pseudonym66 it sounds like you only have 2nd hand information about BGS. Since you didn't go there how can you comment? I would not criticise any other school since I do not know their strengths and weaknesses. As I have no basis for comparison for all I know BGS may be the worst school around, but their results and student feedback suggests they're probably the best. From my point of view, the instructors were superb, the course was interesting and I passed all 14 exams first time. If EPTA, GTS or BCFT are better than they must be extremely good schools but as I said who am I to compare, I’ve not studied with the others.
I also find it strange that you call the Bristol CD Rom expensive and clicky. The BGS course is amongst the cheapest around and the CD is merely a copy of the manual with the addition of animations which certainly helped me grasp some of the many difficult areas of the ATPL LO’s. It's also very useful for someone who takes the train to London on daily basis to be able to work from a laptop rather than carrying paper versions back and forth. The electronic progress tests are another excellent feature of the BGS CD as it gives you instantaneous feedback on your progression and it allow BGS to monitor your progress.
I think people on PPrune would prefer to have feedback from ex-students rather than 2nd hand information from someone who never went there.
