I have yet to read a report from a tiller user that said the sidewinder was superior to the center drive. And I'm talking about owners who have both styles and have used both fairly extensively.
I cannot speak for all gardeners but when I rototilled my garden, I made one pass North/South, followed by a second pass East/West, followed by a third pass on the diagonal. Only then, did I feel that the entire garden area had been thoroughly tilled.
This was followed by some hand-raking to level it out and remove any garbage on the surface. The area was left for two or three days to settle a bit and then the planting began.
I would use that method no matter which style of tiller I had (I have a center-drive BTW).
To the best of my knowledge, the FCV was never an available option for the 600 series tractors. There may have been a good reason but I don't know what it is at the moment. For sure the FCV is a huge help while tilling and some people have enjoyed it while blowing snow. It gives you finite control over the ground speed at the lowest end of the scale and that's exactly what you want when tilling hard ground.
