I have faced the same dilemma. I now only use the pitch gauge for very general settings, because it seems that is all they are good for. Another words, I set the blades to what the book says at home, pos, neg, pitches, idle ups, etc. Then at the field I first adjust the tracking by just picking a blade and adjusting it, if the blade is further off I adjust the same blade back the other way plus a turn or so. I just put a little dot with a marker on one blade so I know which one I'm adjusting. After getting the tracking in line I bring it up to a good hover for a min. or so then check the tracking again. That's it for the tracking.
Now for the pitch curves. I start by doing a few full throttle full collective pull outs and just listen to the engine and note how it's climbing. I then use my end point adjustments and pitch/throttle curves to get it where the heli climbs smoothly and the engine rpm remains constant, I can tell more with my ears than I can with a pitch gauge. I do the same with my idle ups.
The bottom line here, if the heli flies well, you have no vibration problems, you don't have to re-adjust your settings every other flight, and it reacts consistently to stick inputs.

In my opinion, it's fine, fly the heck out of it.

Oh, and after doing this I'll bring my tach out and check the head speed, and it's always between 1600 - 1700 at a five foot hover. Which according to my info that's about where I want it.

Good Luck