I have one of the older Keo Carbons, which later became the Keo 2 Max (with the metal plate to deal with the cleat wearing an indent into the pedal). The Carbons hold my cleats well (gray cleats). The Keo2 Max is terrible in terms of allowing me to clip out, probably similar to the Keo Classics I have which are rated as a much lower tension. My Keo2 Max is absolutely cranked in terms of retention spring adjustment. Same shoes and cleats, same rider, just different pedals. I have 7? sets of various Keos and the only ones I want to ride on are the older Keo Carbons. I bought the Keo2 Max thinking they'd be the same but better but I stopped using them after inadvertently unclipping from them a few times. Typically it happens when I'm out of the saddle going hard, rocking the bike. Apparently I exert some lateral pressure on the pedals. The Keo2 Max, Classic, Sprint, they let go. The Keo Carbon and all the various pedals I had before did not let go (SPD-R, Look Deltas, Aerolites).

I can't recommend the Keo2 Max. They're let go of the cleat too easily.

My friends and teammates say the Shimano pedals hold better, at all levels. If I only had one set of Keos I'd replace them with Shimanos but for now I'm hoping the new Blade will have a significantly tighter spring/blade in a real sense (not just nm rating).