NAUI vs. PADI Advanced

[RevDoc]

OK, I really don't want to open another NAUI vs. PADI debate. I recently finished my OW through PADI and really want to get more supervised dives. There is a PADI shop really close and a NAUI one a bit further away. Understanding that much depends on the instructor, does anyone know if there is a significant difference between the materials the two courses use? NAUI is six dives vs. PADI's 5. I am wondering if they cover basically the same stuff the same way. Thanks for any input!

[RoadRacer1978]

I can't say for sure, as I went through the PADI system for AOW as well. I believe that, as you do that the instructors make all the difference and you will find good as well as bad in both orginizations. I have been doing alot of thinking recently and am strongly considering taking some NAUI courses to see what if any difference there are in the cirriculum. I'm just kinda tired of giving my money to PADI shareholders and considering NAUI for a change in pace. My father went through NAUI and his initial training was completely different than mine, but he also went through his training back in the early to mid 70's. His training sounded more like boot camp and was something earned, not bought. In another post by Woody, who teaches the NAUI Tech classes at ScubaToys, he says this.

Originally Posted by woody

The education is paid for, The certification is earned.

I really like that philosophy and hope to find instructors that are more prone to making you earn the certification. I'd feel muh better knowing I had to really be proficient and know what I was doing when that emergency occurs.

[bperrybap]

NAUI requires 6 dives: 3 must be Navigation, Deep, & Night with 3 the student can pick.

PADI requires 5 dives which I think the student gets to select.

I took the NAUI AOW course but
I've got both the PADI and NAUI course materials.
I have the NAUI "Advanced Scuba Diver" manual
and the PADI "Adventures in Diving" manual which
is what I believe is used for the PADI AOW course.

As far as written course material goes, I believe
that the PADI "Adventures in Diving" manual is much
better than the NAUI "Advanced Scuba Diver" manual.
It seems to be more detailed and has a lot more
Q&A study questions.

The NAUI book is pretty thin at 104 pages while
the PADI book at 372 pages covers all their specialties
so you can read/learn/practice things on your own
that are not covered as part of your formal AOW training.
(There are additional ones in the NAUI book just not as many)

I've seen so much agency bashing and talks about
how one is better/worse for this reason or that but
I have to tell you after seeing and going through
both sets of printed course materials
I was a bit underwhelmed by the NAUI
course materials and quite impressed by the PADI
material.

The difference I saw was that NAUI forces the
student to take certain specific training which IMHO
is some of the more difficult and useful things, where
PADI gives more flexibility in choice selection to the
actual student which means they might select
options, which some folks would consider "easier".

I can't speak for the differences in how the material is
covered or taught, but it appears that there is a lot less
difference between the agencies for specific
training "specialties" than what people like to argue about.

--- bill

[RoadRacer1978]

PADI I believe makes you do Deep, Nav, and Night then 2 others of you choice. Or should I say instructors choice. When I took the class we were told exactly which 5 dives we were doing.

The PADI manual is quite extensive and does cover almost every specialty they offer. Since you are supposed to be able to chose a couple dives and it is also used just for adventure dives it gives the student, and instructor some flexibiliy to the diving.

Glad you could chime in and give some useful info on NAUI AOW.

I'm going to try out some NAUI classes and do kinda what you did. Check out both agencies and see what differences there are and make my own mind up.

[texdiveguy]

Originally Posted by RoadRacer1978

PADI I believe makes you do Deep, Nav, and Night then 2 others of you choice. Or should I say instructors choice. When I took the class we were told exactly which 5 dives we were doing.

PADI-- must complete Deep..Nav. and 3 'others'.

[ScubaToys Larry]

Yea, Padi dropped the requirement to do limited vis or night. The report I heard was some folks would not take advanced because the night dive scared them, so Padi removed the requirement. The other side of the coin is should someone be considered advanced if a low vis or night dive scares them?

But that is the main difference - in what dives are required or optional.

[RevDoc]

Thanks a lot for all the input! I really appreciate the whole bashing thing has been kept out of it too! It's both tiring and useless. Echoing a concern expressed by someone else, I would like my training to push me a bit. Not sure I want someone beating up on me, but I really want to know that I can actually handle various situations and just be a responsible and respectful diver. I liked the PADI OW book and I am interested to hear about the Adventures book. To be honest, though, I thought a little more could have been done with both the pool and OW dives. I suppose mainly I just need to find good, experienced people to dive with and learn from their example? I guess it also seems to me that deep, nav. and night SHOULD be included. But I can just pick do them if I go with PADI ...

[texdiveguy]

Most PADI dive shops I am aware have it mandetory for one of the 3 optional dives to be 'Night'....so in most cases the student at best will have the opt. to select 2 dives of the five with the instructor/shop's ok.

[RoadRacer1978]

Originally Posted by texdiveguy

PADI-- must complete Deep..Nav. and 3 'others'.

Oops, my mistake, that is why I said I believe, wasn't really sure. Since I was not given a choice in what dives I made. Thanks for the correction, I thought thats what my instructors said, but was wrong. Might have been misinformed due to the change in PADI.

[RoadRacer1978]

Originally Posted by texdiveguy

Most PADI dive shops I am aware have it mandetory for one of the 3 optional dives to be 'Night'....so in most cases the student at best will have the opt. to select 2 dives of the five with the instructor/shop's ok.

You beat me to it. That is probably the deal with my LDS. Although the other 2 were mandatory as well... lol.... I know some of it has to do with logistics though. You can't always do a certain type dive in the enviroment you are in and have available to you.

Everyone in my class paid a little extra and did 2 additional night dives and got our night cert while we were at it.