I have heard good things about Time Atacs. I can't imagine Shimano would be any better. In fact, I can't imagine a worse pedal than Shimano, at least for mountain biking. They're absolutely terrible (good luck getting your foot out if they get muddy and the mud freezes - yes, it did happen to me, and I couldn't get my foot out for a planned stop on a fire road).
I have been using Eggbeaters on my 05 Caldera since January 05 (25 months and 3800+ miles later) with no problems. I've had them on my 05 Surly CrossCheck since I got it in Sept. 06 (5 months and 900+ miles later) and have not had any problems. Retem, maybe your friends with bad experiences had an earlier version of Eggbeaters. They were redesigned in either 04 or 05 (this is why the directions say to occaisionally grease the spindle - I checked with Crank Bros. and they told me this applied to the earlier incarnation of Eggbeaters, but the new ones do not need to be greased; apparently they haven't yet edited this out of the owner's manual/directions).