certification ?

[RETIRED 11]

Any thoughts on which is better? Ncad. Psa etc. ?

[RETIRED 11]

Oops ncda

[Greenwood_60]

NSS-CDS and NACD are both widely recognized. Beyond that, find a good instructor. That means more than anything else.

[ffdiver5597]

Cert for what? I think it makes a difference at certain levels and less at others.

[Danseur]

OK, at which levels and how?

NACD
GUE
NSS-CDS
NAUI
PSAI
PDIC
IANTD
TDI
Others....

Great comment, if with informatave discussion to follow.

[stairman]

was confused by the origiinal question but as far as cavediving goes, NSS-CDS and NACD are much the same and I personally wouldnt try to pick between the two so I got both cards with an instructor that teaches both for an extra $25.00. GUE is a different monster all togeather and you can go to their sites for prices, requirements etc. The only other cave org for training I know of is IANTD. When you have made your choice, youll have to pick an intructor, and a few good ones are on this forum.

[flyguy199]

Don't worry so much about the agency...with regards to cave training, NACD and NSS-CDS are widely known and recognized but IANTD and TDI are also good. As others have mentioned, choose a good instructor whose teaching style matches your learning style and you should be fine.

[skip]

NAUI and PADI both offer cave cert's. as does TDI.

skip

[hhn_caver]

+1 on a good instructor.

[ffdiver5597]

OK, at which levels and how?

NACD
GUE
NSS-CDS
NAUI
PSAI
PDIC
IANTD
TDI
Others....

Great comment, if with informatave discussion to follow.

OK, Here are my thoughts on the different certs at different levels. Mind you my instructor can certify in mostly all the agencies.

If we are just talking about cave diving...

For cavern, I decided that going with TDI, NACD, NSS-CDS was a better choice than going with PADI, since the other agencies have slightly more liberal standards as far as penetration go. PADI allows 130 ft combining vertical and horizontal pen, where the others allow 200 feet.

At the Intro level, I went with TDI again, because of the limits placed on doubles by the other agency. NACD expires for doubles at 12 months and CDS expires at 18 months. At the time, I didn't want to limitation placed on me for when I had to go get apprentice or recert with doubles. I didn't know if I would even continue with training or just enjoy spending my life at the intro level. (I'm going to be doing full cave my next trip down to florida, so it's all a moot point now, but at the time the expiration date made a difference to me)

At the apprentice and full level, I can't see any difference between any of the agencies.

Also, Naui throws in a curve ball and has standards that resemble GUE cave 1, and may be a better choice if you want to stay at the cave 1 level for awhile. In hindsight I should have done the NAUI cert, it allows a couple navigational choices and thirds which I would have been all up for doing if I knew about it prior to just doing intro.

BTW I COULD BE COMPLETELY WRONG ABOUT ALL OF THIS.