I can say yes to this. I bought a small Brothers Embroidery machine. I had drop in thread cartridges. The failure was almost immediate. If the cartridges were not seated just right it was impossible for the machine to work. You needed the cartridges for straight sewing too. After only a short time the cartridges were not available an the machine was a loss. It looked like it was a fun model but turned out to be not so good. I love brothers machines so I did by another upgraded model for the limited amount of embroidery work that I do. I gave the machine away years ago.