Wow, what a hot issue, I feel compelled to contribute but feel a little bit of bit of trepidation, but here are some comments.
Firstly, Mike (MHK) Shut up and go diving dude, I am sensing a lot of hostility and I think you have issues. PADI bashing does not make you look clever, if you can produce a better course I suggest you talk to Karl yourself rather than logging 500 posts on one bb. Put your knowledge to use and contribute rather than criticize
secondly I have recently taught the Tec Deep course for the first time. I took a long time before I felt comfortable with it and as always, the first time you teach a course is a learning curve.
The materials look good, I especially like the teaching slides as these are virtually unheard of in other technical agencies, and even where they do exist few of the instructors use them, believing that their vast knowledge makes them brilliant educators by default.
The knowledge reviews are exhaustive, I found that some of Karl Shreeves mathematics is beyond my ability to fathom. Why anyone would multiply by 1/x rather than devide by x is a mystery, I guess everyone has their own way of doing maths, it must be a cultural difference.
The dives, I found it a little strange that more care was not taken to organize the dives into at least pairs of equivalent dive depths or diving days, I know that the depth ranges generally overlap, but this could have been simplified.
Calculating deep stops, I guess i am a veteran, cause when I started deep air diving the deep stop was an anecdotal referance to "it seems to make you feel better, so if it works, it works". such introduction of "Standardised" proceedures and the standardized rig drew Karl a lot of flak when he launched the program, but in reality makes sense. It doesnt mean that if you are doing something different, with your greater knowlege and experience that you are wrong, it means that for a newbie starting out, this is a great place to start based on the concensus of the dive community.
Drew Richardsons article regarding deep air diving and his opinion that deep air is dangerous, has been covered by the fact that the DSAT limit is 165 ft rather than the 190-220 depth range for the equivalent (TDI IANTD) courses that were available at the time he wrote the article. I personally discussed these issues with both Drew and Karl, and they are not trying to fool anyone, they are just trying to apply an educational system that is tried and tested in one dicipline of diving, and applying it to another.
Drew told me (in early 1998) that PADI would NEVER enter the tec market, they had no reason too, they were far more interested in the slightly larger market of kids programs. Tec was seen as a high profile but VERY small niche market.
One thing that few people know is that PADI and TDI had a gentlemans agreement for a long time. PADI would not enter the tec market and TDI would not enter the recreational market. This agreement was broken when Brett GILLIAN Started SDI. then I guess all bets were off.
Politics aside, most people on this board seem to agree that it is the instructor not the agency or the color of you c-card that matters. I agree.
If someone wants to teach encyclopeadic knowledge of diving theory, you will certainally have divers that can quote the page numbers of various theories from various manuals. Personally I believe that diving is learned in the water and only supported by the knowledge.
The DSAT programs have higher pre-requisites than most all the other agencies, they have more required dives than most other programs, and this extends right up to the new trimix course. The information is up to date and open to instructor elaboration and adaptation to local practices
This does not mean that I am not looking forward to the first rewrite of the DSAT tec deep course, I think there will be many changes, but the greatest comment I have regarding this whole thread is that it is so easy to criticize.
My greates problem with the DSAT course, is that I now have a sore back, I guess Ill leave all those deco tanks at home and go cave diving instead, I think DSAT is working on that course right now.
may your bubbles always be silent
and never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time