I have 8 machines, and three of those are berninas, the 830 LE has large bobbins, and cannot use any others, but the 145 and 550 both use the same size bernina bobbins. I would too afraid of some internal mechanical damage using another brand. The repairs are not worth the price, so I will stick with the bernina bobbins, although they are very expensive. I would also recommend to only use the brand for the bernina machines. OMGoodness, I was wondering how many bobbins in total I have....should have never counted them ..... 524 if the smaller bobbins, and 70 for the 830, didn't realise I had that much invested in bobbins......