Because they are so flat, I am leaning towards going up to 8' rocker. I think going back to a 7' rocker is going to feel weird. Anyone measured worn out blades? But, I worry that, "Will I be able to skate on an 8?" "They" say that an 8' is for advanced skaters. I don't do doubles. I am 45 years young. I am working on adding loops after every jump, and am on my axel journey. Some days, I have a 6 revolution camel, but most days it is 3. I am working on my flying camel (3 revolutions). My sit spins are strong, and I like to pull back on the blade. I have a pretty good backspin, even the kids complement me on it.
I read the kudos on parabolic blades, and how they center your balance. That sounds great because loops in footwork and brackets on a straight line are not the most fun. But, I've only skated on parallel blades. Anyone skate switch to parabolic, what was the learning curve? And, I'm afraid to get an expensive blade. I think our pro shop would butcher it. Are parabolics easier to butcher?
I've shared my story elsewhere recently, but in brief, I got high-end skates within a month or two of first skating at the age of 24 - Graf Edmonton boots with Gold Star blades (7' rocker). I didn't dislike those skates, but I skated hard and after a year the boots were done for in dire need of replacement, so I went all out and in addition to switching to Klingbeil boots, I switched to Gold Seals (8' rocker). It was a very positive transition! After I got through the ankle bone pains of breaking in the boots, I found everything on the Gold Seals to be much better. I more than doubled the number of revolutions I could do in a spin (maximum I got on video was 40 revolutions), and centered much better. I've never managed an axel but I did get pretty good at all the other single jumps. Both sets of skates were big investments but I loved skating and it really wasn't that much over the course of time compared to rink fees.
But I think there's more to blades than the rocker measurement - the profile on the front in particular can vary between different models, and how low the toe pick comes down. What blade is best probably depends a lot on the skater, and the tiny differences between how different boots align your foot (a few millimeters adjustment in heel height might change the position on the blade you comfortably spin on). I've heard that there can also be a lot of variance between different copies of the same blades from the same manufacturer. Also a lot can probably be compensated for by a skilled skater.
Those skates which I loved ended up stolen, and I replaced them with another set of Klingbeils but with Paramount 440 blades, which are also an 8' rocker. It's not the same. I cannot center spins very often on these blades, and I think a simple psychological effect of not liking the appearance as much as the traditional style blade affects me too if I'm really honest about it. I don't think they're bad blades, but they're not the same, and I intend on going back to Gold Seals at some point.
I wish blades were like golf clubs, where you could try them. Don't want to make a several hundred dollar mistake.
I think 8' rockers are great, but it's a personal opinion. Unfortunately the only thing we can do is spend money and play the trial-and-error game. I would likely be happy with a lower level blade but I don't really want to waste time finding out - I know Gold Seals work well for me so when I have the money for another pair of skates that's what I plan to get. A few hundred dollars might be wasted if a cheaper set would work equally well for me, but I won't lose any sleep over that. That said, I'm sure most people think I'm crazy for buying such high-end skates at a low level, and they are quite likely correct, but I'm okay with that.
My husband is an engineer and rebuilds cars. He can do anything mechanical. Should I have him spend $5,000 on a sharpening system? Anyone ever learned how to do blades from scratch? Seems extreme, but . . . the whole family skates. I had a GREAT, independent skate sharpener, but he moved away. :-(
Personally, I like to use a hand sharpening stone - I used to have one that was a teardrop shape like the one on the upper left of this picture:
You can do a fair bit with the stone without doing much to the blade, because it does not take very much metal off. I would hand sharpen them frequently because I really liked the nice crisp "just sharpened" feeling, and would only go to a really good sharpener that was a couple hours' drive away a few times a year, mainly because I didn't trust that I wasn't screwing up my ROH or evenness between sides slowly over time. As hand sharpening does not remove much metal it extends the life of the blades significantly. I would even do a hand sharpening immediately after each machine sharpening, because it would remove a very slight ripple pattern that the machine would leave (you can see and feel this after a machine sharpening). I would feel really leery of using a machine myself though I'm mechanically-inclined, at least with expensive blades. A mistake can be made with a machine in a few seconds that would take hours to do with hand sharpening. What I think you should do regardless is take a careful tracing and pictures of your blades when they are new, and compare your blades to the original tracing after each sharpening to make sure the profile hasn't been changed.