Thanks, Timetraveller. We've never had any queries either, when doing so. Need to go speak to the spanners about the finer details, I guess. (Perhaps some info from a tinpusher out there?)
The pre-Batch II GLEX's would pitch the nose up and down nauseatingly when in FLC, which is why the use of VS became widespread. Not ideal as you mentioned, however it was deemed preferable to the pre-mod gyrations of FLC when VNAV was not an option due to vectors, etc.