I recently used micro spikes in Colorado with great results even on bare ice. As long as the terrain isnt super steep they work great. I used them with my regular hiking boots and they fit like a glove and flexed perfectly with the shoe. The spikes never catched a piece of the boots or pants. Never lost grip and I encountered a huge variety of snow conditions due to altitude gain, sun exposure and wind/temp conditions. I even used them on mixed rock snow ice.
The only "issue" I experienced is snow " balling" while going downhill on one snow gully but the snow was soft and I was plunge stepping fine. Again, Never lost grip or felt unsafe.
Would not use them on long stretches of anything steeper than 25-30deg. But for everything else they are gold. The combination of lightweight hiking boots and the lightweight microspikes meant that I move quicker than with heavy boots and crampons, when using those I feel I have 2 cement blocks strapped to my feet.
Obviously it all depends on the route.