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GirgisHady - PeerSpot reviewer
IT director at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Feb 24, 2022
Works very well as a perimeter firewall, comes with many useful features, and is easy to manage
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
  • "There are some tiny bugs that sometimes affect the operations. In the past revision of it, there was a bug. Because of the bug, we had to downgrade the version. It happened only with the last revision."
  • "There are some tiny bugs that sometimes affect the operations."

What is our primary use case?

We are using FortiGate as a perimeter firewall.

What is most valuable?

It is our perimeter firewall. URL filtering, IPS, and antivirus features are most valuable.

It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box.

What needs improvement?

Their support can be improved in terms of the response time and the quality of support.

There are some tiny bugs that sometimes affect the operations. In the past revision of it, there was a bug. Because of the bug, we had to downgrade the version. It happened only with the last revision.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for two years.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been very stable over the past two years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have no problem with scalability. When I need to add any device, I just find and add it to the network. I have no issue with the count of devices. I can buy a license and add whatever devices I need to add. Currently, I have no issue with the scalability of this firewall, but if I reach the maximum limit, I need to exchange the box or just add licenses. We currently have about 1,000 users.

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted them many times. My experience with them was good, but their support can be improved overall. I would rate them a three out of five. 

How was the initial setup?

It was very simple.

What about the implementation team?

There was a partner supporting us. Our experience with them was very good. I would rate its setup experience a four out of five.

For maintenance, we currently have a team of two people, but it may be extended to three or four.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It has been two years. I don't remember the actual price, but it was affordable.

We buy the boxes and then use the license for three years.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this product. It is a very good product to be used as a perimeter firewall.

I would rate it an eight out of 10.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Ed Sexton - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Director at Exponential-e
Real User
Feb 22, 2022
Represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security and is a solid proposition for the mid-market
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution."
  • "Usually, we sell the bundle with the UTM or threat management piece with IPS, IDS. Other providers, such as Palo Alto, are ahead in terms of safe functionality. So, for me, delivering truly safe service is probably something that still needs to be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use Fortigate, and we have a relationship with Fortinet. We are working with the Fortigate 100F firewall. It is mainly for firewalling, but we would also use them for network demarcation as a DHCP or NAT router. We're also working with our Fortinet account manager to try and push further forward using an SD-WAN controller.

In terms of deployment, it comes through to the build lab. We configure it and then ship it to our customers. We are reviewing how to obviously do zero hands with FortiCloud, but what we've done so far has been conventional configuration and shipping.

What is most valuable?

Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution.

What needs improvement?

Usually, we sell the bundle with the UTM or threat management piece with IPS, IDS. Other providers, such as Palo Alto, are ahead in terms of safe functionality. So, for me, delivering truly safe service is probably something that still needs to be improved.

Anything they can bring around safe service would be brilliant. At the end of the day, when we talk to customers about deploying, split tunneling, and looking at endpoint security, remote access or safe type of features would be useful.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been selling Fortinet technologies for over 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. It is quite straightforward. Moving from, for instance, legacy 200D to 100F has proved not to be an issue. It is quite straightforward.

How are customer service and support?

I am not a hundred percent sure. Our third-line guys deal with them quite a lot. In terms of escalation, for example, when one of my customers had a query about secure authentication on the portal, it has taken some time to get feedback from the vendor or the manufacturer. So, I am unsure. I've not had a great experience, but I can't really answer that one properly.

How was the initial setup?

It is reasonably straightforward if you've got the management portal in terms of FortiCloud. With that, migrating from one firewall, as it reaches the end of support, to an upgraded firewall is fairly intuitive. You should be able to easily reverse out a script and configuration and apply that to the new firewall, following proper governance as a managed service.

We're a managed service provider, so we would probably put two to three PS engineer days to follow the appropriate protocol. From a lead time perspective, a new high availability firewall deployment should not take more than 10 working days from the config test, deployment, and failover test perspective.

What other advice do I have?

If you are a mid-market business, Fortigate presents a solid proposition for the mid-market. If you are getting to enterprise-level, for me, Palo Alto is still a more viable product when you get up to what I call financial services, enterprise-level service customers. 

