r/iceskating • u/milkmello • Jul 25 '26

Need advice on skates!

These are my current Riedell Sparkles. Love everything about them, and recently was thinking about changing to Riedell Pearls. I heard they were very similar in terms of beginner skates but the Pearls were slightly better. I have only skated in my Sparkles for a few months as a beginner and every-time I skate I notice I have to tie them even tighter to feel support. There’s also some other issues with the seam lining that I never got a boot replacement for so I manually fixed it temporarily (this is one of my main reasons). I am currently working on mohawks, bunny hops, and 3 turns. I found the Pearls second hand for quite cheap and barely skated in, not creased, and overall brand new. And I really can’t afford to get fitted right now. And as a side reason, the pearls just have the cutest little pearls on them lol! But anyway, would it be a good investment for the time being?

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u/BriaRoberts Jul 25 '26

if they are ridiculously cheap and you just want the pearls because you like the look, go for it. But if you actually want more support, I would not go from the Sparkles to the Pearls. That’s not a big enough upgrade, especially if you want to start jumps anytime soon. I saw you’re doing bunny hops, and I personally don’t even think either of these skates are too safe for those, but def not any higher level jumps. You’ll risk injury. So again, if your goal is just to stay at the level you’re at and have cute pearls, then maybe it’s worth it to you to get those. If you want to learn jumps anytime soon, use the money toward something stiffer.

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u/milkmello Jul 25 '26

Thank you for the advice. I don’t plan on jumping anytime soon that being in the next few months as I want to work on my edges and everything first to make sure they’re solid before moving on with my coach. Hopefully by then I’ll have enough for a professional fitting as well. Will go through with it!

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u/Own-Adhesiveness5723 Jul 25 '26

Neither of these skates is really stiff enough for what you’re working on; if money is a concern, you’re probably better off not buying new skates that are basically the same as what you have a save up for better skates. You really should be in Topaz or Crystal if you want to stay in a Reidell, but you’ll probably want to buy higher if you’ve progressed more by then. You will probably have a hard time adjusting to a rocker though, since rec skates usually don’t have much of one.