Are cheap courses any good?

[Zacary]

I have not ventured onto any courses yet, I am still looking at several schools, but I agree with several comments post previously - cost does not always reflect content, some UK schools seem to offer a lot for a reasonable price while others seem to offer the same amount of instruction or less for more.

Viewed from my uninitiated prospective it seems the bigger the school reputation the bigger the price. Personally I will always bat for the little guy as he usually gives better value for money and I am sure that true here as much as it is back home!

 

[acw_akkermans]

"Sometimes this is the problem - people expect too much, I believe you get what you pay for".

I'm sorry to be going on about this, but I thought about this comment for a long time, and I believe it is possible to get quality for less. I believe the quality of a cheaper course could, and should be just as good or better as the quality of the more expensive course.

On the other hand, if a high course-price suggests I am a good school,... Maybe I should raise my prices!

Anthonio

 

[Adi007]

"Sometimes this is the problem - people expect too much, I believe you get what you pay for".

I'm sorry to be going on about this, but I thought about this comment for a long time, and I believe it is possible to get quality for less. I believe the quality of a cheaper course could, and should be just as good or better as the quality of the more expensive course.

On the other hand, if a high course-price suggests I am a good school,... Maybe I should raise my prices!

Anthonio

Superb point and well made Anthonio! It not "you get what you pay for" is "you get what you were told you'd get". Price is such a poor indicator of quality. Just as an example, should Tom Brown Jr ahve devalued what he learned from Grandfather because he didn't charge?

 

[Gary]

Another example of this is the Pre-mac filters - when they were sold for £15 no-one bought them, Pre-mac repackaged them and sold them for £65 and now they sell like hot cakes.

Cost doesnt generally reflect course content or instructional quality (if it did we'd all charge an arm and a leg just to look good), cost as with any other brand name is always going to be higher depending upon booking demand and the imagine this creates in the buyers mind, as such a MERCEDES will always cost more than a FORD no matter how much quality Ford put into there cars.

 

[jakunen]

Gary's right. PRICE does not necessarily equal QUALITY.

I've been on computer courses that cost a fortune and I learnt nothing as the course was badly put together and was totally irrelevant to my job (but if your compnay tells you you're on a course, you go), but spent far less on a Bearclaw course and come away feeling like I'd learnt and achieved quite a bit.

Likewise, in the past I've spent quite a bit of money on a tent and had to buy a repair kit for it.
My last tent cost me 40 quid and came with a free repair kit included.

Quality is defined more by the VALUE of the course/item to YOU than by how much MONEY you parted with...

 

[jamesdevine]

I was originally booked to go on the Fundamental course next week but I changed my mind earlier in the year and took Anthonio's course instead.

The cost was a facture but not the only reason I choose one over the other the individual service and straight talking were a lot to do with it. Being able to discuss the course with the instructor before was a added bonus. In the end I believe I got more then my moneys worth with Wild live not just because it was cheaper (I would have paid more[who said that ]) it was more personal and less commercial and there was a flexibility there I don't believe would have been there in the other course. I for instance choose the dates of the course.

My honest opinion money is not related to the quality of the product or service it's what you but in and get out off it.

James

 

[chris chris]

Cheap courses are fantastic, if you can get one from a good quality instructor.

If you're prepared to work hard, focus and do what the instructors ask you to do.

If I may ask some relative questions to this.

1. What do you regard as cheap?

2. What would you expect to get for this? ie, a weekend basic skills course.

For example some courses out there say you have to bring your own tent and food, some even say book local accomadation, some cater fully, some cover more skills than others.

I personally think between £125 and £195 for a basic weekend is good value, the loower rate for taking my own food and tent and higher rate for fully cater. As for content I would not go on a course just because I want to cover one subject out of 12 subjects on the list. I would get a one on one or a specialist course on that one subject.

However, in this price bracket I would expect to be sharing the course with at least another 15 or more people.

Any thoughts?

Chris :wave:

 

[ScottC]

Both of my weekend courses with Tamarack were under £100 and they supplied the food and drink. They were fantastic and I learn't alot on both of them. Also some of the courses they're going to start doing soon look really good including one in sweden ( instructor said cost would be around £1000 each for a fortnight can't remember whether it was flights included). There prices are great, their kit is great and the instructors are great! :biggthump

 

[chris chris]

Nice one young bushman

What skills did you cover?
ie, Did you learn how to use a map and compass on the courses ? Biuld a debriss shelter ? learn many trees and plants ?

Watch out for overseas stuff, like hidden costs and legal things, I lead overseas expeds and Know it's illegal to do a flight included package unless you've got the right licence's and such, also I've come across companies charging vat on out of eu courses which is wrong, is Swedan in the eu?

