Thanks all for the feedback and comments. Glad I'm not the only one to feel his way.
For the record, we were on half tanks and about 100 lbs under gross. Given it takes 98% power for a 5 foot hover, I don't see that this machine is capable of HOGE - kind of unfortunate for a helicopter.
I've flown an R44 close to gross (three biggish guys and 3/4 tanks) and everything is fine. It was at the limit for HOGE but nothing terrible happens if you over-pull a little for a second or two. And that was a machine that was definitely weaker than the others, for some reason.