I would rate it an eight out of 10 for its ease of deployment and its ubiquitous approach to network security. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Michael Vlahakis - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at Digivalue
Real User
Feb 20, 2022
Fits the customer requirements very well, comes with good support, and is very stable
Pros and Cons
  • "It is useful for protecting and segregating the internal networks from the internet. Most of our customers also use the FortiGate client to connect to their offices by using the VPN client, and of course, they usually activate the antivirus, deep inspection, and intrusion prevention services. They are also using it for web filtering and implementing various policies dealing with forwardings, NAT, etc."
  • "It is a fantastic product, it fits the customer requirements very well, and the vendor is great."
  • "A sandbox would be good in order to be able to inspect the emails containing spam and be able to validate the emails that contain malware, prior to delivering to the customer."

What is our primary use case?

We manage FortiGate firewalls for our customers. We are working with 100F, 100D, and 60D.

All our FortiGates are installed on-premises, but we can manage our customers' firewalls remotely.

What is most valuable?

It is useful for protecting and segregating the internal networks from the internet. Most of our customers also use the FortiGate client to connect to their offices by using the VPN client, and of course, they usually activate the antivirus, deep inspection, and intrusion prevention services. They are also using it for web filtering and implementing various policies dealing with forwardings, NAT, etc.

What needs improvement?

A sandbox would be good in order to be able to inspect the emails containing spam and be able to validate the emails that contain malware, prior to delivering to the customer.

Its initial setup could be simpler.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Its stability is great. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have not had the necessary size to experience extendability.

How are customer service and support?

They supported us in many of our projects when we needed the expertise to configure the devices properly according to the customer's specifications.

How was the initial setup?

It could be simpler. Sometimes, it is very difficult. Policies tend to mix up sometimes, and it can be difficult to have clear policies for one particular thing.

What other advice do I have?

We recommend this product to customers with up to 200 or 250 people. This size is considered large by Greek standards. If a customer is located in one single building or two or three buildings, and they do not have a complicated architectural infrastructure, this product is ideal for them. It is not recommended for customers with a complex infrastructure and a lot of buildings.

I would rate it a nine out of 10. It is a fantastic product. It fits the customer requirements very well, and the vendor is great. We are very pleased with it.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Assistant Manager - Network & Security at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Feb 17, 2022
Simple initial setup, mature features, and responsive support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor."
  • "Overall it is not scalable."

What is our primary use case?

Fortinet FortiGate is used to secure internet gateways.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solutions. Other solutions, such as Palo Alto, Cisco, and Forcepoint are less stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For scalability, you must define your needs before implementing Fortinet FortiGate. You must know specifications, such as throughput, the number of sessions, and the SSL. Overall it is not scalable.

How are customer service and support?

We had some simple questions for the support and they were able to respond within a few hours. I was satisfied.

I rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate a four out of five.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is extremely simple. Customers that have never used it can manage it with ease after a few days.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Fortinet FortiGate gives you most of the features in one license.

The activation of the license and support could improve. When I order Fortinet products, I have one year to activate my license and support. If this year passed without activating this license and support, I will lose it. If I ordered three years, I will lose all of the years. I must reorder them again, which is not reasonable.  For example, if I have to activate my license in six months but didn't activate it during the six months, they should activate automatically. They should not remove the license. They should activate automatically after the grace period.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Information Technology Solutions Manager at UBG
Real User
Feb 15, 2022
Beneficial user interface, provides multiple engines, and high availability
Pros and Cons
  • "The most useful functionality of Fortinet FortiGate is the user interface, multiple engines, and their cloud with the latest integrations, and additionally, the Security Fabric tool is very good."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate can improve by integrating the web application firewall and the DDoS protection part of the solution. Having a WAF feature, web application firewall, and proxy together would be a good benefit."

What is our primary use case?

Fortinet FortiGate can be deployed on the cloud, hybrid, and on-premise. We use a combination of private and hybrid for the deployment.

We are using Fortinet FortiGate for parameter security, network isolation, and web filtering. 

What is most valuable?

The most useful functionality of Fortinet FortiGate is the user interface, multiple engines, and their cloud with the latest integrations. Additionally, the Security Fabric tool is very good.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate can improve by integrating the web application firewall and the DDoS protection part of the solution. Having a WAF feature, web application firewall, and proxy together would be a good benefit.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is highly stable. It has high availability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is very good.

We have customers with 1,000 users using this solution and others with 100.

Engineers use this solution and all the end-users are connected to it. The whole organization is using the solution.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is very helpful. We had a very good experience with them.

How was the initial setup?

The initial installation is straightforward, and the full process takes one to two days.

What about the implementation team?

