OK, I'm a little out of season but thought ide start looking early ,
i am looking for advise on winter spikes, my boots are salomon comet 3d gtx or something, point is, they are not suitable for any crampon, i tried grivell g 10,s but boots too bendy and ripped my heel to bits going up snowdon last year, sold them on ebay and got some grivell spiders, ... they are ok for a hard frosty grass hill or suchlike but even if they did stay fitted ( which they didn't) they are not a step down from g10,s , more like 5 steps down.
what i am looking for is something that will fit my boots and half way between g10,s and the spiders, if such a thing exists. i like the winter walks with some snow, siabod, feol fras, that kind of terrain but i admit when i did snowdon iced over, even with g10,s and ice axe, it was a bit above my comfort zone , huge overhanging cornices, 7 inch wide ice path on 45 degree slopes etc, bit too scary for me im afraid.
The Kahtoola Microspikes are brilliant ime. Wore them a lot last winter and found them fine for most stuff in the Lake District. A step up are the Kahtoola steel crampons, which have a very flexible connecting bar and can be worn on fell running shoes, apparently. I've not done that, but have worn them on Haglofs approach shoes for a couple of hours and had no problems.
I love my Kahtoola microspikes. They have been worn with Inov-8 and Salmon shoes and with Salamon 3 season boots. used on lakeland fells and on local walks very very useful and easy to carry.
Just avoid the spiky things the precise name of which I forget- ah, found it Petzl Spiky Plus. Utterly useless unless you want either to break a major limb or only use them for traversing a flat pavement with less than 1mm of snow/ice on it.
the petzl spiky plus do what slioch says they do. orrible things.
i would give a vote for the kathoola microspikes. easy to put on/take off. they shouldn't replace crampons for proper winter stuff but they are more than adequate for general walking in the snow/ice. i've used them the past couple of years in austria in the snow (and about london/south east in the snow!) and they've been great.
An other minus for the Petzl's, even on flat ground go to bits to easy.
Kathoolas are OK for reasonable winter conditions, unless you may have to 'front spike' up steep slopes, have no front spikes.
If their is any chance you might need to front point, I'd use 'proper' crampons. the likes of Grivel G10s, or G12s. Depending on boots /shoes/ flexabilaty of sole and what you intend to do.
Micros are not desinged for any thing more than flat, easyish slopes.
Horses for courses. I use Petzl spikies, but only for walking around city pavements that are covered with ice after snow's been tramped flat. For the country I use Kahtoola microspikes and love them.
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, sold them on ebay and got some grivell spiders, ... they are ok for a hard frosty grass hill or suchlike but even if they did stay fitted ( which they didn't) they are not a step down from g10,s , more like 5 steps down.
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, i saw a post about pogu spikes here but website is not working too well i think, 
