I tried it once with my La Sportiva Trek boots, probably did not secure it properly and they came off after 50 yards on irregular snowy, icy, rocky surface. I have step-in crampons and I prefer the security of those. I will try it again just to verify. They are relatively light and seem to be strong.

These worked out great with my lightweight Vasque hiking boots and took me up Mt. Whitney with no problems. Two observations: Strap fastening system seems a little less secure than it could be. Heel bale would hold better if it were taller and there's no obvious way to deal with the excess strap other than cutting off as much as possible(however this is my first pair of crampons so maybe you experts know tricks that I don't). Also, what, no carry case at this price?! At least they fit in the pouch that usually holds my climbing skins.

Strapped these crampons onto the North Face Adrenaline hiking boots and they allowed me to cruise the Dinwoody Glacier in the Wind Rivers to Gannett Peak. They strap on comfortably, stayed on and I had no snow balling up. Cannot wait to use them again.

I broke these Black Diamond Contact Strap Crampons in on a moderate winter backpacking trip in the White Mountains (http://www.sadecki.com/2006/01/23/14/). Some warm spells had melted the top layer of snow, eventually turning it to ice. Much of the hike was on extremely icy trails. All four of us had crampons, two guys had insteps and the other two (including me) had 10 point contact strap crampons. The conditions made me glad that I had 10 points, and not just insteps. The other guy with insteps had a pair of CLIMB HIGH Neve Crampons and he had no end of trouble keeping them on. The toe was oddly shaped and allowed it to twist off to either side. My Black Diamonds performed great.

The Petzl Irvis FL Walking Crampon is an excellent crampon. We tried our new crampons out last week in the White Mountains, NH and loved them. I would definitely recommend buying them.

The Rensselaer Outing club still has ancient crampons. I've used them, and they are great if you can adjust them, which is nearly impossible and requires the use of a nut driver. These stick to your boots, I've used these, and Grivel G10s both are good, I like Black Diamonds better. Hiking on icy terrain really is really easy with these.

I used the crampons during my summit of Gannett Peak, WY, and I didn't have one problem with these. No balling, stay on with no slipping, and are sharp as hell. As far as strap-on crampons go, these are by far the best you can get for the money spent. If you plan on doing expeditions that require a long approach, these are perfect, as they are very light as well. Black Diamond rules!