It was the first coating I tried. I don`t know that I have any special recommendations. Use the BF Coating Prep, I went over mine a couple of times just to be sure it was free of polish and decontamination products.
I had a friend recommend that I have plenty of Lake Country applicators on hand, I probably used 4 on a vehicle and maybe even 6 on a truck. This is the only place that I can see things going wrong quickly. You can tell when an applicator starts to "load up", the coating doesn`t flash as quickly, you can see the difference in the little rainbow the product leaves while flashing off. This has always been one of my short comings, I tend to use plenty of product so changing applicators was is probably a good thing for me. If you think you`ve got enough product here it`s probably too much.
I had another friend recommend using the CarPro Suede towels to buff and I used these. I was a little nervous when I started and applied to pretty small areas until I was more comfortable with the process (1/4 of the hood). I remember thinking, I can`t hurt anything if I don`t put anything on.
Beyond that maybe I was just lucky. I`m sure that having a garage with a consistant temperature helps as well.
As far as looks go between the two products I`ll say this. I`m not good at describing the look of a finished product, glossy, glassy, sterile, glow, warm, plastic like, optical clarity and the list of descriptors goes on but unless you`re looking at 2 products side by side then it`s a sliding scale, 2 quality carnaubas can look quite different. I know what I like but more importantly for me I know what I don`t like. The BlackFire products (sealants, coating) that I`ve used tend to darken the finish a bit. I`ve ended up with a bunch of white and pearl white vehicles I work on regularly. It`s easy to make a comparison on a light vehicle. Crystal Seal is pretty minor in the darkening department when compared to Montan Wax but they do seem to make things darker. The Crystal Seal just seems to be "honest" in it`s appearance and is stupid simple to use and maintain. It takes all of 30 minutes to apply, I like this product. My son helped me perform a thorough detail on his white Escape a week or so ago. He doesn`t do this often but after putting the Crystal Seal on he said, "that`s nothing like the waxing we used to do". He`s right, couldn`t be easier. From your description of what you like, I suspect you would like the look of the coating.
I heard A LOT of good things from the Crystal Seal though. I should have give it a try when they were on sale not too long ago. Mind to describe why you like it better than the coating in terms of look? Is the BF Crystal Seal deepen the color or is it more of a glossy/glassy look? I myself tend to like glossy/glassy look more 
