Nice article, thanks for posting it. It seems a bit "damning with faint praise" to me.
I didn't really notice that the control forces were higher when I flew it - or let's say, I did notice, but it wasn't a problem, I wasn't constantly thinking "these control forces are a real pain".
But my right leg did ache from all the welly required to keep the thing flying straight at low speed. And the one I flew (G-ETWO at Redhill) had a definite problem with the collective wanting to drop down all the time.
If I was lucky enough to have the money to make it a real-life problem, I think it would be a tough choice between the Cabri and the R44. (Wouldn't even take a heartbeat between the Cabri and the R22).