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John Heimann (jheimann@sc*.gt*.co*) wrote, > I did a couple of mix dives this weekend as part of a trimix course, and in > the process answered a question I had posted to this list. > [... question deleted ...] > > My overall impression of mix diving was pretty positive. If it is not inappropriate can I ask how much you are paying for your course, who taught it and what you thought of the value for money. I am asking as the result of a conversation between Gordon Henderson (gordon@me*.co*.uk*), the manager of a local shop and myself. Both Gordon and myself are considering a trimix course (independently) in the not too distant future. The issues that were raised were; value for money, motivation, teaching style and equipment. However, it is not as straight-forward as that. Each of these issues may be interpreted differently depending on whether you are supplying the training, the equipment/gas or receiving them. It was expressed that there was not enough in the technical nitrox or deep air courses to justify them as separate courses, and that they could be rolled into the trimix course. The combined length could be shortened by about a day. There was also a question over the pricing policy: 1. As a shop owner and instructor you may prefer to offer cheap courses to encourage a large number of attendees, create a good base of divers and then make the money on equipment and gas supply. This doesn't mean a high prices - you can do it by volume of sales. 2. As a customer you would prefer cheap courses and then be allowed to choose where to invest your money by choosing from a wide range of equipment. Expensive courses are like direct taxes - IMHO you are being held to ransom. You shell out for the course because you want to do something. Then you find you are in a minority corner so the shops don't stock much and everything is expensive because it isn't being produced in low volume or there is a low demand for it. 3. As an instructor (and discounting those instructors who run shops as well) you obviously want to earn a good living, but you have the problem of balancing what you charge against what people are prepared to pay, and whether the retail industry feel that you are producing enough of a market to justify the cost of stocking/supplying the goods. As an example of the difference in course prices; Gordon paid three times more than I did for the same Nitrox course. In fact you could argue that I got slightly more because although we both did the IANTD course, in the course I did we went on to get the differences from the ANDI course. It is arguable whether this was worth anything. At the risk of getting into a "Put Another Dollar In" type conversation (which I'm sure can be avoided), I'd like to ask for comments or opinions on the above. Alan
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