Dear kyle,
Carbide is a marketing ploy. Say things like "hardened", "carbide", "reinforced", etc, etc, and you have a license to charge $ 30.00 for what can be accomplished with $ 2.00 worth of 1/4" sheet metal screws.
Unless you weigh 10,000 pounds carbide studs are an accident waiting to happen. You can't generate enough ground pressure to get a grip on most of the hard streamside rocks wearing carbide studs.
On wet rocks with slime they will work at times, because the slime catches them, but you are virtually guaranteed to slip if you hop, or try to climb, on a hard dry rock wearing carbide studs.
Aluminum is soft enough to yield to the rock and allow you to get a grip.
It's physics, not marketing, that keeps you upright while wading. Hard edges grip better on soft rocks, soft edges grip better on hard rocks.
Science trumps marketing as always.
Regards,
Tim Murphy