Definitely agree with these sentiments - I have been keen to commence training for the past couple of months and looked at lots of options, (including even watching Dell Schanze videos as well and which are very convincing and based on these, is a really good, cost effective option for what appears to be really intensive training with lots of hands on / flying time AND reliable conditions).
Unfortunately however, I have still not been able to commit to a decision due to the various 'for's' and 'againsts' that seem to crop up...
ABBI or BHPA
UK or overseas
Weekends or only or intensive
EP and CP combined (zero to hero) or split training
Paramotoring straight away or paraglide and then conversion
Purchase first and train free (or heavily discounted) OR train first then buy (some give a credit back and some don't)
Train with school equipment but if you damage it (as an ab initio student) you have to pay out for damages / replacements
One friend trained with a UK based school and said it was really well organised and highly recommended them so I thought great - word of mouth recommendation must be good as he is actively flying now, until chatting with another chap who said of the same school, he had a very poor experience with them overseas and now has 'credit' to carry on more training but at the cost of more flights and accommodation and will have to go back to the start as it has been so long...
With conflicting opinions like these, as a 'noob', even word of mouth seems not to count for much and so can be confusing. Despite pretty much everyone advising to speak to others and find out about their experiences I still am no further along...
I guess that at some point I will need to take the plunge and commit but with an initially high capital outlay for training I don't want to invest irresponsibly but don't want to drop a bollock by not purchasing equipment first and missing out on genuine discounts....nor can I afford to balls up completely and be charged £5,000 for replacement kit (school or my own)...