To be honest, no i dont think its crap. There is alot involved in the process in making Csst. I believe it is far from crap and it is actually a very safe and tested product, Alot of people complain that hacks use it, which could be true but this doesnt mean that if someone makes it look like crap...you cant make it look good. I have done installations and they looked very straight and professional..I think its a great product some people just like to jump on the bandwagon. There is nothing wrong with saving time on installation, and the time you save, you can use a little bit of that to neaten up the project and make it look good!
As for it selling at Lowes and Menards the way they do should definitely be banned. Only a licensed gas technician + certificate of training should have this. PEX is different its water, but when it comes to GAS its just plain stupidity.