We have our own team that does the implementation of the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The support subscription for the solution is annual. You are paying for support and there are two levels of support, professional and advanced.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer930837 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager (Engineering Department) at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Feb 13, 2022
Has UTM capabilities, integrates well with other Fortinet solutions, and is quite easy to deploy
Pros and Cons
  • "The UTM feature is quite good. FortiAP is easy to deploy because both Fortigate and FortiAP are under the same brand. Otherwise, you need to do more work on the configuration."
  • "The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."
  • "Price, of course, can always be more competitive or better."

What is our primary use case?

We have been using it for our internal infrastructure, but mainly, we are providing it as a service to our customers.

In one of the use cases, a customer is using FortiGate, and they also use FortiAP. To collect the usage and monitor the traffic, they use FortiAnalyzer. So, they have FortiGate, FortiAP, and FortiAnalyzer. It is not a very big deployment. It is a midsized company with less than 50 people.

What is most valuable?

The UTM feature is quite good. FortiAP is easy to deploy because both Fortigate and FortiAP are under the same brand. Otherwise, you need to do more work on the configuration.

What needs improvement?

Price, of course, can always be more competitive or better.

If a customer has a requirement for firewall, security, WiFi, and analytics, it is good if we can propose a solution from the same vendor, but we have found that no distributor in Hong Kong has sufficient knowledge to deploy Network Access Control (NAC) solutions. They have a wide range of products, but apart from the popular ones, such as a firewall or an AP,  there is not sufficient support here in Hong Kong for NAC solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for more than 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is reasonably stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Our customers are mainly small to medium businesses. I really didn't have a chance to scale it up. We have a customer with two subsidiaries on the same floor. They are changing from traditional features to SD-WAN features. Based on what I heard from my colleagues, migration work is quite smooth, and there are no big issues.

How are customer service and support?

I'm not doing hands-on work for the projects, but from my colleagues, I haven't heard of any delay or incompetency in support.

How was the initial setup?

It is quite easy. The duration depends on the complexity. If you are using a firewall from one brand and WiFi from another brand, then you probably would need more time to do the setup. Overall, the saving is around 25% in terms of labor hours.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Their licensing costs are annual. The UTM feature license along with their support is called FortiCare. We include that as a part of the annual maintenance cost. Palo Alto or Juniper also have an annual subscription charge for UTM.

Price, of course, can always be more competitive, but it is not the most expensive product. The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others as well as to our existing customers who are not using FortiGate. I would rate it an eight out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer947427 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
MSP
Feb 12, 2022
Beneficial centralized management and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the FortiManager for centralized management."
  • "The price of Fortinet FortiGate is better than Cisco, Check Point, and Palo Alto."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate could improve if it had a cloud-managed solution."
  • "The technical support from Fortinet FortiGate is terrible. They can improve."

What is our primary use case?

I am using Fortinet FortiGate as a perimeter internet firewall.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the FortiManager for centralized management.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate could improve if it had a cloud-managed solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is approximately 80 percent stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support from Fortinet FortiGate is terrible. They can improve.

The presales, account management, and post-sales are the three worst things about Fortinet.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously used other solutions such as Cisco, Check Point, and Palo Alto.

The solution I would recommend largely depends upon the environment it is being implemented. We tend to mix and match firewalls, but Check Point tends to be,  easier to manage, but more expensive. Their support is much better than Fortinet's when it comes to pre-sales and post-sales.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of Fortinet FortiGate is better than Cisco, Check Point, and Palo Alto. In terms of pricing, it's probably a better-priced firewall solution overall.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
PeerSpot user
Senior Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Feb 11, 2022
Secure, beneficial load balancing, and useful management UI
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is load balancing, as it can provide central management and VPN access and has enhanced our security environment, with a management UI that is more user-friendly than Cisco's solution."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding FortiAnalyzer to its solution, we should not have to use another solution. FortiAnalyzer can provide more detailed information."

What is our primary use case?

We use Fortinet FortiGate for a UPP solution. For example, DNS filtering, IPS, and VPN access.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is load balancing. It can provide central management and VPNA. Additionally, it has enhanced our security environment.

The management UI is more user-friendly than Cisco's solution.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding FortiAnalyzer to its solution, we should not have to use another solution. FortiAnalyzer can provide more detailed information.

I hope that Fortinet FortiGate provides a software define network(SDN) solution.  and provide the interface for the user. If we have the SDN interface we can develop our system to manage Fortinet devices.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found Fortinet FortiGate to be scalable.

Our company is across many locations. For example, Europe, South America, America, China, Taiwan, and Asia. At this moment all of the sites are using Fortinet FortiGate. There are approximately 10,000 users that are using Fortinet FortiGate.

How are customer service and support?

