I'm 25, starting skating classes (I can skate around the rink quite comfortably, working on first moves like crossovers) and I'm doing it in rental plastic skates, which are quite uncomfortable as you might imagine haha. So I would like to buy appropriate skates ASAP. I see that the most popular advice on this forum for people looking for new skates is to see a fitter. The problem is I live in the Netherlands and there are no figure skate fitters here (if you know of any, please let me know, I couldn't find anyone).
The people at the local shop recommended Jackson Excel, but now I'm reading here and in other places online that they're too soft even for beginners (I'm not too tall and relatively light, would like to continue with classes until jumps in... some time). I haven't bought them yet bc they didn't have my size, but I think they might not fit me anyway, since I tried a size bigger and my toes were touching the end in a quite uncomfortable way, while the boots were clearly too wide around the foot and ankle. So I think even my "right" size might not fit me. I'm supposed to try the ones in my size soon, but now I'm hesitant about buying them (I don't mind paying a bit more if the skates are much better, but ideally no more than 200 euros). Do all Jackson boots have a wide fit like that? Are other brands different? The shop also has some Riedells, but they're puzzlingly expensive (so I haven't tried them yet), and I could travel to other cities to try Edeas (I really want to try the skates on in person)
Also would be happy for recommendations of shops in the Netherlands (in/close to Randstad) with multiple figure skate brands and a good stock of adult sizes, it's really difficult for a newcomer to find a good shop
The people at the local shop recommended Jackson Excel, but now I'm reading here and in other places online that they're too soft even for beginners (I'm not too tall and relatively light, would like to continue with classes until jumps in... some time). I haven't bought them yet bc they didn't have my size, but I think they might not fit me anyway, since I tried a size bigger and my toes were touching the end in a quite uncomfortable way, while the boots were clearly too wide around the foot and ankle. So I think even my "right" size might not fit me. I'm supposed to try the ones in my size soon, but now I'm hesitant about buying them (I don't mind paying a bit more if the skates are much better, but ideally no more than 200 euros). Do all Jackson boots have a wide fit like that? Are other brands different? The shop also has some Riedells, but they're puzzlingly expensive (so I haven't tried them yet), and I could travel to other cities to try Edeas (I really want to try the skates on in person)
Also would be happy for recommendations of shops in the Netherlands (in/close to Randstad) with multiple figure skate brands and a good stock of adult sizes, it's really difficult for a newcomer to find a good shop