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As someone who has brought skates once purely on aesthetics, don't bother.

I had issues with the damn toe cap killing my pinky toe in the ccm as1. I had to put a piece of Eva foam along that area to cover that ridge. It worked well but that experience made me stay away from ccm. That and I love my trues.

Yup, not my plan.

No, you not liking the graphics of the Trues or the Tacks doesn't bother me; I just think fit should always be the priority when it comes to equipment. If two things fit equally well then you might as well pick the gear that you feel looks better. I'd just rather be in a pair of skates that fits really well, but don't look great than in something that is very aesthetically pleasing, but isn't that comfortable. If you can find something that you feel looks great and is comfortable for you; great. I was only pointing out the option of taking off graphics with a bit of acetone and elbow grease because I saw people in other threads do it. I haven't bothered removing graphics myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to making choices based on aesthetics - I've gone out of my way to buy socks, shells and gloves that match adult rec hockey uniforms. That's totally unnecessary, but I do like matching when I can. There are plenty of players who play better than me with mismatched socks, pants and gloves that don't match their jerseys at all. Everyone is free to make their own choice. I like to look good as much as the next guy and try to get things that look good, but prioritize fit, comfort and performance; great aesthetics is a nice bonus though. The True 30 day guarantee was supposed to end on December 31, 2021, but Ice Warehouse announced through a FB post that True chose to extend it. I guess the HM employee didn't get the memo yet. I do think the True skates are a good value, but I don't want to seem like I'm hell bent on pushing you into them. I don't work for them or get any kick backs. If the Bauer or CCM skates work better for you, definitely get those. It's great that Pure is allowing you to sharpen, bake and try the Vapors. You might as well do that. I hope they work well for you.

With the TF7, it's not surprising you had hotspots without baking them. For most people, in the right size that's how they'll feel and your toes will be hard against the cap (more than just brushing). If your toes weren't hard against the cap and you can fit into a 7 in SuperTacks and Ribcor, you'd actually likely need a 6.5. They change a lot with baking, but if you're really hung up on the looks and can find a good fit in something more aesthetically pleasing, that's up to you. I think the associate is right that the Supreme size Fit 2 would fit very similar to the Vapor X2.9 Fit 2. The Vapor does have a different toe box and some different materials, but the last would be the same. You mentioned 7 Fit 2 though and in your original post you mentioned 7.5. Do you have a 7 or 7.5 Vapor? If you'd be a 7 lengthwise in the CCMs and wanted to try a 7 Fit 2 in Supreme, you'd likely also need a 7 Fit 2 in Vapor and not 7.5. Maybe you should've also tried on a CCM FT475 in a 7D. It may seem illogical to go smaller if you're already getting hot spots, but if you're in boots that are a half size too long then the widest part of the boot may not line up with the widest part of your foot. Dropping down a half size could possibly help - it may not, but it could be worth trying. Personally, I would go for the best fit (and you can't really judge that until after baking, especially with the Trues) rather than focusing on aesthetics. Some things like colour accents can be removed with a little acetone (there are threads here of people doing that with both CCM and True skates - basically blacking them out). Here's one example of the Tacks (and you could use a fabric pen on the other parts) and if you keep going in the thread there are also links to pictures of the FT1 with the graphics removed: You can see a TF9 ice to inline conversion in this thread where the blue graphics were stripped off:

Ok, so I spent nearly two hours trying on multiple skates down at Hockey Monkey. The sales associate was super cool, knowledgeable and patient. I’ll just post a list of what I tried on, with brief comments. True TF7: Sizes 7.5 and 7. 7 felt better, but they just didn’t have the “it factor” for me. Multiple hot spots in places I hadn’t experienced before. Didn’t let me bake them so that was that. And honestly I didn’t really care for the look of them. Reminded meof an old school Micron with the strap. (don’t flame me) CCM RibCore 88k: They only had a 7.5 Regular, felt pretty good, but felt that a 7 would have been better. Plenty of space in the toe cap area, which was nice. Heel lock was solid. Since it’s a bit wider, the eyelet wrap over the top of my feet wasn’t really present. The footbeds were just a basic foam and cheaper than the ones included with the FT485’s and ST9380’s that have some extra “fancy” cushioning on the bottoms. I also tried on a Wide version just to see how huge it felt, and it did feel huge. Overall an aesthetically pleasing look to me. CCM SuperTacks 9380: Size 7 D, roomy in the toe cap area and overall a nice fit. Nice heel lock. Typical (for me) hot spots in the arches, but that was it for pain. Foot sat comfortably but I didn’t get the wrap over the top like I do with my FT485’s. The wrap looked and felt similar to that of my x2.9’s. I’m just not fond of the yellow accents all over the boot. CCM FT475: 7, Wide, which reinforced what others have said in my other thread. Toe cap felt great, no rubbing, but the rest of the boot was too big. Not much heel lock to be had. I wanted to try it on to know that a FT485 Wide would have been too big overall. Bauer Supreme 3S: Unfortunately they didn’t have my size, really wanted to try a 7, Fit 2. Associate said it would feel pretty close/identical to my Vapor x2.9s. I like the look of the skate overall. I walked away without buying anything but had a much better understanding of what skates might and might not work for me. Nothing really fit “like a glove” with no pain like my x2.9’s do. I’m going to try out my FT485’s some more and hope they break in enough where the pinky toe cap is a non-issue. I really love how deep my foot sits in them. And how much the eyelets wrap over the top of my foot. I have 30 days to return the Vapors so I’ll just hang on to them while I continue to try out the FT485’s.

No problem. For most people they won't feel comfortable before baking them and the right size will feel way too small before a bake. So, I wouldn't judge them based on their unbaked fit alone.

Icewarehouse has both the TF7 and TF9 in stock in 7R, honors the 30 day satisfaction guarantee and offers free return shipping. I believe they're also based in California and your location is listed as SoCal, so shipping should be relatively quick if you wanted to give them a try.

It's not surprising that you have more room in a Bauer Vapor Fit 2 than a CCM Jetspeed 7.5D. Bauer's Fit 2 is more like an old Supreme D or Vapor EE. You'd also have more room if you were in a CCM Jetspeed EE or a Regular in the new fit system. Both D Jetspeeds and D Vapors are narrow skates, the Fit 2 in Bauer and Regular in CCM is more of an average fit. If you're going to a store to get the Vapors baked anyways, see if they have a 7.5EE or 7.5 Regular Jetspeed for you to try on while you're there - that's a more appropriate sizing comparison vs. Bauer Fit 2. Trying on a 7R (they generally fit at least a half size longer than Bauer/CCM after baking) True TF7 and/or TF9 may be a good idea as well (especially if they'll heat them up for you) - True also recently extended their 30 day satisfaction guarantee that was supposed to end Dec 31...so you could always bake, sharpen and test one of the True models at no risk for 30 days. While it's good that you don't feel any pain the the Vapors, they'll be wider everywhere than a D Jetspeed. Just make sure that there's not a lot of extra negative space and you still have good heel lock. I'd try to figure that out before you bake them as they may not let you return the Vapors after they're baked.