I have not used technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously used Juniper. I did prefer the Juniper OS but not anymore because the Junos firewall seems not to be very stable. Since Juniper had stability issues is why we went with Fortinet FortiGate.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is a license to use Fortinet FortiGate.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have evaluated other solutions, such as Cisco.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1249359 - PeerSpot reviewer
Executive at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Feb 9, 2022
Easy to use with a nice console but needs to offer container security
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very user-friendly."
  • "I'm not sure if it's something that they already have or are developing something, however, we need some dedicated features for container security."

What is our primary use case?

We mainly use the solution as a firewall. 

What is most valuable?

The solution is very user-friendly.

The collection of the integration of multiple nodes makes everything very easy. The fact that you can push, directly, one element, and you can leverage the distribution of the policy very well has been great. 

Honestly, the console is done very well. It's easy to use.

From a strategic point of view, I've seen, in recent years, a big challenge from Fortinet to recover some kinds of space with respect to the other two biggest players, Check Point and Palo Alto. That has happened much more since the beginning of the next generation file. I found Fortinet recovered much market space in the last year.

What needs improvement?

I'm not sure if it's something that they already have or are developing something, however, we need some dedicated features for container security. Other vendors have developed some kind of specific product to protection. Containers now are very common, especially in the cloud. It's an area that needs to be addressed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've worked with the product for three or four years, more or less. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability has been great. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have more than 10,000 people o the solution. The scalability capabilities are enough. We haven't had a problem at all. 

How are customer service and support?

It would be hard to rate technical support due to the fact that, up until now, we've never had to deal with them.

That said, from talking with colleagues, my understanding is that they are good, and they offer standard levels of support in line with other competitors. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We've also used Palo Alto and Check Point.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward, however, we have knowledgeable teams. We also use Fortinet to check the configurations and make sure everything is supported during implementation. 

It's pretty standard to deploy. We're also familiar with Palo Alto and Check Point and there is not much of a difference between the three.

What about the implementation team?

We managed, with my team, the setup. We also engaged with Fortinet in terms of professional services in order to check the installation and offer some support.

That said, we have many people on our team certified with the biggest firewalls and security infrastructure vendors.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's very difficult to discuss pricing as we have generally, in terms of pricing, at the end of the day, we have leveraged deals the existing contracts the client had in place. The client uses various technology vendors. I can't say that one is cheaper than the other. It's all in the same ballpark when you are speaking about comparable products.

What other advice do I have?

We are partners with many vendors, including Fortinet.

Likely our engineers would know what version of the solution we are on. I don't follow those details. 

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten. It's stable, easy to set up, and easy to use. However, I have yet to see all of the features in play.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Managing Director with 51-200 employees
Real User
Feb 7, 2022
Secure, reliable, and support included
Pros and Cons
  • "Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure."
  • "The solution could improve by being more secure."

What is our primary use case?

We use Fortinet FortiGate to filter information, to ensure that we secure our network. Additionally, it's for overall security and to ensure that no information is leaking out.

What is most valuable?

Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure.

Since we have been using Fortinet FortiGate, we've not had anyone breaking into our network. We've used some penetration tests, and the system is very secure. However, the security of the network is dependent on the personnel itself.

For example, if you have a phishing email, you click on it, it takes you to the wrong server, and you put your credentials there, they can use those credentials to attack your system. In terms of somebody trying to break into your network without having the necessary credentials, Fortinet FortiGate is very good.

What needs improvement?

The solution could improve by being more secure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

If the business expands into other geographical zones, we will need to expand the network and secure it. This is when we will expand the use of Fortinet FortiGate. However, because of this pandemic, businesses are slowly getting back to normal. 

I don't think that expansion will come up in the next one or two years. Maybe in the next three years once they start to pick up their business, then there might be such an expansion or increase in hardware needed.

How are customer service and support?

Each of the devices is licensed every year and in case you have a serious critical issue we can contact the support from FortiGate directly. We contact them every once and a while but not often. We have to purchase a license that allows us the support to use them.

The support could be faster to come out with a solution.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using Cisco previously.

How was the initial setup?

The Fortinet FortiGate deployment is not difficult. It's not simple, but it's easy for someone to learn. The whole process took approximately three hours. Cisco solutions are more difficult to deploy.

What about the implementation team?

We have experts in-house with experience and we did the deployment in-house. They used the deployment resources internally to deploy it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution requires a license annually, it is not a user license, you can have as many users as your want. I must renew the license regularly per device.

The support is included in the license.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.