Nice summary Rick!

Your "top choice" makes sense in that it is always ready to grab and go. 
Thinking more about it, the simplicity of the side pits with their burrs is, well, simple and un-complicated.
However, being one to always be pimping out stuff, now I'm thinking of trying a steel plate with some slot mounted cutters on the outfeed that can be adjusted in/out for fine tuning the size. Eventually I'll probably end up with something that looks like the Stanley 77 🤔

First will probably be the router method since I have that with a lift and Incra fence for adjusting.