I don't know if they're "better". This is my home airport. I've read here about their insistence that everyone take off shoes and have experienced it myself. I told one screener that my shoes had been through many metal detectors with no problems and she said I had to take them off. I know the consequences of replying, "Well, I'll just walk through and you can wand me if the shoes set it off"- the dreaded secondary screening. (I have not tried this personally, but there are plenty of stories about it in this forum and some of my co-workers confirmed it in a conversation last week.)

Fpr Christmas I'd like to buy them a bunch of the platforms they have at ORD. If you put your foot (with the shoe on) on it and it beeps, take the shoes off and put them through the metal detector. Otherwise, keep 'em on.