mostly about using a second decompression gas and being introduced to helium mixes; you are expected to have the earlier stuff mastered. The trimix course assumes you have all the Tec 50 knowledge, so if you come into the course from another agency's equivalent program, you have to demonstrate the Tec 50 knowledge by completing the knowledge reviews.

Just taking a wild guess, I would say that the academic information in the PADI Tec 40-50 program is twice as long as the TDI program through decompression procedures. There is a lot to learn.

 

[DevonDiver]

I find that the Tec40 - 45 - 50 progression is very logical and naturally incremental. It much better than the old 'Tech Deep' course, which was lengthy and 'all-or-nothing' (unless you count the 'Tec apprentice' rating which was a booby prize if you didn't make the grade in time...)

Splitting the course allows students to approach training at the speed that suits them. There's opportunity for the instructor to advise they go away and practice / get experience before attempting the next module.

Relative to AN/DP.... doing Tec40 and Tec45 has some benefits. Each of the TecRec courses is standalone and self-contained. Each level opens up new facets of technical diving and unlocks more tools... this is in line with student training and experience. It also adds hazards progressively... again, accounting for the amount of training the student has completed.

AN by itself, is generally pretty useless for technical diving. It only makes sense in combination with DP. That rushes the student through 2 levels.

ER and Tec50 is essentially the same... deep air, extended range, staged accelerated deco with multiple deco gasses.

Tec45 and Tec50 can also be done as normoxic trimix (there are standardised distinctives for this).

If PADI had just split the course to extract more money, then they'd also have split the manual. They didn't.

 

[tursiops]

Just taking a wild guess, I would say that the academic information in the PADI Tec 40-50 program is twice as long as the TDI program through decompression procedures. There is a lot to learn.

Actually, i think a better analogy might be Tec 40-45-50 compared to TDI AN-DP-Extended Range....which gets you into multiple deco bottles, like Tec 50. The three PADI courses have 12 training dives total, as do the three TDI courses. In any case, I still think the PADI training materials are superior....those from TDI are OK but not as complete as the PADI ones. Much more instructor input is needed in the TDI classes. In that sense, the PADI training is perhaps a bit more robust to a less experienced instructor.

 

[DevonDiver]

The PADI Tech Deep manual is only made on cd-rom nowadays (I'm told). At least, that's all we get now in the Philippines....

I like for students to get the knowledge reviews done in advance of the course. That frees up time for added scope training. I now set extra homework... Questions, articles to read etc that go well beyond the TecRec manuals. I have a reading list of articles for students on my website.... and I recommend 'Deco for Divers' also.

When a student makes a big effort to learn and research, I can take them so much further in understanding, given the allotted time.

Compare agency materials is a little pointless, because a motivated instructor will endeavour to go much further than just regurgitating the manual during classroom sessions...