Years ago, my dad gifted my son a mid-tier Spaulding portable hoop when he was about 6-7. It was great while it lasted, but didn't weather Utah winters or young kids climbing on it very well. This winter the backboard finally shattered, and with other broken plastics and bent metal braces and whatnot, I decided to just tear it down and replace it. In the $350ish tier, everything I was looking at seemed roughly the same as what I was getting rid of. With my bruiser son approaching 14 years old and nearly 6 feet in height, I wanted something sturdier, stronger, and more like a real gym hoop. So I did a bunch of YouTube video watching and review reading, and decided on this. Delivery took almost 2 weeks (11 days, exactly). Which is perfectly acceptable for something so large and heavy. We're all so spoiled with free 2-day delivery, sometimes we forget it's probably a money-loser for a lot of sellers on a lot of things. But truly, how quickly are you ever going to really need a basketball hoop? The box was pretty busted up by the time the final-mile freight delivery got to my driveway. I took a bunch of pictures of it just in case, but everything inside was secure and well packaged. All hardware, parts, etc. were accounted for and in perfect condition. As for assembly: I did it by myself. The instructions and most of the videos and reviews recommend a 2nd person. I agree that would be helpful in very small bursts for the assembly. You don't need a 2nd person for 98% of it. Unless you really want a gopher for tools and hardware, or have a kid-- not mine-- who wants to be helpful in a way that's actually helpful. The other 2%, it would be great, but if you're reasonably strong it's not crucial. They don't need to be right next to you the entire time, unless they like you and your music. Otherwise, the instructions are solid, all the parts fit well, and any other concern you may have from having put together cheap stuff (drilling out holes, sanding down bad welds, re-tapping crossthreads...) didn't ever materialize for me. It's well designed and executed. Once you've got the wheels and base filled with water (and I also used a gel designed for these applications) I don't find it to be all that easily maneuverable. But I think that's a good thing. If you plan on moving it around a lot, you might want to consider weighting it differently. The instructions ask for a 4' support at a certain part of the installation. I guess you could use a ladder or some other such thing. I used a Shopmate portable workbench, which wasn't quite tall enough for what it wanted me to do with it. But with that, some ingenuity, the packing cardboard, and a decent amount of experience in assembling stuff using hand tools, I made it work. The absolute hardest part of the whole thing was standing it back up when it was finished. But I'm only 5'9". A few more inches and that wouldn't have been an issue either. (I'm 50, but maybe "old-man strong"?) Like I said, a helper would have been nice for about 5 total minutes. All told, I did it in about 2 hours, solo. It is definitely more solid and better put together than the Spaulding. Thicker steel, more bolts, better hardware, stronger hoop, easier height adjustment, bigger and sturdier base... the only thing I'm not sure is categorically better than the Spaulding is the backboard itself. It seems stronger, is better supported, looks nicer, and is larger, but I'm not convinced the polycarbonate (or whatever it is) material will hold up better in the bitter cold winters. That said, it is quieter, more solid feeling, and has better ball response. My son loves it, and I can no longer hear the backboard noise. while he and his friends are outside shooting hoops. It's been a long, long time since I shot baskets on a legit indoor gym backboard, but this is in all ways a MUCH nicer basket to play HORSE or 1:1 on. And what kind of price can you put on that? Read more
I'm going to go into some detail here as I had a hard time picking a hoop. You really can't go to the store and look at 10-15 so hopefully this helps some of you. I'll specifically be talking about the product itself in the review and then I'll add in the auxiliary stuff at the end. 1. Sturdiness: one of the important things for me was how much it feels like playing in a gym with a real gym model. Our neighbors have a different brand and it feels like a toy version as the ball "thuds," agains the backboard. It wobbles after hit as well. This one does not. The ball comes off the rim and backboard almost as good as a gym backboard. The base is solid and does not have any give (see below on the base). 2. Materials: The pole is steel and the base is a hard plastic (with steel frame underneath). The wheels are hard plastic. You fill both with water to weigh them down. The base takes 25 gallons (I didn't measure it but that's what the instructions say and it that seemed about right). So the base alone is around 200 pounds. The backboard actually isn't heavy at all (my 8 year old daughter helped to hold it up while I screwed it in). The rim is a standard BB rim. 3. Heigh adjustment: Pretty easy. I'd say a 10 year old and up could easily do it themselves. 4. Portability: with the base filled, it's pretty heavy. If you want a hoop you can easily move around, you'd have to fill the base far less or maybe go with a different model. 5. Backboard size: 54" is nice. I don't think I'd say you'd need 60". Our neighbors have a 44" and that feels way too small, even for elementary ages. 6. Looks: it really looks nice. All the neighbors commented that it looks very nice. 7: Kids' vote: I was curious if the neighorhood kids would use it. Of course they were at the hoop within 10 minutes of me setting it up. They are skipping over the other hoops in the neighborhood that aren't as good (maybe a bad thing if you don't want all the kids around). Other issues: these aren't things that matter to me personally but I know other buyers do. So here goes: 1. Shipping: was delayed by 3 days. I think it was 7-8 days received after ordered though. Not bad. I was expecting 10 days anyway. 2. Instructions: instructions are very good. Actually, I'll say excellent. Almost any kid product you have to put together always has some parts that just aren't 100% understandable and you do your best guess. These were not. I had zero issue understanding the instructions. 3. Time to build: they say 90 minutes. That wasn't my experience. Of course I had 3 kids bothering me half the time but 90 minutes seems like a pretty aggressive estimation. 4. Customer service: I thought I was missing a part (it ended up being in one of the main pole parts). They were friendly and responsive. 5. Tools needed: you need a large ratchet set. If you do not have a large ratchet set, you will need to get one. The standard size will not work. I did not purchase the assembly from Amazon but I should have. I didn't because we were to receive the product on a Saturday and assembly would have been a couple of days later. I knew the kids couldn't wait if we had it on a Saturday. The price is only $20 - pay to have someone do it. It's not terribly difficult but still, if you have enough to buy this thing, $20 isn't much consideration. Overall: I like how it feels when playing. Almost gym quality on a portable backboard. Very nice. Significantly better than similar models. Read more
I was really impressed with the quality of the product. As I assembled it, my wife remarked how sturdy it seemed compared to another my son had recently played on. I really appreciated how all the parts and hardware were labeled or color coded. Downloading the manual from the website and watching the Dads Builds video before it arrived helped me ensure I had all the tools I needed. I was able to complete most of it myself, but my 11-year-old wanted to help, and I definitely needed my wife for the backboard assembly. I also appreciate that they're sending an additional basketball net now that I've registered the product for the warranty, although they should add a prompt on the form immediately beside the serial number entry box stating that the number is on the registration card and not in the manual-- versus just stating this atop the form. I ended up submitting the form twice. My son really enjoyed using this on Christmas Eve (loved the 3-day delivery), and the 7.5' lowest height setting is great to challenge him to get stronger because he's just short of being able to dunk on it at almost 4'9" tall. Overall, I was just really impressed with the quality, the stability, the look, the packaging, the spare parts. I almost never write reviews, but my conscience said I should this time. It kind of inspired me to do better work in my own job so that I can give customers the feeling I had after putting this hoop together. Read more
