Microspikes rock
We liked them so much that we each bought another set in case they were taken off the market (not worried about that any more) and we sometimes loan out the extras. those borrowers usually end up buying their own ASAP.
I'll second what Oldmanwinter said. I can't say enough good things about microspikes. My only complaint is "Why did it take so long for some one to invent them!?" I bought microspikes for myself and my girlfriend a year ago. We now *swear* by them. They work for 80% (or more) of the Winter hiking conditions we encoutner in the White Mountains. We've had several friends go out and by a pair after borrowing ours for only one hike or just seeing how well ours worked while they were slipping around.
This past weekend, my girlfriend and I hiked up Mt. Washington, up Ammonoosuc Trail and down Jewel trail. About halfway up Ammonoosuc, the rocks and slabs were getting way too slippery with thin ice, so we threw on the microspikes. As we got to the Lake of the Clouds hut, there was a lot of bare rock, but still enough ice to slip and break a leg on if you weren't careful. We kept the microspikes on all the way up Crawford Path, to the Washington summit, and down to Jewel Trail ... grinding on bare rocks and patches of ice the whole way. The microspikes took the abuse with no problems whatsoever. I finally took mine off when we started down Jewel Trail, but my girlfriend kept her's on the whole way down -- she liked the sure-footed traction in the dirt, espcially as it got dark (!!). I inspected both of our pairs of microspikes last night when we got home. Again, no problems at all. No links prying open, no nothing. I was amazed because I thought all of the hiking on bare rock would (at a minimum) dull the spikes a lot. The spikes might not be quite as sharp as when I bought them, but they're not far off (keep in mind that microspikes aren't super sharp like crampons to begin with).
Obviously, I am super impressed with our microspikes so far ...
FYI -- I am 165 lbs and my girlfriend is 115 lbs. So we're a little on the "light" side. It's possible that some of the problems people have had are weight-related (not to be read as "overweight"). I'm sure a 200 lb guy would be exerting much greater forces on the micropikes than I would.