Customer Reviews

Spalding Portable Basketball System - 48" Polycarbonate Backboard

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We purchased this for our son two Christmas's ago or 20 months. The backboard is thin, but worked fine for our 11 year old. He also had no trouble adjusting the height which was great. Moving it around was fairly easy when needed but it pretty much sat in the same place in the backyard. I remember it taking a couple hours to put together. We have enjoyed this basketball hoop....but...

The base of the basketball hoop started to crack about 5 months ago...not a problem then but when the ball would hit the base in the right spot, the base would crack a little more. Now it is cracked all around and doesn't hold water. We called the company and asked if we could purchase a new one last month. They sold us a new one for a little less than $50 but it is backlogged till November. We must not be the only ones with this problem. Our friends have the same hoop and they are getting cracks in it now, but not as bad as ours yet.

I love reading reviews and appreciate feedback when making a decision on a purchase. This was a good product for the price and we have got much enjoyment out of it. Maybe we just got a bad base and they had a bad mix of plastics. It should have lasted longer than it did and wanted to share that with others.

I was a little disappointed, the backboard is pretty thin and the support bars that go from the pole to the plastic base and the screw-holes in the base themselves seem like they could easily break with time. I only paid $179 through Amazon directly, with no shipping charge . . . so for that price, I feel it was a good enough deal. If my son continues to play bball, I will upgrade to a much more study setup.

As for the directions, they were slightly confusing. It took me longer than most to put together, I did it all myself with no help (as a single mom), EXCEPT for when I attached the backboard, THAT step does take two people!

Overall it's a good basketball hoop. The polycarbonate backboard is very thin but it's sturdy enough with the support of steel frame. It took me 4 hours to put together with some help from my 13 years old girl. Some sections of the instruction are confusing. Some figures are incorrect or not clear. Once it's up, it is fun to play with. I paid $169 including shipping - a good price.

Good news, not bad for the price.
Put it together myself in about 2 hours.
Bad news, wasted $30 on antifreeze and 30 gallons of water because the base apparently had a leak which, I'm pretty sure, caused it to fall over in a 20 MPH wind in the middle of the night.
Go with the sand...

The product was a bit tasky to assemble (no ways for the boys to do it on their own), but in the usage it has been excellent. Everybody can easily adjust the height of the basket due to the included spring.
The base keeps leaking water. So, probably sand filling is the only sustainable long term option.
All parts were part of the delivery and instructions relatively clear.

My boys (8 and 7) have loved having this in the front drive. It's very sturdy and adjusts easily. A good buy.

We purchsed this basketball hoop for our 7 yr old son for his birthday. He loves it. It is nice because you can adjust it as they grow. It is sturdy and so far has stood up to few good storms. My husband put it together by himself in about 4-5 hrs and just need helped to attach the backboard. For $219.00 it is worth it.

I saw two meaningful reasons (beyond the superficial NBA logo) to pay a few extra bucks for this over the Lifetime 51550 Courtside Portable Basketball System with 48-Inch Shatterguard Backboard. First, the Spalding lowers to 7.5', the Lifetime only to 8' -- in fact, the only reason this is a 4-star instead of 3-star review. Second, Amazon says the Spalding has a 37-gallon base versus the Lifetime's 31-gallon base. However the instructions say it only holds 30 gallons of water. The Spalding box says 38 gallons, so who knows. The Lifetime's main advantage would appear to be that its "breakaway rim" is supported by two springs, the Spalding only one. Otherwise, the Spalding 72354 seems virtually identical to the Lifetime 51550. The height adjustment mechanism works in the exact same way (despite the lack of photos here on Amazon) and is easy to use. As other reviewers note, the polycarbonate backboard is thin but IMHO it works fine, especially at this price point, and it's better than plastic or acrylic.

The instructions aren't just poor but also inaccurate. I'd like to think I'm reasonably handy. I had all the tools -- a socket wrench is a huge time saver here. All told I probably spent 5-6 hours putting this together, generally by myself but with a little help from the wife and kids.

If you do purchase this, here are the inaccuracies I noticed in the instructions. Step 3 of section B tells you to attach the lower elevator tubes (that help raise and lower the hoop). The tubes have three holes, let's call them X, Y, and Z. X and Z are at the ends, and Y is about 1/3 of the way in the middle, closer to X than to Z. The illustration clearly shows attaching the tubes by putting a bolt through X; however the very next illustration in step 4 has it reversed, with the bolt through Z. The illustration in step is the accurate one. The illustration in step 12 would also appear to be inaccurate. It concerns attaching the spring (that facilitates raising the backboard) to the upper elevator tubes. The upper tubes have four holes, call them A, B, C, and D. A and D are at each end, but A and B are much closer together -- just a few inches -- than C and D. The illustration in step 4 appears to tell you to attach the upper tubes to the backboard with a bolt through hole A; however the illustration in step 12 suggests that A should attach to the pole. Again, the illustration in step 4 would appear to be the correct one.

While it's not a factual mistake, I also had trouble assembling the three poles that are the primary support for the hoop. The instructions advise you to "bounce" them together on a scrap piece of wood, but I couldn't bring the top two pieces all the way together despite using all my 200+ pounds of weight. I had far more luck attaching the bottom piece since by that point I knew to spray it down with WD40 beforehand.

So long as the base doesn't spring a leak it should be fine. All told I'd probably buy it again, if only for the ability to drop the height to 7.5' for my 4-year old. But it's not as much of a slam dunk (no pun intended) as I'd thought.

Spalding has extraordinary customer support. I bought a backboard system 4 years ago. My son has been shooting hoops almost daily. Lately there were some small cracks on the backboard. Bad luck, I thought. Still I tried to call them up and sent them email with pictures of receipts and the backboard at their suggestion --- they even showed me how to find/identify model numbers which I have lost. They immediately shipped out a replacement board by FedEx (to thousands of miles away in California). The whole thing took me less than 15 minutes. Hassle-free. I am very pleasantly surprised by their customer support staffs. They are, as they claim, "True To the Game".

My son who is 15 yrs old and I (his mom) put this together in about 5 hours spread out over a few days. I found the directions to be confusing. The most difficult part was putting the backboard components together. We followed the directions but it could have been clearer. I took a walk around my neighborhood and studyed the ones my neighbors had to get an idea. Once it was finished my son really enjoyed it and he likes to slam dunk so it has to be solid for that. Great product good price. Also I have to say we received it in a week.