I prefer platforms to clips, haven't tried powergrips or clipless.

Have been meaning to try out a set of powergrips for a while now, I understand powergrips allow more freedom. What 'm on about is being able to move my feet back & forward freely, this was one of the things that frustrated me with clips.

EG: I like to get on my toes and saddle nose to rev harder, say ~120rpm, seems to be my optimal cadence for short sprints. I also like to put my feet further forward, sit back on the saddle and back straint when I have to grind up a steeper hill at a slow cadence, shifting between this and getting up in balerine position. 48:28 on 27" wheels up a 20% grade will have me crawling at 30-ish rpm's, mind you I'd prefer to be at 75+...



The worst platform pedals I can think of are plastic. They'll get dangerously slippery as soon as it's wet, sorta like steel rims. You'll also be using a noticeable amount of muscle power just to keep your foot on it, it's hard hard to rev up with them and it's easy to slip off, they don't really grip your shoes. I've hurt myself a few times while using plastic pedals, would advise against using them.





And here's an effective platform pedal, it's metal and has teeth like structures that dig into your shoe's soles so it won't slip even in the wet. They'll even dig marks in your shoe's soles in the long run, I can tell my right foot tends to stay further away from the bike then my left one. This old Wellgo has reflectors on it, this is a problem because mud and snow will pack up on top of it, sometimes things can get interesting when you put your foot on it. BMX pedals have this same flaw in my experience.





You're a bit screwed with BMX pedals, but you can fix it easely on the sheetmetal type pedals, all you have to do is remove the reflectors and replace them with reflective tape to keep it visible. This way, when you put your muddy/snowy hoof on it the mush will squeeze through and your footwear's sole will rest on the grippy metal teeth.