At the end of the day, the key is RRPM awareness. If you need to flare upon entry to restore RRPM, do it. If you have plenty of height then there's no need to flare initially, the RRPM will restore from autorotation. I have seen 78% in the R22 upon entry (not that I am at all happy about or proud of it), but had the height available and it restores quickly once autorotation is established with a ROD.
Food for thought, given the original scenario: You are banging along at 50' and 75Kts in an R22. Engine stops so you flare first as per the original suggestion and then lower the collective. The aircraft will climb a bit if you do this. But what will happen to your RRPM when you apply forward cyclic to stop flaring and set the attitude for say 55Kts to complete the auto?
Firstly, forward cyclic is a very effective and rapid way to lose a bit of RRPM in auto. (I have used it to quickly correct potential RRPM overspeeds when a flare was too aggresive, and find it produces an immediate response. When you load the disc the RRPM rises, when you unload it the opposite occurs.)
Secondly, the aircraft is climbing and so has inertia taking it away from the ground. Once you set a level aircraft attitude, you will not have an autorotative force acting on the rotor system until the aircraft arcs, ie stops climbing and then begins to descend. (Admittedly a short period of time, but nonetheless a critical period of time given the proximity to the ground). With a level disc attitude you need a ROD airflow to produce the driving force on the rotor, yes?
If this all commenced at 50' then I suspect you will not have a whole lot of time or height after levelling from the flare to restore an autorotative force to drive the rotor system.
In this situation I believe what you gained on the swings you well and truly lost on the merry go round.