If you have a high end carbon sole I can’t imagine it would feel any different. My carbon sole has no flex so it shouldn’t matter what the attachment is. I switched to SPD pedals for a week and 1 race when I borrowed a bike and I couldn’t tell the difference 
. Then again, some people are particularly sensitive to these things and/or it’s in their head.
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Your feet push with the lugs on your shoes, not the cleat. They ride on the round part, not the beater. The platform you see on some MTB is for foot protection and maybe floppy shoes.
Also, there’s no such thing as more or less efficient cycling shoes. There are soft soles that destroy your mid foot on a long ride. But there isn’t really an efficiency argument.
I didn’t like them. iIRC, they didn’t really have any free float or a well defined disengagement point.
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I tried going from Shimano MTB pedals to Eggbeaters (don’t recall the model) for cyclocross. We dated briefly and then decided to see other pedals. I did not like them at all. Found them very difficult to clip into, especially “no look”.
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I have been using Eggbeaters for years and had them also on my road bike until I won a pair of Shimano road pedals in a raffle.
- I would not worry about efficiency, stiff shoes are much more important.
- The pedal feel is marmite: I love the floaty feel, but it is not for everyone. I am securely clipped in while not feeling being locked in. Unlike with Shimano pedals you don’t have a sharp boundary between being clipped in and clipping out. That never bothered me.
- Crankbrothers pedals are better on my knees.
- They need maintenance. I never did any maintenance on my Shimano pedals and none ever broke on me. Crankbrothers pedals need maintenance. You need to make sure the bearings are greased and sometimes replace the bearings. I had one pedal fail on me, the pedal body separated from the axle.
I still love them and got three Crankbrothers pedals for a bargain (all second-to-top-of-the-line), only $50. That was right after I bought a fresh pair. I am set for a while pedal-wise 
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This is it, right…
Crankbrother riders: “I love these pedals, I got three new pairs for the new season!”
Me, on shimano spds: getting told off for putting my old pedals on a new bike build again…
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It seems that the reliability issues don’t apply to the 11 titanium version.
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Is it they dont apply or they are sold in a lower volume and not as many people comment about the failures on them?
I had the Eggbeater Titanium (predecessor to the 11’s or whatever, not the 11’s) and they exploded on me also. I was okay with this however as I really never got along with the feel of them not being somewhat locked in, went back to XTR’s and was happy with them and have never needed to replace them.
I will say that after 3 hard seasons on the XTR’s they felt a little tight, so I did pull them apart and found dirty grease, a quick repack and they have been like butter and “new” feel again.
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I’ve ridden the candy for 6 marathon mtb races including Leadville no issues. 2 thoughts buy a cheap pair like 30 on eBay and see if you like them the experience will be the same. Or buy the equivalent of the 11 but without the to axle then buy ti axles on eBay they are around 60 I found a pair from Switzerland if the China thing concerns you. That was the way I went
Used to ride Eggbeaters/Candys for years. High maintenance pedals, constantly servicing and replacing bearings. Ate into my shoes, had to install this metal shield. All for the sake of saving a few grams.
However, this here made me finally switch to proper pedals, body coming off a brand new pair of Eggbeaters or Candys (don’t recall exactly). Luckily at hour 9 of a 10 hour ride.
Tried some lightweight Xpedo M-Force 8 Ti but these needed quite a lot of maintenance as well. And disengagement was not perfect. Simply went back to XTR, I don’t care about the weight anymore. I just want a robust and care-free pedal.
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I’ve ridden Eagbeaters for at least 3 years on my XC MTB and have never had an issue. I forget which specific version I got, but I got the non-Ti ones and then replaced the spindle with aftermarket Ti spindle which was cheaper.
I pedal strike all the time, no issues.
I’m pretty sure I have Eggbeater 3’s that I replaced the spindle to an aftermarket Ti one.
I revoke my claims that I’ve never had an issue with Eggbeaters. I had one fail in the exact same way yesterday during a MTB stage race. It was 3 years old and had been subjected to plenty of pedal strikes, but still plan to make the jump to XTR.