I love my eggbeaters. I love how easy it is to clip in without looking or orienting the pedal. I love the float. I love how they look.

But I just broke my second set. On the first one, the pedal pulled off the spindle after the bearing disintegrated. Possibly my fault, I rode them on salty roads, and had not re-greased them in the five months/2000 miles I had ridden them. So I bought the SL model, hoping they would last longer. Today halfway through my commute, I clipped in and my foot popped right back out on the next pedal stroke. The spring had broken.

Am I unlucky, or should I look at a different pedal?

I'm riding on a pair of 16 year old Shimano M545 SPDs. They've seen year round use in conditions from Ohio's snowy salty winter roads to the PNW's 20+ straight days of rain.

I think they might have been pulled apart once for servicing, they don't creak, squeak or crunch, and they still clip as easily and as strong as when I first bought them.

I once snapped the spindle on a pair of toe-strap MTB pedals, back when SPDs were the (still relatively) new hotness and too expensive for a college student. I've worn out the bearings on two sets of pedals, one set of Look pedals and one set of SPD-clone pedals. In neither case was it cost-effective to get the bearings replaced. A shame. Anyhow, maybe it depends on the pedals? The successors to those pedals lasted through a lot of miles (one set sold-off when I sold its bike, the other still going strong) without failure.

I had the same issues with several sets of eggbeaters. The bottom of the line and SLs.
I switched to shimano dual sided pedals as a result and am very happy with them.

I've used at least 8 pairs of Candies and Eggs and a set of Mallets. I've broken one EB on a pedal-rock strike. CB replaced it, no problem. Broke a Candy in a road wreck when I ground off the end of it on the pavement. CB replaced it too. I'm not light and I ride heavier than that. I can't complain.

I was looking at different pedals for a road bike build recently and I came across a lot of the same thing gripes on different forums. So much so, that I have passed on the awesome deals bonktown has been having on the eggbeater pedals.
Try Speedplay pedals if you don't need a platform. They are easy to get in and out of, lots of float and they come in road versions or a mtn bike version you can use with mtn bike shoes. The only thing with speedplays is you need to keep the cleats clean. If it starts to get harder to clip in/out, clean the cleats.

I got the sl's and they are doing great.

Definitely not the first time I have heard of them breaking, but I can't complain about my SL eggbeaters yet. I have ridden them through all seasons for about 5 years and have had no problems.

I've never tried the Eggbeaters but if I bought two sets of any type of pedals and broke them both, I certainly wouldn't go back for more. I might continue to run them if the manufacturer replaced them for free. But otherwise, no way.

I have Time ATAC pedals on three of my bikes. Two sets are the composite version and one set is aluminum. The "newest" pair is probably five years old and all three sets still function as well as ever. I don't ever remember pulling the oldest set apart for repacking but I may have. That set is very worn and the composite housing is cracked in a couple of places but they still work fine. I know I repacked the aluminum ones once.

I have egg beaters on both of my bikes, 2,000+ miles on both sets now and still going strong.

Crank Brothers has a 2 yr warranty on those pedals. If you kept your receipt I would call them up and get the pedal replaced.

I have two pairs of [low end] eggbeaters, one of which is at least 2 years old, with many many miles of punishment (190 pounds on a rigid singlespeed 29er) and no problems. Could probably use a rebuild by now. The other pair is closer to 4 years old - the left pedal is missing one of the four arms after a pretty severe rock strike, but it still works. The spring on the right pedal is broken, but it still works. I'm pretty impressed by a pedal that can break and still work. If they had broken and stopped working, though, I'd still be happy with them - even if I had to pay to replace them every 2 or 3 years, because I like them that much. They're usually 50 bucks a set at Performance... that's less than some tires.