Good luck, sounds like you've found a school you enjoy, keep on enjoying the outdoors young man.

Chris :wave:

 

[Wayne]

i have often see courses offered abroad say in nambia selling for over 2 grand for a week. how can these levels be justifed. The cost of living in these third world countries is next to nothing. therefore the overheads would appear to be low. maybe i am missing something. Is this just a case of what the market can stand? i am sure you could get some top class local instruction for a fraction of the cost.

 

[sargey]

we've been talking about schools alot recently. it seems to me that schools differ not only based on price, but on philosophy. some schools have a very military flavour, some have a practical real world survival outlook, some schools have practical skills combined with emphasis towards natural materials and primitive skills, some schools are very much into the spirit, earth mother thing.

as well as price, it my be worth considering your own personal philosophy, and what you hope to get from your course.

from personal experience, as inexpensive outfits go, i'd certainly recommend the cambrian school of survival.

the other cheap school i've trained with is the breakaway school, i wouldn't recommend them. bear in mind that that is just my personal opinion, based on my own experience.

cheers, and.

 

[chris chris]

Hi Wayne

I've led in Namibia and it's exspensive there any way.

Your right, if you can get out there and get into a local community it maybe better but the security of being in a multi vehicle organised exped in this environment, 2k would be a good trip.

Also, in Namibia, as in alot of Africa it is difficult to 'pin' local people down to teach you stuff. It took 3 trips to one community for me before they would commit to any plans my company had.

This part of Africa is an exspensive slot.

Sargey, good comments, although I had a good time at both these companies.

I seem to remember, Breakaway £50 4 years ago, Cambrian £125 2 years ago.
Both worth every penny and both two totally differant experiences.

Chris :wave:

 

[ScottC]

Nice one young bushman

What skills did you cover?
ie, Did you learn how to use a map and compass on the courses ? Biuld a debriss shelter ? learn many trees and plants ?

Watch out for overseas stuff, like hidden costs and legal things, I lead overseas expeds and Know it's illegal to do a flight included package unless you've got the right licence's and such, also I've come across companies charging vat on out of eu courses which is wrong, is Swedan in the eu?

Good luck, sounds like you've found a school you enjoy, keep on enjoying the outdoors young man.

Chris :wave:

Yep learn't lots of trees and plants (head instructor is a trained aboricultralist) especially ones that can be used for tinder (I did the Firecraft course with them). Didn't cover shelters though, however they are very flexible because when I contacted them about doing a shelter course they said they could do one anytime and that if I was interested they'd set aside a weekend for it or I could choose a weekend aslong as it didn't clash with another course. Nor did they mind if nobody else was interested and they would be happy to do it just for me and my dad. :biggthump

Thanks Chris :wave:

 

[Paganwolf]

I spent just over a month in Borneo cost me about 900/1000 quid this included car hire and plane tickets as well as food and some accommodation fees :shock: these places are incredibly cheap to travel in, so i think 2.500 quid not including plane tickets is a bit pricey but knowledge and experience is priceless

 

[ScottC]

I posted about what we did there in the Bushcraft Blog somewhere.

 

[chris chris]

Wow pagenwolf

Maybe we're off track here but that's a cheap trip, how much were the flights?, your costs breakdown and what did you get for that? .

Relative to the cheap courses question as to the differance between going on an organised trip/course as opposed to doing it yourself, only thing is, if things go wrong?

Anyway, what do you guy's call a cheap course and what would you expect for your money?

Chris :wave:

 

[Paganwolf]

I was working along with two other old pals of mine a few years ago now.My friend Organised and sorted everything ticket wise, He is A leading aracnologist specializing in theraphosid spiders (as i do) who also has his own publishing company and is a wizz at researching and getting the cheapest deals! We had about 4 stop's and had to sit in the hold ): I think they were about £380/400 some cheapo deal(cant remember exactly but we had to flap like mad to take off :rolmao: ) as we went right at the start of the rainy season, we were working in the jungle close to tracks,roads and reserves recording data and taking pictures for a book and a video, its a fantastic country to travel we went from kuching in sarawak up almost to bruni in a little Toyota Hi-ace!(about £300 between us) such a laugh as well as a lot of hard work every thing was split three ways which made things much cheaper.

 

[chris chris]

...everything split 3 ways. Did that include the royalties of the video and book.

Anyway sounds like a right laugh, never been to Borneo......maybe one day.

Thanks mate

Chris :wave:

 

[Paganwolf]

LOL ): we did mention it but he went deaf on us,bless him ):

 

[ScottC]

THe bearclaw courses look really good. You get to cover a lot of things over the greenhorn course and for a great price. I was reading the testimonial yesterday and was really impressed. I might ask my dad if we can go on one! :super: