hi there. I have i believe the 165. I sure wish bernina would come up with some intelligent number system for their machines. I believe the 180 is a step up from mine. I didn't notice that you said anything about it being an embroider machine. I am pretty sure the 180 is. And I think it is like mine- It takes cards only. I absolutly love love love my machine. I can't say that I really have any problems with it with the exception that the cards are outdated- newer machines download off the internet or take usb and I can never get the needle threader to work right on mine but i'm a horribly impatient person so it's probably operator error!