I'm really wondering if a lot of the problems some have is because some machines simply feed better than others. And if you are using a 1/4" foot on a machine, make sure it's lined up with the feed dogs in a way that is not going to cause it to feed unevenly.
I own walking feet for my newer machines, (and have a collection of vintage ones) and have never used one. Only time I've been tempted is matching up plaids.
i just bound two quilts with wof binding, and don't have a wave anywhere, even after washing. I use to do bias more often, but now have no trouble with wof so only use bias if I want the pattern to go a specific way.
One thing I've found, I no longer baste stitch around the edge of my quilt when quilting. I found that caused me a lot more grief when putting on the binding, so I stopped doing it. BTW - I will stitch around the outer edge of the floppy if needed to keep seams from opening and that causes no problems.