At the moment, the U.S. web page lists a price, $426, but the Canadian page does not.
I emailed Blademaster, through their website:
You offer several alignment gauges, including SC-4000 and SC-4000A.
1. What is the difference? Can both work with figure skates?
2. Can the skater stand on their boot while the tool is attached, to check balance?
3. Can the skater skate on their boot while the tool is attached, to check balance and tracking?
4. If the answer to 2 and 3 is no, what is the benefit of using the tool vs temporally taping the blade to the boot while drilling?
5. Why do your instructions say to fill the pilot holes with enamel before using them? It seems like that defeats the purpose of properly positioning and aligning the screws.
By the way, looking closer at the pictures, the answer to #1 is obvious: SC-4000A is adjustable.
"Technical Support" replied, quoting my questions, and said.
We will answer as soon as possible.
It took a while for them to respond, and I initially missed it, because Yahoo mail redirected their reply to my spam folder. In the mean time I called their U.S. phone number, which reached the U.S. distributor. He said to fill the initial holes only if they are found to be in the wrong position. He also said the device does not clamp the blade strongly enough to stand or skate on it, to check balance or tracking. I didn't think to ask if one could sit with it on, to approximately check the left/right knee alignment, which is the way some boot fitters check alignment.
He wasn't able to explain how it would be faster to use the device than taping the blade on when drilling the holes, except that you can move the blade left or right on the adjustable gauge without retaping it. But when I asked, he did not specify how to determine what offset to move it to. (I like the idea of standing, in one foot glide position, with the boots on, on something thin, and marking the position of the blade using masking tape or painter's tape (because they come off easily, leaving no residue). But I admit I did it for myself, long ago, iteratively, on the ice, by feeling which side of my foot had more weight on it, during one foot glides.
I also called the Canadian number, and was told that the respondent had just sent a response to my email, which I quoted above. If they make further response, I will post it here.
Obviously, anyone on this forum could have done that, if they really cared. My only advantage over some of you is that English is my mother tongue, and calling to the U.S. and Canada is free on my phone plan.
But if their response is insufficient for any of your purposes, I suggest you call or message them.
Perhaps it would be possible to make simple clamps (perhaps out of simple hose clamps, plus cloth or tape to prevent cosmetic damage to the boots??) that would clamp the boots to the blades strongly enough to do initial one foot glide testing on the ice, or one foot balance (perhaps with a plastic blade guard, to improve balance), and do everything I thought this tool could do. That would also be cheaper than the SC4000A. But it wouldn't be as impressive to the customer.