I do not claim to be a perfect pedaler but I do think I do do a pretty good job of pedaling smoothly and efficiently. I try to keep my cadence in the high 90's but on average it is around 95. I am training myself to spin more and work on not mashing as much if I do not have to. I still think that it would be nice to invest in a set of nice pedals. Regardless of whether or not speedplays will help, I would like to replace what I currently have. The pedals are not easy to get in and out of ( I have ridden others' pedals and this is only the case with mine) and they allow my knee to move freely...something I would anticipate to be the root of the problem. I am confused on a couple things with the speedplays:

1. Do all of the models function identically?
2. At performance, they sell the X5's for 112$ in a blue color and a set of cro mo speedplays for about 120$ that are black. The weight is substantially different. Is there any benefit to getting the very expensive speedplays over say the cro mo ones for 120$ that weigh in around 220g for a pair?