How did nitrous get such a bad rep...?

I’ll guran-damn-tee you it’s cheaper than a roots blower or procharger. Might be close to turbo money if you use junkyard parts and can do all the fab work yourself.
Cheaper than a Roots blower and a procharged system with the carburetor definitely, but still not cheap. There are cheap kits don't get me wrong, but they don't come with quite a number of things to make the whole combination run correctly..