Oracle:
Having flown the 412 in ATT mode in hover and some quite precise landings (but not running landings - you're right), I had no particular difficulty in controlling the helicopter smoothly. The secret is, once you've got the machine roughly trimmed - do not use the force trim - merely fly against the forces and hold the stick where you want it. You will probably have to change your grip from a 'fist around the grip' to using just fingers, but I've never seen anyone who wasn't shown how to do that revert to the other way of flying.
Works like a charm. But if you insist on using the force trim switch all the time, you'll not like the results.
Those who've flown a Hughes 500 or Enstrom where you can't turn the stick forces off and who have learned to fly holding a force for short durations where it didn't make sense to retrim learned how to do that.
The real problem is that the spring gradient and forces in the stick are just a bit too high. Ditto on the A109 series - those forces are even higher, and result in folks who were brought up without a trim system turning off the trim without realizing that the trim is necessary for any of the AFCS to work properly.
But ATT mode works quite well in the hover if you know how to use it.