Would it help to just loosen the straps up a lot so it's really easy to slide your foot into/out of the toeclips?

The last time I was test riding bikes (granted, this was after almost a year with clipless pedals) I rode some with platforms and some with clips/straps, and found that while I really missed my clipless pedals either way, the toeclips were much nicer than the platforms for going up hills -- they made it much easier. For me the biggest pain was having to turn them over (in order to slide my foot in) each time I got started at a stoplight.

Also when I bought my commute bike last winter, they had to order shoes for me (took a super long time for them to come in for some reason), so I left the test pedals with toeclips on for a month, until the shoes came in (I had bought eggbeaters, which are not very easy to ride on with normal shoes). I just left the straps pretty loose and it was ok. Especially in the winter, I preferred them to platforms, both for the added security even a loose strap provides, and because they really help on hills, for the same reasons clipless pedals help (though to a lesser extent).