I started out with a GI 450i and then replaced it recently with a Motorola DSR922 4DTV reciever. Pretty much a 650i with digital C & KU band capability. The big problem with C band now is that nation wide there are less than 200,000 C band subscribers and the numbers are decreasing daily. Unless the C band programming providers and reciever manufacturers do something FAST, I think C band is going to slowly die out. Every week there are more and more announcements of C band programs going off the air to go to the little dish system. I like watching the new series of Star Trek and UPN will not even send a wildfeed over C band. There are a lot of maverick C banders out there using MPEG-II recievers slaved to their 4DTV receivers to watch FTA feeds free and I think the providers are trying to snuff that out.
I agree that the C band dish system is more complicated. It would be nice to be able to get an LNBF that would handle C and KU band and not have to mess around with polar rotor servo motors as well as LNB's. The dish actuator arms are also an issue. Unless you by and top of the line brand such as Saginaw, they don't seem to last.
I may reinstall my own C band system when I get moved to the ranch house later on but for the time being; I will give the little dish a try.