Question to PADI: Cert cards

[NudeDiver]

Might be a good idea! Have you even seen a REAL off-duty police officer wandering around the shopping mall with a T shirt saying "I'm a cop! Bring me your problems!". You won't, either.

No, but I have seen them harassing people.

It is absolutely useless against wetsuits or drysuits. Might as well not have it.

As someone who did his RD in a drysuit, I have to completely disagree with you here.

In fact, all RD certs should expire every year or two.

I agree.

And why in the world would you want to carry all your PADI cards in the first place? Fish ID, Equipment Specialist, Underwater Photographer and many others are completely irrelevant.

I dunno why anyone would get those in the first place. I'm referring to the useful ones.

Adding clutter (and SIZE) to a cumulative card would not be a good trade-off.

I fail to see any advantage to one card per cert. Again, even a driver's license does not work this way - and I'd argue that a DL is a lot more important overall than a C-card.

I do agree that a cumulative card would be nice but, as it won't integrate with my NAUI certs, I'm not signing up. I'll take a couple of PADI specialties but that's about it.Richard

Obviously the idea is more useful to PADI divers than other divers. If I were a NAUI diver, I would be offering the same idea to NAUI.

 

[driftin' by]

I'm I missing something? I'm trying to think of a scenario that would require anyone to be burdened by carrying around 1 or several certification cards on a daily basis? Mine are in my log which I take with me when I go diving. I've never even been asked to present one for an incidental air fill or equipment purchase at an LDS. When I do go diving, I only take the card(s) I need given the diving I'll be doing. For the most part, it's usually only my AOW. I never take my highest card in case I loose it and anything over AOW will get you paired with the least experienced diver. If something is lacking, I'll either let my log book or actions do that talking.

However, it wouldn't hurt for them to consolidate them or at least make some indication of Nx certification on your highest cert card... Perhaps a sticker? But in the end, it's not a convenience I'm willing to pay more for.

 

[NudeDiver]

I'm I missing something?

Yes.

I'm trying to think of a scenario that would require anyone to be burdened by carrying around 1 or several certification cards on a daily basis?

Suppose yuo are carrying around a AOW, Drysuit and Nitrox card. Now you lose your ****. You now buy 3 cards. Oops! If you had it all on ONE card, then you only have to buy one card.

Mine are in my log which I take with me when I go diving.

As noted above - having to lug around a dive log is one thing I am looking to avoid.

And again....where is the drawback to having everything represented on one card? I just don't see it.

 

[Rhone Man]

Well, Rhone Man, people do certs and spcialties all over the globe. It's not unusual for a diver to do OWD at an LDS say in Florida (PADI Americas), AOW on a trip to Thailand (Asia Pacific), Nitrox in the BVI (Padi Americas), and do a Rescue course on a vacation to the Canary Islands (PADI Europe). So there are going to be coordination questions, administrative questions and then who issues the new card

Fair point - I hadn't thought about the fact that PADI doesn't centralise the issuing of C-Cards

What C Cards are those? You also bring up another major problem yourself which is how do we account for your non PADI C cards?

To be fair, I don't think PADI is expected to endorse their C-Cards with any other organisations certifications. But I do think they could do something inhouse.

I'm I missing something? I'm trying to think of a scenario that would require anyone to be burdened by carrying around 1 or several certification cards on a daily basis? Mine are in my log which I take with me when I go diving. I've never even been asked to present one for an incidental air fill or equipment purchase at an LDS. When I do go diving, I only take the card(s) I need given the diving I'll be doing. For the most part, it's usually only my AOW. I never take my highest card in case I loose it and anything over AOW will get you paired with the least experienced diver. If something is lacking, I'll either let my log book or actions do that talking.

However, it wouldn't hurt for them to consolidate them or at least make some indication of Nx certification on your highest cert card... Perhaps a sticker? But in the end, it's not a convenience I'm willing to pay more for.

I like the sticker idea - Nitrox is always the bugbear. I have heard of dive shops that won't rent a DPV or a Drysuit without a certification, or who require proof of Deep or Night for certain dives, although I confess I have never seen either in practice.

In practice, most dive shops can verify your certifications (certainly PADI and TDI) over the web, so perhaps all the thinking on this thread is out of date.

 

[NudeDiver]

Stickers wear off, get damaged, etc..... And how is a sticker an advantage over having the info just printed on the card?

 

[Damselfish]

I thought I heard a rumor I could pay padi and they would give me a card that combines both my AOW and Nitrox certs?

Is this true?
If yes how do I order one of those?

The instructors and dive masters make a good point about wanting to go low profile but for us regular folks keeping tabs on one less item might make our holidays easier. Even if it is just a cert card.

yes, it's true, and for some reason no one has mentioned it in this thread, or maybe I missed it. Just go here and do Online Replacement. I have one, but I only ordered it because I needed a new card anyway. I'm not sure I would give them more money for something I agree they should do anyway. As to why they don't, I suspect it's due to lame or antiquated systems that make it hard, with no incentive for them to do anything about it. If they had a well designed system it could just allow you to choose up to a certain number to put on any new card. Giving you the option to at least list a few certs someone might actually care about seeing, like drysuit or maybe deep.

Unfortunately when you get a new cert they won't automatically issue a combined card. Like say you have AOW and then get Nitrox, it would be nice if they would just send you a combined AOW/Nitrox card, but they don't. You have to order and pay separately. (although, I thought Dandy Don once posted that he contacted PADI and nagged them into doing this.)

 

[leapfrog]

I do agree that a cumulative card would be nice but, as it won't integrate with my NAUI certs, I'm not signing up. I'll take a couple of PADI specialties but that's about it.Richard

That's why it wouldn't work. The RSTC wouldn't go for it and NAUI legimitally opted out of that organization. I think it would also be more of a hinderance to divers than a benefit. Each diver should choose who (which instructor) he wants to train with at each C level, irrespective of agency. A cumulative card would end up enforcing single agency training.

 

[leapfrog]

Instructors certify divers, not agencies.....

 

[Doc]

I dunno why anyone would get those in the first place. I'm referring to the useful ones.

What is useful beyond a plain old c-card or maybe an EAN nitrox card? When you get that EAN card, you can use the certified diver card for scraping ice off of your windshield. Most people use nitrox even when air would do fine, so I'm not even sure about that one.

Why do you need the cards?

If you want to jump in and drag somebody out of the water, nobody is going to ask for your card. And that is the most useful skill set above all others.

Pitch your idea to PADI directly,

I can't say that I've actually seen anyone from PADI responding here - but just in case they read this....

Or maybe you just wanted a good discussion, but I'm not sure of the usefulness or importance of what you wanted.

A c-card is a c-card. Go dive and gain knowledge by reading and doing.

Oh, I forgot. Chicks:gorgeous:dig 'em.

*N.B.- Your PADI number becomes permanent once you attain a pro status certification.

 

[craracer]

So when you see an outrageous fee for a class - that's the instructor or LDS, not PADI - they make a flat fee of less than $15 (again, volume discounts to some) for the certification application.

I've had several LDS's state that they don't make any money training.....it all goes to PADI.

One card would be a good idea. Recently, I lost 3 cards on a trip. Replacement/ripoff cost was $30/card, so I decided to only get one.