Swedtech Diving Agency

[babycover]

Hi all,

I have been looking into this agency apparently really little infors about these guys.

the reason is I want to get into Tec diving and did have a chat with one of the instructor of this agency.

his advise was instead of doing ( PADI path) : Deep -> Nitrox -> advance nitrox -> Tec 40- 45-50 ->trimix ->60

Swedtech path : Extended scuba skill -> Trimix ->tec 60


My goal is Cave and Wreck


Cost is the same for the 2 path (possibly a little cheaper if go with Swedtech, but not much)

what I want to ask is :

• Quality of the training of the agency as this is my first time hearing about this agency
• Certification? is it world wide recognized just like PADI?
• Anyone done it? how is it ?

My first impression of talking with the instructor ( met him when he was doing his leisure dive) is he kind of trustworthy and according to him, the quality of the course has higher standard than others. ( by all mean please don’t take offend - this doesn’t mean other agency is bad)


Lastly, please excuse any gramma mistake

 

[KevinNM]

I don't know anything about this or the instructor, so this might seem hostile or overly cynical.

Higher standards than some tech diving centers doesn't mean much. Someone posted links to the promo film some shop was using and about 2 of the dozen tech divers had decent trim, half were vertical finning to keep off the wreck, looking exactly like the new divers you see on the typical tourist dive boat other than the extra gear.

High standards are the instructor turning down your money and telling you that you are not yet skilled enough to take their class, but here are 5 things you need to work on and this is what you need to be able to do before they will start actual tech training and then working out how to measure your progress to those benchmarks.

 

[rivers]

I would suggest: GUE Fundamentals----> Tech 1-----> Tech 2

 

[Bennno]

Cost is the same for the 2 path (possibly a little cheaper if go with Swedtech, but not much)

Unless you ALSO get a cert from a known agency, don't do it. There are a tons and tons of crappy little agencies around, especially in Europe, and most of them aren't around for long. You also run the risk of dive shops not accepting your cards. There is noting in it for you.

 

[Germie]

Swedtech is small, it is older than GUE. I know some instructors and from what I have seen their level is ok.
The only thing I would consider is the recognisement by other divecenters. In Sweden no problem, in Malta, no problem (as some Swedtech instructors teach in Malta and one lives there). The Swedtech instructor in Malta teaches for IANTD too. But in other countries? In my country it is unknown, so it will not be recognised everywhere.

Personally I would look to a way where you don't have to dive to 50m on air like with padi tec40-45-50 (I know, it is possible to do some on trimix, but that is not offered in most divecenters), and then do normoxic trimix (60m). With padi you need to have: nitrox, deep, tec40-45-50, tectrimix60. So no adv. nitrox.
Other agencies like tdi and iantd have: deep, nitrox, adv. nitrox and then normoxic trimix (60m). Tdi offers adv. nitrox and decompression diving as 2 courses, this is one course with the name adv. nitrox with iantd. you can save here 2 courses as adv. nitrox is just 1 and not 3 courses (40-45-50). IANTD offers adv. recreational trimix too, that is done on a twinset and goes on a trimix to max 51m (was 48m, this changed a couple of weeks ago). You can do this course instead of adv. nitrox.
At the end it depends on you as diver, how good do you want to be, do you want to practise, and do you really want to learn. And the instructor.

And remember, if cave is your goal too, choose an agency where you can do cave too.

 

[babycover]

Swedtech is small, it is older than GUE. I know some instructors and from what I have seen their level is ok.
The only thing I would consider is the recognisement by other divecenters. In Sweden no problem, in Malta, no problem (as some Swedtech instructors teach in Malta and one lives there). The Swedtech instructor in Malta teaches for IANTD too. But in other countries? In my country it is unknown, so it will not be recognised everywhere.

Personally I would look to a way where you don't have to dive to 50m on air like with padi tec40-45-50 (I know, it is possible to do some on trimix, but that is not offered in most divecenters), and then do normoxic trimix (60m). With padi you need to have: nitrox, deep, tec40-45-50, tectrimix60. So no adv. nitrox.
Other agencies like tdi and iantd have: deep, nitrox, adv. nitrox and then normoxic trimix (60m). Tdi offers adv. nitrox and decompression diving as 2 courses, this is one course with the name adv. nitrox with iantd. you can save here 2 courses as adv. nitrox is just 1 and not 3 courses (40-45-50). IANTD offers adv. recreational trimix too, that is done on a twinset and goes on a trimix to max 51m (was 48m, this changed a couple of weeks ago). You can do this course instead of adv. nitrox.
At the end it depends on you as diver, how good do you want to be, do you want to practise, and do you really want to learn. And the instructor.

And remember, if cave is your goal too, choose an agency where you can do cave too.

Thank you for all your advise.

As i said my goal is cave and wreck, so i would really like to improve my basic skill as much as i can and get comfortable at 60m before i try and get cave and wreck cert .

From what Germie said, i think IANTD should be the way to go and is a shorted path.
I would assume their cert is world wide and they got good reputation?

My LDS provide both PADI, and IANTD and their instructor is fantastic ( I did advnce cert with them and they are the only dive shop that fail OW student)

Again Im on my way to tec so i would love to know all the path which short, give good quality ( provide all the skills that necessary assumed the instructor is good)

 

[KevinNM]

These seem like mutually contradictory objectives. Racing through courses so you can do some sort of benchmark dive by x date seems like a bad idea. GUE can get you doing deep caves in fairly few courses, but it won't be fast or inexpensive to get to to the point where you can successfully complete cave 2 and tech 2.

 

[RainPilot]

With UTD, you would need to do Essentials of Tech (roughly GUE Fundamentals with tech pass) then Tech 1 would take you to 48m with helitrox. There would be no problem moving onto Cave and Wreck later either.

Find an Instructor · UTD Scuba Diving

That link is to the UTD instructors in Europe who can teach Tech 1, didn't look specifically for Sweden.

 

[chrisch]

And remember, if cave is your goal too, choose an agency where you can do cave too.

On the Swedtech website there is a cave course. However, I had never heard of them until this thread so I can see there might be issues with that certification in places where a recognised certification is needed to dive caves (no idea if that is the case in Australia, but it is in much of the USA)

 

[babycover]

These seem like mutually contradictory objectives. Racing through courses so you can do some sort of benchmark dive by x date seems like a bad idea. GUE can get you doing deep caves in fairly few courses, but it won't be fast or inexpensive to get to to the point where you can successfully complete cave 2 and tech 2.

No No, defientely not, that never appear in my mind, the reason i wan to take short parth is becasue of the money, more courses you have to go through the more you have to pay.

With UTD, you would need to do Essentials of Tech (roughly GUE Fundamentals with tech pass) then Tech 1 would take you to 48m with helitrox. There would be no problem moving onto Cave and Wreck later either.

Find an Instructor · UTD Scuba Diving

That link is to the UTD instructors in Europe who can teach Tech 1, didn't look specifically for Sweden.

I heard a lot about GUE, some good feedback, some say it is overprice and can get the same quality with other agancies, Im in Melbourne so that link does not show any instructor in Australia. But thank you for your help.
Also, apparently Swedtech is older than GUE, just for some reason they are not as wellknow. it a bit weird.