What is the difference between the Epson WorkForce 30 and the Epson Stylus C120? They look like the identical printer and are priced the same, so which one should I choose?

Don't know much about these little inkjets as it's been quite a while since I looked at one, but I just picked up a Workforce 30 on a whim. I think they're very similar units branded differently. For some reason the WF is 1 PPM faster in draft and the Stylus ships with high capacity black ink cartriges with about 40% more ink in the 68s than the 69 cartridges that ship with the WF30. They seem like average printers; very fast for draft bw text, but average for color in quality and speed. So-so feed mechanism. Still, almost free for a desktop printer with a fairly large inkjet head.

In hindsight, a waste of $75. The cartridges only hold 18 ml of ink which is very very little (about 350 postcard reverse sides addressed with color logo and message on an inkset.) The paper path isn't straight like the larger/older epson printers and the input is too straight up for reliable feeding. Also if you're planning to use non-OEM cartridges or a CIS to get longer print times, there are none currently compatible with the Workforce 30; even though it uses the same 68/69 cartridges as the stylus 120, the non-OEM cartridges/CIS systems that work with the stylus 120 are shown as incompatible by the workforce 30. (I had thought that the non-OEM CIS systems would emulate the OEM cartridges, but apparently there is more voodoo-art in working with the annoying Epson chip system than that.) I can understand Epson wanting to keep people from running cheap ink in an expensive printer, but for a throw-away model like the workforce 30 / stylus 120 the ink becomes more expensive than the printer with one ink set and so the chip 'security' becomes a real drawback for me of this model.

I have not owned the C120 but I do own the Workforce 30. I am happy with the printer. Contrary to what Jeff said there are CIS systems available and I am using one.

Where did you get your CIS for the 30? Was unable to locate one for it a month ago and wouldn't mind picking one up to feed it ink since otherwise the printer is just sitting here.

Hey Jeff. I picked my CIS from ebay from a seller named "aaadealalways".