Help a clip pedal noob pick out the right clip pedals

Oneup's. They worked on removing that shimano icy feeling... paired with shimano's new cleats They are awesome pedals.
Personally i've used alot of shoes as I have a Wide foot spread when I step or Pedal so I easily get hot spots in shoes to tight so I really like the shimano AM series - GE500's are cheap and great now with the "power strap"

Alot use the GE900 and cut the silly ankle thing off.

I was a long term shimano spd user (better part of 15-18 years straight).  About 5 years ago, I switched over fully to the CB system and just last year, ditched clip pedals entirely for flats on everything save my gravel and xc bike.  My personal favorite were the DH pedals, but the mallet-enduro's were also good.  I paired those with crank brothers shoes, I've tried the stamp and the boa and liked both for different reasons.  I think the boa has better features, is lighter and I like the heal gator... but tbh the stamp is cheaper and more comfortable, although hotter and heavier.  

I preferred the CB system to shimano for most of the reasons that the hive mind suggests.  The biggest factor was the overall feel and the fact that you were connected to the bike through the shoe sole to pedal platform contact, and retained by the cleat.  As you noted, with SPD you have a direct cleat to metal pedal connection point which feels very icy/metallic.  The hardest thing to get used to, and adjust is the CB entry system.  I find that messing with cleat shims and pedal pin height was key in getting the system dialed in the way I want.  You are right that you'll never get that super positive click entry that shimano has, but in time (3-4 months) you build up the muscle memory and you end up stamping directly down into the pedal with repeated precision.  You also sorta get used to the sound/feeling of when you're clicking into the CB system so that it becomes more recognizable.  

I digress, it's still likely the system I would go with if I went back to full clip setups on my bike.  I still ride CB's on my gravel bike and my 'xc' bike and use the mallet boa shoes.  I think the only 2 other systems/pedals I would try/recommend are oneup and time.  I would honestly cross time off of the list because they are expensive, rare and likely not worth the hassle of something so rare.  I haven't tried the oneup pedals, but from the feedback in my riding crew they might be a goldilocks situation of shimano vs cb as a best of both worlds.  

For shoes, the unions are cheap, but I didn't find them very comfortable.  I do like the 5.10 trailcross clip in shoes and my favorites are still the CB shoes, regardless of pedal they would be paired with

Read through your whole post and would still recommend the XT Trail pedal. Your float issue seems like more a shoe/pedal combo thing than a XT pedal thing. Maybe I'm just less sensitive to it but I swap back and forth between flats and clipless with frequency. I've recently run 5.10 and Shimano shoes and they have worked well together. I'd also recommend the new Shimano MT001 cleats and would strongly discourage using the SH56 cleats.

IMHO Shimano forever, for both pedals and shoes. 
Agree about the skake-y feeling being a particular shoe interacting with pedal problem. What makes a good shoe or pedal is incredibly individual though, so take my opinion for what it is, just an opinion. 

Crank brothers feel good, but require 10x the maintenance of Shimano. I used to be die-hard CB but I broke so many wings and the bearings need replacing sooo much more than Shimano. Shimano bearings rarely need adjustment and never need replacing. Shimano use the same cup and cone system they've been using for 30+ years and there is a reason. 

Using CB pedals the x wings often contact the sole of your shoe, so the option is to use a brass plate which makes them feel skatey or accept your pedals slowly eating your shoes. 

That being said, in cloggy clay or snow CB are the superior choice.
TIME pedals have many of the advantages of CB and Shimano together put together.
Under no circumstances buy anything Speedplay. Haha, but seriously never ever
 

Have you tried the new XT? I just decided to change my (at least 10 and maybe 15 years old) XT pedals after a couple of unplanned releases.

The brand new ones (XT platform) and the new cleats combined with Shimano shoes feel remarkably different and far less metallic.

Another +1 on the OneUps. Having used both Shimano and Crankbrothers in the past I do feel like the OneUp with the new Shimano SP-m001 or whatever cleat is the way to go. You get the positive feedback of the SDP to know exactly where you are and the shoe feel of a decent flat pedal. 

I know you're not going to want to hear this, but:

On these SPD test rides, have you tried thinking about something other than your feet? If you focus on your feet while you're in clips, they're going to feel weird if you're used to flats, and weird is likely going to progress to bad and then terrible the more you think about it.

