50 hours- can be 20 mutual. I did all dual, and apart from the cost, I'm glad I did. My instructors must have been sick of me as I sponged every bit of info and tip I could out of em .
As far as instructors go, I'd talk to the actual person/s who will deliver the course, and if means that much to you, go for a fly with them.
You will sniff out good and bad operators if you do the research and use ya instincts.. I would only recommend a very small handful. PM me if you want. There are still operators out there who care about quality.
As far as teaching approvals for various ratings endo's etc, you need to get em separately, and as far as I can tell, part 61 is the result of a very long period of time sitting in a room,alone with nothing to do..
"I know!, il rewrite the docs" said the lone muppett " I won't change anything, but everyone will have to rewrite their ops manuals and I can generally cause everyone a fair bit of pain in their behinds..what fun!"
Whatever..