I agree that DYOR is the way to go.
From time to time I have taken up those free offers from tipsters. On that limited basis, my experience was that Fat Prophets is useless (I would have lost money). On the other hand, Wise Owl put me onto a couple of winners (which after doing my own research I acted on).
By the way,the worst thing one can do,IMO, is to act on brokers tips that appear in newspapers. They are just hoping to ramp up a price.