Is the Flex Repeater realistically usable in 8.1?

I setup a column view with small, medium, and large breakpoints. I setup a second view of type tab and put a flex repeater on it. When I connect the column view and add an instance I get the following pictures:

medium1 small1

Ok! These look great. But what if I add a 2nd instance to my flex repeater?

Ideally there would be less space between instances and never a scrollbar for any of the instances. I play around with the settings and I can fix 1 of the 3 screens but never all 3 at the same time.

Thoughts? Does any other users use the flex repeater regularly?