First time properly mountain biking.

[CLP]

I was thinking of getting the big candy's (mallets) but id have to get new shoes aswell :/ my shimano shoes are 3 years old and have been through hell but still look brand new... looks like im stuck with spd

My MTB came with SPDs, which i found were ok for the MTBing that i do, but their mud and crud shedding was woeful which was an issue for CX races Not being able to clip in (or out!) in a CX race is bad news, so i decided to switch to crank brothers eggbeaters for both my CX and MTB. Much happier now.

[Enforcer-J]

Yeah they are pretty terrible when they get caked. It's only happened twice though when i had to jump off and walk due to the clay. Hasnt been an issue otherwise as I run the pedals with the small cage around them which does a good job of keeping the mud out.
Ofcourse there's usually a bit of trudging through the mud in cyclocross so i can understand why you'd go for the candys!

[Hz-Lab]

I could be completely wrong, But I think I have read somewhere that you can mount the Crank Bros Cleats on to SPD ready shoes. Might be worth checking out. I always wanted some Egg Beaters, just never got around to getting them, and just like you, my SPD setup has been rock solid for so long now, I really can't fault them.

[CLP]

I could be completely wrong, But I think I have read somewhere that you can mount the Crank Bros Cleats on to SPD ready shoes.

eggbeaters/Candys use the same 2 bolt pattern as SPD .. so you should be able to swap and change as often as you want

I always wanted some Egg Beaters, just never got around to getting them

a set of eggbeater 1 pedals are under $60 from pushys.. cheap enough to grab a set to try out
(which is what i did! :P)