I remember my first few rides on clips, coming from flat pedals. Those first few rides were on Shimano SPD pedals that felt icy exactly like you describe. But then, over next few weeks, I did downhill laps with faster friends than me, and I had to focus on keeping up with them and riding my bike or else (my brain believed at the time) I would die. This development meant that, without really planning to, I'd pretty much stopped thinking about my feet. After a few weekends like that, I was used to the Shimano icy feeling. Close to two decades later, Shimano pedals still feel icy and metallic to me, I just stopped thinking about it or caring: "Yup, that's what they do. Anyway, back to business." Since then, I've also spent time on Time and Crank Brothers pedals, which are both good in their own way, but I keep coming back to Shimano because they're durable, reasonably priced, cheap and easy to maintain, and the performance is always good enough.

I know my advice sounds similar to telling an anxious person not to worry, but that's not what I'm saying. If you tell an anxious person not to worry, they're going to worry more. They're going to start thinking about all the valid reasons why they were worried in the first place, and then they're going to end up being even more worried. That's a great way to get someone into a downward mental spiral, and that's not what I'm suggesting.

I'm saying pick something else to think about. Do timed runs and try to set a new best time. Hum a song. Follow a friend. Listen to music. Listen to a podcast. Think about true love. Count to 100. Count backwards from 100. Imagine a home remodel, or trail work, or a spreadsheet at work. Whatever you do, find something compelling to think about other than your feet. And then, when your thoughts inevitably drift back to your feet, the trick is to accept those thoughts, don't fight them, and go back to what you were doing. Tell yourself "yup, these pedals feel a little weird," and then go back to whatever else you were thinking about.

Literally millions of people have figured out how to ride SPD's happily. I'm not saying they're perfect. I'm just saying they're probably good enough for you, too.

P.S. this trick is great for lots of other bike problems too, such as: tire treads, suspension setup, bike geometry, pre-race jitters, feeling tired, being too hot, being too cold, your friends having cooler bikes than you, suboptimal riding conditions, hangovers, and so much more. You can ride pretty darn fast with your tires on backwards as long as you're not thinking about it.

I've tried crankbrothers, hope, HT, time and oneups. Gave shimano stuff a miss due to the whole ice thing. 

HT easily my favorite, entry and exit is great. I just ordered another set so all my bikes have these now. 

CB, as someone said above best for conditions that clog your pedals. CB also feel the most like flats, but their appetite for cleats and vague entry can be a little annoying. I used these for ages until curiosity got the better of me and I tried other ones. 

Time have a nice action too, I happily throw some of their new dh pedals on (xysto I think). I had some of the speciale 12's for a while. I found the pedal platform a bit small on those. 

Hopes felt a little icy tbh, seemed quite fussy on pin height and shims etc. I had cb mallet shoes, and just ended up being too much admin. 

I never enjoyed the oneups. They were shithouse to get out of. Nice platform though. This is pre the updated part mind you. 

I've had a hell of a time trying to get my OneUps to work how I want, coming from Saint SPDs and using the new Shimano cleats with five ten Kestrels. Did you have to add spacers under your cleats? 

no and I tried a heap of shoes with them as This was during the time I was trying different ones.
Never once had an issue unclipping.

My wife just recently converted to clips.  She tried clipped with a cheap pair of specialized shoes and my old saint pedals.  She struggled a little with the pedals but decided to commit.  I picked her up some five10 trailcross shoes with multi-release cleats and oneup pedals (she requested them exclusively because they were purple 🙄).  Suprisinly she loved the whole setup.  Said the pedals worked much better and has not had any problems.

I have converted from Saint to Crank Brothers Mallet DH.  I really struggled with them until I removed the pins.  I've been super happy since then.  That said I'll probably wind up going back to spd just to keep everything simple (everyone using the same pedals and cleats).  If so I'll more than likely go to oneups.  My son rides FUNN Rippers and they are a good spd pedal if you can find them.

I’m a long time Shimano user but I wanted to chime in to beat my dead horse that platforms on SPD pedals are next to useless. Because the mechanism of an SPD is fixed, the platform has to give enough clearance to the cleat to allow easy clipping in/out. As a result the platform isn’t actually engaged with the shoe during normal riding. Sure the platform may offer some support if you’re unclipped, but the platforms are usually so small that the experience of standing on the platform while unclipped feels marginally more supportive than standing on a platform-less pedal. 

Crankbrothers get around this with the eggbeater design that allows the shoe to clip in completely parallel to the platform, resulting in a tighter fit between the shoe and platform. I’m lazy though and take issue with how fast the CB cleats wear out. 

All this to say that I find the massive oversized Renthal DH pedals very compelling and would love to hear from someone that’s used them

I'm all in on times, they work great, have less angular float than CB so they're easier to get out off and you can't bash the retention arms open in a rock strike like you can with CBs. I've used the same set of Speciale 8s for almost 6 years without needing to rebuild them and they're still going strong. They also have some tension adjustment so you can tune them to feel easier or harder to get out of. They also basically never pack up with mud if that's a factor for you. If you don't care about weight, I would get the new Xisto pedals from time, they have a lot larger platform that your foot actually will engage with. 

