Yeah, calling it a tool for the job is spot on. It's not about being fancy, it's about getting consistent results when you can't babysit everything. Trying to cook that many steaks on a grill would be a total nightmare, you'd have some perfect and some ruined. The sous vide just takes the panic out of it.
My buddy did a cookout for 30 people last summer and tried the grill method for burgers. We ended up eating in shifts over two hours because he could only manage four at a time without burning them. That's exactly the kind of mess @robinp89 is talking about avoiding. Sometimes the fancy sounding gadget is just the right tool to stop a simple meal from turning into a part time job. I'd take a boring, reliable result over a stressful cooking show any day.