Mine is a drop in bobbin and I have the clear view so that as I piece I can see how much bobbin thread is down there. It's very simple to keep clean and maintain, my mother has only had the ones that load from the side with the bobbin case, and I always used to think it looked confusing, years later I'm sure it's no more or less difficult than the drop in bobbin, it just takes getting used to the machine, I suppose.