provided I know in advance that I am wearing them. Maybe they are better, because they won't scratch up the floors or the entryway ice.
I think the first statement means that they won't be better- the problem is, you have to know you are wearing them. Skaters who suffer falls from stepping on the ice with their guards have the fall because they didn't know they were wearing them. The Cat Claw seems to be designed to prevent that fall, the unknown one. Although the video has the guy walking around on the ice, I don't think there intention is to create a product that allows you to walk around the ice in your guards (why would you want to do that?) but to prevent the fall if you do step on the ice in your guards.
If you did fall in them, chances are you would fall the same way you described in your soakers- fall forward. The fall from stepping on in guards, is often a dramatic prat-fall, typically backwards, hitting the head on the ice or entryway, because your feet slip out from underneath you. Falling forward seems like it would be a lot safer, but I do agree with you- when people step on, they step on in a glide. So perhaps these, and your soakers, are only designed to work for people who step onto the ice.
So maybe wearing your soakers gives you the same protection- I don't walk around in my soakers though, they aren't designed for that. That likely makes this (or something like it) superior. The kids I know who do it seem to have to sharpen their blades more often (it wouldn't surprise me if there was a connection, as the fibers seem likely to dull the blades), and buy new soakers more often. Not to mention, as I said before- the most common reason to wear guards around our rink is to go walking somewhere in the mall, and you would likely fall if you tried to do that in soakers (plus I'm not sure they would offer the protection against a hard surface to the blades). There are soakers with grips on the bottom for walking, but I'm not sure if there is anything inside of them to protect the blade from dulling when cutting the fibers.
I don't think something like this (which seems to be like sand paper) would have the same effect as cleats. It will scruff the ice up. Cleats dig into the ice and create holes and divots.