I like the movement Shimano spd's have. I feel like without the float it would be too easy to accidentally unclip. That said, the ease of unclipping is what sold me on spd's. I looped out doing a wheelie the first day and landed on my feet without thinking about it. Or if the back end steps out and you need to put a foot down, it just happens naturally. That's how it is for me anyway. Easy to clip in and out. The only setup really is the cleat location on the shoe.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on unclipping after you get in a couple rides.

I'm about a month ahead of the OP with a somewhat similar background. I used to ride a good bit of road, and some gravel, and both clipped in but I never made any attempt to get really good at it. I didn't practice trackstands, ultra low speed maneuvering, emergency exit drills in the grass. Nope. Consequently, some things that were trivial on flats, like an elevated pedestrian bridge's hairpin climbing turns, were nerve racking and I might walk it.

I started mtb in earnest in 2012 and tried clipping in shortly after, with XC shoes and cheapie shimanos, and then my dad and I tried pretty much everything crankbrothers 1st gen: candy (my dad likes those, still), mallet, eggbeaters. I hated the shimanos, weird frictionless feeling and a high stack. I hated the mallets, could not get in or out easily, and coming from a lifetime of motocross, I wanted to hover my foot in fast loose turns and then clipping back in was much harder than it should have been.

I kept the eggbeaters on my gravel bike. I do about 1k miles singletrack and 500-750 miles of paths and gravel in an average year. I haven't slipped a flat pedal in a decade, but I have had a foot come off on rowdy DH and I've had weird a few moments jumping. (Both definitely are rider problems, not really flat pedal problems.) I got curious to try clipped in again. I knew I didn't want my eggbeaters. I don't need the float, my natural stance is pretty close to perfect toe in/out balance and I don't have knee issues. Clipping in to an eggbeater, for me, also can be relatively cumbersome.

I chose Wolftooth Shift pedals with Ride Concepts Accomplice. I went to RC a few years ago and like them a lot, and my xc shoes technically work on the Shift, but it's pointless because nothing but the edge of the sole next to the cleat is touching the pedal. The rest of the pedal platform might as well not be there. I saw the Accomplice on sale and got somewhat lucky, they work great. I had 3 of 4 pedal pins installed at first, but (honestly) a PB article recently mentioned that they don't see the point in pins on clipless pedals.so I removed them and sure enough I still have the platform support, no weird feeling, and can clip in and out faster. This combo has been so much better than anything I've tried before. Would a modern shimano enduro pedal be as good or even better? Yeah, maybe. Cheaper for sure, the Shift is $$$.

Besides the pedals working for me MUCH better than eggbeaters, the big change is practicing with intent. Before I ride, I'm usually waiting on a trail partner or solo, so I ride around super slow and clip/unclip a lot. Then I trackstand and clip out like my life depends on it. I'm still consciously thinking about it, but I'm not anxious any more. I will walk steep tech rather than crash it. I figure in another month, I'll be riding that stuff, and I'm not in a hurry nor do I care if someone finds it strange that I walked a feature that they've definitely seen me ride on flats dozens of times. At 50, I'm too old to give a crap about that.

Assuming I stick with this - and I'm pretty sure I will - my next move will be some kind of Shimano or Wolftooth on my gravel bike. I hate single-sided even on gravel/road but I'll probably use a minimal pedal body since I'll be wearing xc shoes.

So first off, super cool to see @AndehM and the guy from RideMonkey connecting and getting the free demo going on the HT pedals. Hope those work out for you. Another happy forum story.

Second, Blake I wanted to respond to your post about SPD platforms and the lack of contact with shoe soles, because just last week I got an email from Shimano advertising their newest gravel shoe, and wouldn't you know it they're bringing back SPD pontoons:

The last time I saw an SPD pontoon was in the box that came with my dad's old SPD's in maybe 1996? 1998? It's been a minute. But what's old is new, and pontoons are back for gravel racing. The solution they're trying to solve is how to get the stable feel and power transfer of a road bike cleat like a Look Delta, KEO, or SPD-SL for gravel riders and racers who occasionally need to get off and walk in their shoes, thus necessitating an MTB cleat. The pontoon is designed to rest on the pedal body on either side of the mechanism to provide a wider platform.

It makes me wonder if we'll see something like this from Shimano coming to the MTB market. Probably not, but color me curious.