I'll have to chime in. I've had my share of highs and lows breaking in Edeas this past month. I have Matrix Elite blades too. Love my blades!
I bought Ice Flies in early September. They felt fine in the shop when the fitter widened them and mounted my blades. He's one of the best fitters in the country . . . .
But when I got on the ice . . . I had extreme pain in the arches, my feet, and cramping. This lasted until I widened the skates in the ball of my foot. Once I got them wider, then my right foot was "ok." But, my left foot hurt a tad. About the same time that I got a better fit, I ended up stepping on my foot incorrectly off-ice and likely putting a stress fracture on my navicular bone in my left foot. I didn't realize I'd broken a bone. It started to grow a bone hump on the inside arch of this foot. And, I still got some cramping in my arches about 10 minutes into skating.
Because now I had this growing bone hump and cramping, I went to the podiatrist last Tuesday. He referred me to a specialty podiatrist who fitted me and my boots for figure skating orthotics last Thursday. I am extremely pronated and have flat, duck-like feet. I've have alot of foot issues and wear orthotics for my regular shoes. I've had ankle tendon surgery, plantar issues, bone bumps . . .even my old Harlicks hurt a little. (but not like the Edeas). The doctor made me custom orthotics for my Edeas. They came on Tuesday. Now, I am in heaven.
The doctor said that my foot cramping was likely lactic acid building up because my foot muscles were working way overtime trying to compensate in the new boot. It was so bad before I widened the skates, that I laid on the benches, almost in tears, with my feet, boots on, sticking up in the air. They hurt too much for me to put them down on the floor to untie my skates.
As for the loose feeling in the ankle, yes that's how they feel. Now, after a month, I am used to it. I have always worn an achilles bunga pad on my one foot due to a Bauer bump on the back of my heel. That helps to tighten it up some. I try to get the laces as tight as I can, but it's hard because of the heavily padded tongue. I tend to retie them, after walking around. I find the top lace wants to get a little too loose. But, I also retightened my Harlicks a few minutes into skating. Now, I have alot of bend which is nice. And, there is alot of support on each side. When I land a jump, i am definitely not going to topple over in these boots. When I do a sit spin, it's easy to bend forward. Also easy to bend my knees & ankle forward to get nice extension. But, I'd also like to point out that my orthotics make the blade control also happen because every square millimeter of the bottom of my foot is in control of the bottom of the boot through the orthotic.
I didn't try those yellow feet inserts. Those are alot cheaper then custom orthotics. Because I wear such hard orthotics for my regular shoes to bolster up my arch and keep my plantar tendon from ripping, I went straight to custom.
Edeas are not the wonderful skate for everyone. Even my coach was thinking, "She should have went with the lighter Harlicks." I wonder that too. But, this higher heel is supposed to be better on my plantar. I think, for me, as an adult skater, Edeas are harder to get used to. They are shorter, which is not how the skates were in the 1970s. They bend forward easily, which reminds me of a broken down skate from the 1970s that flopped over. But, the lateral movement is 110% supported.
September was a month of adversity. October is, finally, looking up.