I grabbed Look and Shimano cause that's what Speedplay has on their site. In any case, all the top models of the major pedal lines are all good; I don't think there's a bad one out there. If you want double sided, then that eliminates Look, Time, and Shimano. If you need float (as my R knee does), that pretty much narrows down the field. I rode the original Shimano clipless for years and thought they were great ... until I got SPDs on my Gary Fisher (and thought "this double sided pedal's kinda cool"). So I put SPDs on the road bike. Bad idea; had hot spots for ~2 years. Then, went to Mammoth and did something incredibly stupid and ended up needing float. And that's how I navigated to X2s.

Some people see Speedplay, small pedal, and think, small cleat. That is simply not the case.
Eggbeaters ... do have a small pedal, and an even smaller cleat. But if they work (for someone), then that's great.

All the systems are good, and if anybody complains ... they oughta try toe straps ...