Because of marketing mostly, newbies go for them a lot when its a bad idea IMO. It's just an inferior plant, it's like regs are better than fems. Fems still have their place. I can't train them or do anything to them really unless they are a genetic freak. I get there are good auto genetics, but you have far less control. I do use fast genetics which have autos in them, but its still a photo. A regular auto, especially from a random breeder is just a bad idea IMHO. I've grown them before from a few breeders, even more recent stuff. I have really no use for them. If I had enough room I would run strictly REGS. That's just me