Just a couple of observations after a few hours in the hills
An advantage of RH seat in an American machine
...Flying an American machine from the right is nice in mountains as when you approach ridges, you can always approach obliqely from left to right, slow down, have a look to see if the ridge or saddle is passable and the next valley is a place you want to be. If its not you pull power and are immediately turning right with the Torque and out of there using the least power for the manouver( no extra pedal) and you are on the right side so can see where you are going. If the next valley looks good you can drop the pole a bit and follow the decreased torque over the ridge with minimal cyclic, therefore not limiting your view too much as you turn left. It works for me. I haven't flown a 500 but can imagine some difficulty when you get in trouble and are pulling power. You want to turn left to see where you are going and the machine wants to follow the power - right.
A disadantage of RH seat in an American machine.
...When bringing a load in to a site on a long line with the torque gauge approaching red line, you have to ease up on the pedal to stay in limits while completing the final part of the approach. This causes the airframe to rotate putting the aircraft between you and the spot you wanted to land the load, forcing you to lean out further to keep the load landing spot visual and get the load where you want it. Not really a problem at low altitude assuming you are noty overloading, but would be nice to swap seats while doing hot and high work.