TDI Technical Courses

[ianr33]

The other thread is a Train Wreck so lets try again.

What are your opinions on TDI technical courses ?

DIR practitioners please stay in you cosy little sanctuary. Your "opinions" are not appreciated.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

I took a TDI Advanced Trimix course from a guy on the east coast. It was a decent course. I was familiar with much of the material in advance, and TDI continues to upgrade its textbooks, however all in all faced with the same decision I'd make the same choice.

YMMV.

 

[ppo2_diver]

I took TDI's Trimix class. Materials are still being upgraded and are better than what they have been. They have also been firming up some of their skills that they require from the courses. Overall, I think TDI is making good improvements to their classes.

 

[ianr33]

Thank you for your opinion.

I was very happy with my Advanced Nitrox/Deco.
Less so with my Trimix. I knew going in to that particular course it would just barely meet standards.Served its purpose though.
One day I may do an Advanced Trimix course. I will choose my instructor carefully. I have too much invested in the TDI path at this point to go elsewhere.

One thing I liked about the deco course was that it gave me experience of diving air to 150 feet in perfect conditions (Cayman). Now as a (hopefully!) thinking diver I can make my own informed decisions as to what constitutes an acceptable END for a particular dive.

 

[Meng_Tze]

And as long as a diver thinks about these things, the course/instructor through which this insight came has achieved its purpose.

I took adv.Trimix with TDI. The manual does have in depth information, but it does require you to have some foundational insight into matters.

 

[amascuba]

Here's what I wrote the the train wreck post:

As an agency I believe that TDI is behind the curve and is stuck in diving concepts that are 20+ years old. I haven't seen any of the new materials, but the materials that I have show that. That's not to say that the individual instructor may take the class into the new millennium and teach some updated concepts.

 

[LVX]

Ian, my experience was much like yours. The trimix part was obviously exactly like yours. My deco and advanced nitrox courses were pretty good although I don't really think it had much to do with the TDI books as much as it did all the supplemental materials provided by my instructor at the time. So far, those have been the best classes I took but again, it was because of my instructor and not the books.

Layne

 

[fweber]

I'm familiar with the materials from IANTD, TDI, GUE, DSAT, NACD, and NSS-CDS. And have taken PAD, IANTD, TDI, NACD, and NSS-CDS courses. I've found the TDI materials easy to read. Not necessarily in a fasion I most appreciate but some might like them. They could and are being updated. By and large they are written in simple terms that are easy to understand. I tend to lean toward more technical description of the principles involved and draw my conclusions from there.

With regard to course progression. They offer a more ala carte system, that allows you and your instructor to chart a path that makes sense for the real world diving that you will be participating in.

 

[Randy43068]

How do TDI instructional materials stack up against NAUI materials?

 

[JeffG]

How do TDI instructional materials stack up against NAUI materials?

My understanding is that some (all??) of the TDI manuals are/have been rewritten. I have the advanced trimix (written by Steve Lewis (Doppler)). It is Excellent.

I have the old copies of adv nitrox and Trimix and they are not even worth the paper they are printed on.

I have not seen the NAUI manuals though.