SSI or PADI?

[BoltSnap]

Why is SDI so much less expensive than PADI? Are their courses shorter, less training or what?

 

[Marie13]

From what I've been told, PADI requires a larger cut.

 

[BoltSnap]

From what I've been told, PADI requires a larger cut.

Interesting indeed. The actual courses aren't any shorter with SDI or requiring less skills?

 

[Marie13]

Interesting indeed. The actual courses aren't any shorter with SDI or requiring less skills?

I got my OW/DS cert two weeks ago via SDI. From comparing notes with recently (last 1-2 years) PADI certified folks I know, seems to be much the same for OW, at least.

 

[BoltSnap]

I know that NAUI's student materials package (with the c-card) is less than PADI's for sure and that the cost for becoming a NAUI instructor is generally a lot less too but didn't know about the SDI vs. PADI price difference.

I imagine if NAUI goes for eBooks instead of the paper books, our cost will be a lot less still. (We have eLearning but I am talking about the books in addition to eLearning).

 

[stuartv]

Interesting indeed. The actual courses aren't any shorter with SDI or requiring less skills?

My shop said I could pick SDI or PADI and the training would be the same. But if I wanted the PADI card, instead of SDI, it would cost $50 more.

I did my due diligence here on SB before I picked and determined that there was no (none, nada, zero, zilch) benefit to be had from paying $50 more for a PADI C card.

 

[Marie13]

My SDI cards were also printed out by my shop. Didn't know you had to wait on PADI to print cards.

 

[BoltSnap]

I did my due diligence here on SB before I picked and determined that there was no (none, nada, zero, zilch) benefit to be had from paying $50 more for a PADI C card.

Yes, there isn't at all. It is all about who will give you better training, the instructor. Dive destinations don't care about what agency gave you the card, they only care about the color of your money.

For technical diving, based on what I have heard from all sources, TDI is superior to PADI when it comes to technical diving (in terms of standards).

 

[Alessandro Calello]

So basically it seem that is not so important what agency you get certified with, but for us as our aim is to do this for living it's very important to understand it, because if you get certified with PADI for example then you can never get a job in a SSI or SDI TDI Diving Centre, because they will require someone that knows the ways of that agency, that's what I think... if you want just dive for passion then surely it doesn't matter...

Probably you are right when you say, depends where you go... but we want to do this as career and so it's very important to understand which one would be better for our future... nobody wants to invest so much money in getting professional in a job and then not being able to do it...

 

[sheeper]

if you certify as a DM, then you're a DM...no matter the agency. You can always certify with an agency like SDI then, if employment is an issue, do a crossover to another agency.
personally, i find SDI an easier agency to deal with. For example, SDI recently started making digital c-cards available to their divers. The additional cost for this is ZERO....that's right...no additional cost. PADI charges $37 per card.