pros and cons?

They claim to be "pros" but I think they're a con job. They'll take your money, but they don't have any pre-requisites for admission. Hard to gear meaningful instruction to a group where some are LEO, military combat vets, and some are metrosexuals who don't know the difference between 9mm and 38 Spl ammo without checking headstamps.

I don't have any negative comments on the two training sessions I paid for (two-day Front Sight in 1997, one week at Gunsite in 2001) and thought I got good instruction both times. Chuck Taylor was Rangemaster for the Front Sight session and Louis Awerbuck for the week at Gunsite. Both times the student group was a pretty good bunch, but with varying levels of competency, at least at the beginning. I thought the trainers did a good job of providing individual attention to each student and calibrate instruction accordingly. There is a lot to learn and starting out with good basics can't hurt, and you've got to start somewhere. I'm hoping to avoid "advanced gunfights" and will only get involved in "basic gunfights". I would probably choose between Gunsite and Thunder Ranch, out of the three you mention, and pick the one whose training sessions best fit your calendar.