I have a bunch of money invested in introductions, safety rules, and course descriptions from the various places I have had classes. Running around 1 hour or a little more and at rates of $100-200 per day, the money issue becomes clear.
Ideally, it would be good to find a place you and and from whom you can take higher level classes if you think they would be beneficial to you after your initial class(es). Bouncing around between schools can mean having to repeat lower classes as so schools either don't trust previous training from other schools and don't know if they can trust you being honest in saying how well you did at said class. No doubt, this is a liability issue and they don't want you attempting tactics for which you may not be up to speed because your training elsewhere was insufficient as a needed prerequisite.
I took a class in Dallas that had an opening and closing shooting skills test. There was a guy there who was a veteran of several gun schools in the US, even some supposed higher level classes, and he failed the skills test both times. This guy was the specific reason why gun schools are often inclined to to accept training at other schools to satisfy higher class level prerequisites. The guy's gun handling skills certainly scared the hell out of me. I was glad not to be on his squad.
With only extemely rare exceptions, it is tough to believe what people tell you when it comes to how wonderful X gun school was. The exceptions are those few times when you actually hear/read reviews that are not flattering about the shooting/instruction/safety experience. My belief is that most gun students are not experienced as gun handlers and/or not experienced enough to evaluate clearly what they experienced. No doubt many folks are just so terribly happy to be in a class, shooting with lots of others, that they get a sense of elation and having a good time even when the shooting instruction is not up to par.
One such example can be found on
www.tacticalforums.com, in a thread entitled "Commentary on daneburns, part II" Pan down to where Larry Vickers reports what he learned from a retired SWAT officer who attended a class. The same class is discussed here as well
http://www.pistolsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=4429&highlight=rangemaster+dallas
You will find much of the exchange that follows being very contrary. Some folks thought the class was great and others thought the class was far from adequate. How can people have such opposing views for the same class? Beats me. What it showed me, however, was that people can talk very positively about a class when obviously it wasn't a good class according to some of the participants.
If at all possible, avoid the ultra macho drill instructor types who seem to get a certain personal benefit from yelling at students and embarrassing them when they have done poorly. This does not make for a positive learning experience, contrary to what is claimed about trying to force the student to work under pressure as would happen in a real fight. For example, if the student is just learning how to do combat reloads, having somebody standing behind the student and yelling at the student so as to ramp up the pressure isn't proper teaching. Ramping up the pressure is great when you are dealing with a person who already has a given skill mastered. Otherwise, it is just frustrating to the student and the desired skills development result won't be attained. I have seen this bit of poor instructor behavior at both local schools and nationally well known schools.
Especially in a beginning class or a class where many of the folks are citizen self protectors, a more positive learning environment will benefit the student more than with the drill instructor types. I found that the folks at the old Thunder Ranch (and I assume it will continue at the new one) and Ken Hackathorn do very well with this concept. I understand that there are several others out there who also teach in a positive manner. If time and distance all, see if you can visit and observe a class in progress from a school or instructor from who you are thinking of taking instruction. In that manner, you can hopefully learn enough to determine if it is the teaching environment in which you would like to learn and spend a lot of money.
I plan on going to one of his Level II (handgun) and also want to attend one of his shotgun classes.....as soon as my health gets better..... 