Originally Posted by Send Clowns
Talk to some people who have done the FAA IR then immediate conversion to JAA. Those I have met have said that it wasn't worth doing the FAA first, the training was of little use towards achieving the JAA rating. Take that false saving out of your figures and you come up with pretty much the same costs as you could find the training for never leaving the UK...
While this may be a perfectly valid and accurate point of view for some it may not be for others. In fact, from personal experience, I couldn't disagree more.
I suspect it comes down to where one trains. Riverside did the job for me and the guys there have all been through the JAA system (well those teaching the IR bits, anyway). In fact the CFI of the school there is a Brit who previously instructed here in Blighty so he knows what will be expected of you and makes sure you can perform to the standards expected during conversion.
I went through the FAA IR there and then did some extra IR-esque hour building in the twin afterwards (at £100 ph!). On coming home I went through the conversion in a smidge over min time. In terms of cost, I spent the same as I would have done by doing the full course here but I ended up with more hours and significantly more aircraft (and MEP) time - far more fun than flying a sim around for 35 hours.
As as been suggested, try to talk to a variety of folk who have each done things differently and see what works for you.