Embroidery thread on cones cost about $15 a cone. I have bought it in colors I use a lot of. It is around 5000Yds.

I have some on cones, too...they are a bit tricky to handle on my machine that has a horizontal spool pin. I need to figure out how to lengthen my vertical pin so I can use that.

I bought mine at a show this year and got them for 50% off...I can't imagine that I will EVER use up all the thread on them!

I have the large cones in red, white, blue and black, since I use those colors the most. I have a seperate thread stand that I use them on - it sits on the sewing table to the rear right of the machine.

the thread exchange has cone embroidery thread at low prices. they also sell partially used spools by the pound-try doing a search for assort or asst to see these.

Here is a link that might be useful: thread exchange

I use cone threads from a portable thread rack. Then I just thread the machine as normal. It works just fine.