I have used a crumb coat on some cakes but not on others. I usually just make my frosting pretty runny and smear it over the cake.
Just curious what you all do and if you use it.

If I'm making a cut-out or sculpted cake, I crumbcoat. I just use the same icing I plan to frost it with.

For me it's just a pain. I too have used it when I made a shaped cake that had to be cut but on just my regular cakes, I don't crumb coat.

Same here. I don't normally crumb coat unless it is a shaped/cut cake.

i find that crumb coating for me depends on the cake type itself. I have some basic recipes i use all the time and i know that some are more crumbly than others so that helps me determine whether to crumb coat. I almost always crumb coat when i am icing with buttercream because i want to be able to put a thin layer of it on or else it is too sweet. But with whipped cream, i don't usually crumb coat because i can put on a thicker layer at once.

I always do a crumb coat with the same icing I am frosting the cake with. I just feel more secure with a crumb coat on 1st.

The only time I crumb coat is when I am doing a sculpted or carved cake..other than that..nah!

I used to not crumb coat with icing, but lately I have been since I want that perfect smooth looking top on the cake.

Before I started decorating my first cake, I read a book on cake decoration and it explained about the advantages of crumb coating either with jams or thinned icing. So it is part of my cakes decoration process. It has work fine for me. On the other hand if I'm sculpting a cake I freeze it and do it while it is hard, then crumb coat it.