Need some help/advice on skates

[Falk 0]

Hi,

First sorry to register and just beg for advice without even being a part of this community, but I'm about to start roller hockey and the net is probably my best place for, I hope I post this in the right forum.

I'm French (sorry for any typo), and sadly hockey isn't "quite" popular around here, to say the least (and I hate soccer ^_^), so basically we're ripped everytime we want some hockey stuff. For instance, the Mission He3500 retail at about 130$ in the US now, cuz' they're from last year or whatever, but in France they still retail around 200€, the equivalent of 275US$ *o*!!! You read well, more than twice the US price...

You probably know the mission motto, for some it's a game, for others it's a mission, or something like that. Well if you live in Europe (except north Europe), playing hockey is even more than that, it's a quest that may very well cost you a kidney or lung.

So of course I'm tempted to buy oversea, it's cheaper, even with P&P and duties if any... the problem is that many stores will only ship international with UPS or FEDEX (hockeymonkey for example... even the European store seems to import from the US, so the shipping cost is the same AFAIK) and they (UPS, Fedex) charge way too much.

The skates are probably in first class drinking champaign for such high shipping cost. So I can only buy at stores that ship by express mail.

The other problem is to get the right size... not any shoe size comparison chart says the same thing...

So 2 months ago I got some He3500 on ebay (but this wasn't so simple, the seller wouldn't understand I wanted express mail... she changed the shipping method like 4 times before understanding what I wanted... so all in all, I paid for express mail but it took like 10 days to get the shipping method right...), but I took 1 or 2 size bigger than I should... yeah... >_<

Now I've got to buy some skates again (and if possible sell the old ones^^), but as I'd want to screw up once more time, I need some advice first.

Any idea what I should get ? Up to... say... 150$ ? 200$ if they're REALLY worth it (I'd gladly buy something better but I have to add about 70$ for shipping... T_T)

I'm surprised the He3500 are so "cheap", is there any problem with those skates ? Or do they just want to clear the stocks for the new line ? Cuz' I like the look.

The new mission DSX don't look that bad neither, but I'd expect the He3500 to be of better quality as they cost about 300$ when they came out I think. I don't care much if it's the old or new collection, as long as they've proved being of good quality.

I've tried some He3500 size 11D and He500 size 9E, 9 is almost long enough but I find the toe box too narrow on the big toe and it'll probably hurt after some time of play. 11 is too big so I'll probably buy some 10.

My feet are about 27.5cm long, so 10.8 inches.

If anyone wants to check with his foot size and skate size, that would probably help^^

Really any help would be appreciated, this is driving me nuts xD

Also opinions on online stores would be great, like if anyone has experience with hockey monkey Europe (and if they're interesting price-wise), inline-warehouse, hockeygiant, etc... if they're reliable, etc...

[_HSB_b345t 0]

I have purchased several times from inlinewarehouse.com and have never been less than satisfied. The people that work there are very competent and knowledgeable. Just email them and they are very quick to respond.

One suggestion as far as skate sizes: measure your foot -- length and width -- and send the dimensions to any retailer and they can tell you what the closest match to your size will be.

Skate suggestions: Tour Code 1

They are slightly more expensive than your average skate (well, pre 2008 lines which are in the neighborhood of >US$400) at ~$300, but they are worth it. They are ridiculously light and comfortable. The straight-80 chassis is considerably faster than the 72-80 Hi-Lo. For the money, the Code 1 skates are very much worth it.

[DamnLocust 0]

or pick up some E-2s if you can find them in your size. they're closer to your price range and still a top notch skate.

[trajik78 0]

if you can find the '07 Mission Wicked 5's in your size (10E) then grab them. They're just about $218 these days on clearance and are absolutely wonderful. stiff yet not unyielding. bearings are killer too.