Originally Posted by Six jours

Coming from a racing background my opinion has long been that if you are not firmly connected to your pedals you are wasting your time. A few years back I moderated that view after a great deal of experience with clips and straps combined with traditional touring shoes with plain rubber soles. And now, after several years of experience with my local Rivendell group I have moderated even further - many of those folks are doing very long rides, often off-road, with platform pedals and footwear ranging from tennis shoes to sandals. And some of them can ride away from me on the hills.

So my opinion is that if you are happy with your toe clips and straps then you should continue with them. Clipless is very unlikely to add anything to your experience, unless taking a few seconds off of your climbing and sprinting times is important to your touring.