Tri tip quality on the West Coast has dropped significantly since the cut found its way east of the Sierras. Thankfully, due to the cut being fatty, like 80/20, there's not a ton of difference, except price, between Select and Prime grades if you know how to shop for good ones. I picked up four untrimmed Select grades last week for $2.98 / lb.
The one thing I do like is the size has increased. Used to be a trimmed tri tip weighed about 2 to 2.5 lbs, occasionally 3. Now, after trimming, I'm finding mostly 3.5 to 4 lb tri tips.
I've seen some suspect tri tips that looked like shaped brisket points. The grain is the dead giveaway (it doesn't start in the crook of the boomerang but runs in one direction from tip to tip).