USA standards for pap smears are every three years if you've had I think two normal ones in a row.

I've only ever ridden Look/Look compatible since 1987, so I can't comment on switching. In 1987, there was Look, the Look-knockoff Mavic that I had, and Time, which "looked" and worked just similar to Look but wasn't compatible in size and shape.

Getting into it is pretty similar to getting into a toe clip. You don't have to flip the pedal over; it hangs in entry position. Just slide your toe and it clicks right in. If you should miss and send the pedal spinning - which does still happen to me sometimes - that's when you have to stop the pedal from spinning before you can get in, but you still don't have to "flip it over," you just have to make it stop spinning.

I guess compared to metal cleats they do wear quickly, but having never ridden anything else, I just consider the cleats a wear item. I get about 3K miles out of the right cleat - the one I unclip at stop signs - and twice that from the left. I don't use cleat covers, and considering how much of the wear obviously happens when I'm unclipping just one foot, I'm not sure how much benefit I'd get from covering them (other than keeping mud out of the cleats).

They are NOT easy to walk in though, and I can't recommend running in them at all. I'm not sure how much it's the cleats that are slippery, and how much it is that they just protrude from the shoe. If your shoe has the little rubber walking pads at toe and heel, that helps a lot, but still, if you're on any kind of uneven surface or stairs, you're going to be balancing on nothing but the cleat, and it doesn't have a lot of traction. So I don't know how big the transition areas can be ... but I guess they wouldn't be my first choice for tri shoes.