Perfect Insurance Count

Alright, so I am going to be in Vegas for about a week in August. I have been working a lot on counting lately, but I am not confident enough about it to really start laying the big spreads down (I've just learned the Hi-Lo count, and I think I would be better off learning a more advanced count in its place, rather than spending a bunch of time perfecting my Hi-Lo count). My Hi-Lo count is accurate, to where I could do the spreads and just miss out on the advantage that comes from changes to basic strategy, but I just don't feel ready to take that risk.

But I am going to be in Vegas. And I would like to gamble in Vegas...so here's my question:

I can do the perfect insurance count quite well (-4 per deck, -2 for tens, +1 for anything else, insurance favorable at any positive value, and is an even bet at zero), since it's a pretty straightforward count and there are no indices to learn or strategy changes to make: it's just Yes or No.

So if I do the insurance count mentioned above, flat-betting, can it make me an advantage player? At least for the single deck .18% house edge games at El Cortez and 4 Queens? What about for the .35% house edge double deck at a bunch of places?

Is this better or worse than I could do with a simple A-5 count?

(Also, I looked at the Blackjack Survey, and it says El Cortez and 4 Queens are .3% house edge. The American Casino Guide says .18%, I am pretty sure with the same rules as the Survey shows. Which is right?)

No. You will not have the opportunity to buy insurance enough to give yourself the advantage, no matter how good the rules are. You will lower the house edge. It's not a bad strategy to start out with, I think, if you are just looking to have fun and improve your skills. You might also try the ace-five count.

The HE at the places you mentioned is .18% with optimal composition-dependent strategy. For the rest of us it's around .25%.