PADI Open Water Manual (hardcopy) - should I buy it?

[Palmeirense]

I'm done with my PADI E-learning and I'm heading to Turks and Caicos next week to do the confined + open water dives to become OW certified.

Even though there is a PADI manual available online at the E-learning website, they won't allow the students to print it (there's even a warning somewhere saying that material is not meant to be printed).

I was wondering if some of you could share your thoughts: do you think it's worth to spend $35 to buy a hardcopy of the manual? Or do you think it will just sit on my shelf?

I guess an easier question to answer would be: for those of you who took the Padi OW course, do you check the manual now and then (or did you when you were a beginner) or you pretty much never opened it after you were done with your coursework?

I'm leaning towards buying it, but if most people say it's a waste, I'll be happy to save the $35!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Diver0001]

I never used mine again after the course but I dove a lot starting right after the course so I didn't have a chance to forget that much. If you plan on diving infrequently and $35 isn't that much money to you then it's a good idea to have it kicking around for brushing up.

I have one now and use it often for reference but I'm teaching. If you go that route you'll really need it but it's best to wait until you get that far.

R..

 

[TMHeimer]

Do you have access to it on line after you finish the e learning? I like the way it demonstrates the 20 skills with some photos as well. You won't find these in any of the more advanced manuals--including the Divemaster one, in which case you must do the skills to demonstration quality. I always skim through my old manuals, but I'm retired with not a whole lot to do.

 

[Palmeirense]

Do you have access to it on line after you finish the e learning? I like the way it demonstrates the 20 skills with some photos as well. You won't find these in any of the more advanced manuals--including the Divemaster one, in which case you must do the skills to demonstration quality. I always skim through my old manuals, but I'm retired with not a whole lot to do.

I finished my "online exams" but it's still available, but I suppose at some point they will just shut down my account. When I signed up, it said I had to take the course within 1y from that date, so I assume I'll have access for one year.

I guess I should check with the Dive Shop if I won't get one "for free" when I do the pool and open water dives. I'm pretty sure they will give me a log book, so who knows if they will give me a hardcopy of the manual as well?

 

[mudhole]

If the manual you're talking about is the beginning Open Water dive. . . it's not worth $35. Too little information for the money. Online you can find "The new science of skin and scuba diving" for pennies, it is older, but more comprehensive. And for comprehensive go online for the U.S. Navy Dive Manual, more information about diving than everything Padi has in every book they sell. A hard printed copy is available too.

On ebay you can find the greatest beginner book of SCUBA. . . Jacques Cousteau's "Silent World" teaches all the safety information. . . just as they learned from experience. Also, online there are lots of other "manuals" for diving, most will have some reference information, and will be very cheap for occasional reference.

Not to bash Padi, but they are not the oldest, most complete, or best. . . they are just "another dive training organization". Their place in dive training is many freelance instructor rating for less experienced divers. And, their instructors teach without any connection to dive shops.

 

[apertyx]

You'll have access to the e-learning for a year - hopefully you'll dive more and learn more as you go, but you can refer back to the online material for that year. By then, I'm willing to bet the bug will have gotten you enough to not have to worry about it! Congratulations, and have fun in the T & C with your OW diving!!

 

[rcs9250]

Do this instead. PADI's Recreational Encyclopedia is pretty good. It will take you beyond what you have learned. Might as well pick up the advanced crew pack while you are at it. If you want another really great book get the NOAA Diving Manual. It's about a hundred bucks or so but really worthwhile. $39.50 for CD ROM.
A great website for dive related books is Best Publishing Company-Scuba Diving & Hyperbaric Medicine
many many many great books. From novice to full trimix rebreather.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Dennis Gravers Scuba Diving is another excellent resource. Good theory including deco which we teach in OW class and No advertisements. If you want a PADI OW manual for cheap let me know. I'll let mine go for 20 bucks including shipping. It is 4 years old but should be little difference.

 

[DBailey]

I'm leaning towards buying it, but if most people say it's a waste, I'll be happy to save the $35!

I say don't get it.

You should be leaving the class with enough knowledge to safely dive. Your confined and open water dives will build on what was in the book.

If you need a refresher in the future, you can take a tune-up course for about the same amount that the book costs.

The only place that you might need the book in the future is if you plan to become a Divemaster or above. Even then, I would wait until you take those courses. I had all of my books when I took my Divemaster. Once I took my Instructor course, two of my books were replaced by new editions, so I had to re-buy those.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

I like having a hard copy of a reference manual, but I'm not sure I would choose the PADI manual, for myself.

That said, I do have the PADI manual, because when I took my certification class, I don't think there was e-learning (or in any case, we didn't use it). And I did refer to the manual this year when I went diving, because there had been a huge gap between when I got certified and that trip, with precious little diving in between.

That's why I say I think it's nice to have a hard copy of a manual. The reason I wouldn't choose the PADI manual has to do with my own personal style. I find the PADI book somewhat undesirable because to me it feels cluttered with "cute" language designed to appeal to teens; PADI advertisements; random clip-art type graphics; "Here's what we're going to be covering, here's the info, here's a quiz, here's some info in a sidebar, here's what we just covered, and by the way isnt' diving fun and cool and here's what you could sign up for in future."

These "features" were rather distracting to me as I was going through the course, and they made it even more of a hunt when I was looking for "just the facts" to review with this year. Also, if you have space limitations, it's a largish book to pack/store. So I would look for either a more concise, smaller book; or, if a book were to be the same size, I would want more information density.

B.