NAUI versus PADI

[RainPilot]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Some blatant agency name calling has been removed as well as posts quoting it may have been edited or removed as required.
Disagreements over an agencies actions etc are fine and encouraged. Name calling is not.

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[tursiops]

The opinion of the OP is just that, an opinion. He (and others) should not confuse opinion with fact. Opinions are probably best kept to oneself.

I understand some people like arugula. My opinion is that arugula is bitter, has a bad aftertaste, and is best left out of salads.

 

[scubadada]

The opinion of the OP is just that, an opinion. He (and others) should not confuse opinion with fact. Opinions are probably best kept to oneself.

I understand some people like arugula. My opinion is that arugula is bitter, has a bad aftertaste, and is best left out of salads.

Opinions on topics can be fine, particularly when bolstered appropriately, by facts. In this case, the blatantly offensive portion of the OP's opinion was deleted by the moderator.

 

[tilikum]

There is a large element of truth to the pay another dollar in trope. In the alphabet soup of certification agencies, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the wheat from the chaff.

 

[OMANDIVER]

I know many outstanding PADI instructors who are good friends and who I rate very highly. Generally over the longer term you get the reputation you deserve whether as an indivdual or a business. To have frequent changes of private equity ownership as in PADIs case is not to its advantage and I suspect its financial model is in question over the longer term. To be market leader over a long period of time breeds complacency. Many of the PADI instructors I know will prefer to teach another agency if they can and the student is OK with it. Anecdotally SDI seems to be gaining some ground.

 

[scrane]

Whatever gets you underwater. The learning really begins after certification.

My personal certification program:
1. Don't go down too deep.
2. Don't stay down too long.
3. Don't come up too fast.
4. Don't run out of air,
5. Have fun.

 

[Scuba Scott]

Everyone agrees it is best to have an awesome instructor regardless of agency and if you find one of those it would great if they represented an agency that allowed flexibility in standards to allow their awesomeness to shine.
Unfortunately, reality (and math) is most instructors are average and below average. It can be difficult to identify above average instructors and then have access to one in your area.
I feel these average and below average instructors can be dangerous when they are allowed to have flexibility. If you have an agency with strict standards then most instructors will have similar training programs even if they aren't awesome.
When instructors are allowed to go "off script" they better know what they are doing.
When you don't know who is who you can increase your odds going with the agency with stricter standards.
If you are considering going pro you are better off with the larger organization because there will be more opportunities. This can vary by region who is biggest.

If you don't have any other information to go on play the numbers game and may the odds be ever in your favor.

 

[kafkaland]

As it was already said, it's the instructor. Primarily. Agency a distant second. I have taken a number of PADI classes, and all of them except one fell into the "good enough" category. I got out of it what I expected, the course was taught safely and competently, but nothing beyond that. The disappointment was the sidemount class, but I chalk that up to the instructor.

I took my cave training with an IANTD instructor, and the AN/DP with a TDI instructor. Both were high quality courses with quality instructors. And I took one othe tech class with a NAUI instructor, And it was so terrible that I didn't even bother to finish. The instructor showed up five hours late, in a rebreather to teach an OC class, with so many students that he had to break it up in two groups and teach both essentially in parallel, while also running a dive charter with a dozen divers at the same time. That was the biggest disaster of a coursed yet that I have encountered in dive training. And I don't blame the agency, this was on the instructor who was in over his head.

 

[Adam Grose]

Whatever gets you underwater. The learning really begins after certification.

My personal certification program:
1. Don't go down too deep.
2. Don't stay down too long.
3. Don't come up too fast.
4. Don't run out of air,
5. Have fun.

You forgot one... KEEP BREATHING.

 

[Cap335]

I always hope when I see a agency vs agency thread someone is trying to get a ballgame going.