Well i have been a little slow in writing the x'mas list for santa, but one of his elves called the other day and suggested some new pedals, soooooo

Which would be the most suitable for general XC/ trail riding stuff:

Shimano 959
Time ATAC
Crank Bros. Egg beaters
New Richey ones

I am riding some ritchey ones at the moment but they have seen better days, I am swaying towards the egg beaters due to their supposed med shedding ability, but i question wheter they are a good trail pedal as this is not much to stank on if your not clipped in!

I've got 959s and I've been very happy with them. I suspect that one of them is making a funny noise, but it's not too loud, so I guess that's OK then (I've broken pedals before, and it's the kind of component I tend to be hard on, so I'd say that their durability is good). They shed mud well (better than 515s and *infinitely* better than 646s in this respect), and they work pretty well, nice engagement, nice disengagement, in mud and in the dry (much better than 515s). I don't know about Times, but I thought about getting some Egg-Beaters. The reasons I didn't... firstly, and most crucially, I already had a pair of Shimano SPDs, and didn't want to change cleats, secondly, they were *very* expensive (although they can be had for very little in the US atm, so I don't know if that still holds), and I had concerns about durability.

I use Times and recommend them. Good mud shedding and reliable and robust.

Shimano 959s are the dogs private parts.

Better engagement/dis-engagement than the Times I had before hand, and (dare I say this?) better mud shedding as well. Reliablility has been fine over the past year I've had them. And they look damn sexy with it ;-)

Can't comment on the Eggbeaters.

The new Ritchey pedals use the same design as the 959, so they should perform as well, but they're a bit more basic.

The Egg beaters can be bought for 100 Euro (60 GBP) from a belgian mail order company. I have stuff from there before and the service has always been good

Just swapped from normal Time Atacs to their new platfrom pedal. Disengaging is still a possibly awkward twist for some put engaging is a lot easier as the platform seems to guide you in better.

I changed to them coz I wanted, like you, something to stank on when not clipped in and I kept slipping in the wet on the Atacs with their curved profile. Mud shedding is still great as well.

Can't comment on SPDs as Time's are my first venture into the world of clipless pedals but I've not been disappointed.

I changed from SPD 959's to Egg beaters about six months ago and think they are brilliant! If someone had come up with the design earlier I don't think spd's would ever have happened. The egg beaters are simple, light, never clog with mud (remember what our trails are like 6 months of the year?) you can clip in from all four 'sides' and you can buy them from Broadribbs in Leamington Spa for 60 quid (check out their website for mailorder).
I would say there's no contest, go for the Egg beaters, you'll never have a different pedal again...

time. atacs are soooooo much beter than spd's. nice positive engagement, plenty of float. no problem clipping in or out.

other than that, I'd probably look at eggbeaters

959s

Just changed from Time to Eggbeaters. Still not sure about them, seems to be harder to clip in since the pedal is smaller. However both a good in mud. Times require no maintence and I suspect the Eggbeaters will be the same