Tubular Cast On -- Why bother?

I cast on for the Polka Dot sweater and have finally made it through a whopping four pattern rows after enduring the tubular cast on and seed stitch edging.

I've seen tubular cast on on occasion, but this is the first thing I've made that suggested it. You cast on half the number of required sts + 1 in waste yarn, then use the regular yarn and *K1 yo* and end K1. (You'll have an odd number of stitches, which might be a problem. Then you basically work double knitting for two rows -- *K1, sl 1 * end K1, then the next row *Sl 1, K1* end Sl 1. After that you can work 1,1 ribbing or seed stitch.

Why bother with all of the hastle of this cast on? It does seem to make a finer edge, but I don't think a regular edge would have been a problem for this sweater. The magazine recommended that the waste yarn cast on use the backward loop method. This doesn't pull out easily! Any insights?

California is darn hot, but we're getting our stuff set up. The days have been long (12 hours yesterday, 9 today, several on Sunday), so I'm still tired. I met another knitter, so as soon as things calm down a little bit, maybe we can knit together. At least there's someone out here who shares my addiction. :)