HomeOther ProductsSpalding The Beast Portable Basketball Hoop - 60" Glass Backboard |
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13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 The Beast Review Jun 02, 2009
By Brent A. Colvin
It's a great product to play on when it's finally assembled but that wasn't as easy as it should have been. Some of the parts that were suppossed to be pre assembled were not and they were not included in the box. I called Spalding and the customer service was friendly but not very helpful. They said that they would ship the parts but after a week I called back and they told me they didn't ship anything because they were all out of the bolts I needed. They told me it would take a month to get the bolts from headquarters and another couple of weeks to mail it to me. I asked for the specs of the bolts and went to Lowes where I paid about $4 for all the materials. I'm glad I called back because it appeared they just dropped the issue when they realized they didn't have the parts.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Best portable system I've seen Dec 27, 2011
By Gilbert L. Braun
This will be a two-part review ... the product, and the installation.
It's the best portable system I've seen (and I've seen several). I'd give it a 10 on a scale of 1-10 for portable systems (most of the portable systems, including our old one, I would give a 2 or 3).
But to help you compare it to a high school or college gym system, if a college hoop system with a glass backboard was a 10, I'd probably give this an 8. There is still some movement and vibration in play, but not much.
I'd rate it better than most outdoor court backboards and better than many of the indoor courts (grade school and middle school) my son has played on that use metal or plexiglas backboards. Bottomline, it's not perfect, but if you need (and can afford) this portable system, I think you'll be pleased.
Let me throw out a real plus for Amazon. We had problems with the freight company that delivered it. Won't bore you with the details, but Amazon made it right ... and I'd say went beyond what was necessary. I'm a fan of Amazon for sure.
Now for the installation:
First, it took me about 4 hours. If I were doing it again, it would probably take two or two and 1/2. I personally think the instructions are very good. And in my case, all the hardware was well packed in individual packages for each of the major installation steps. And it was all there. But there were no extra parts, so don't lose washers or bolts, etc..
Let me give some setup hints that might be helpful that I haven't seen in other reviews.
First, of course, read the instructions carefully. All warnings and important notes are there for a reason. I read the instructions online couple times before the shipment arrived, and still missed a few important details as I went through the setup. And make sure you look at the pictures carefully to ensure you have the right part alignment. Bottomline, read the instructions.
The main pole assembly - this takes two people for sure. I used a ladder (some use the back end of a pick up truck to stand on. Bottomline, I stood up high, my son down low, and at my call, we raised it about 1 1/2 to 2 feet vertical (I lifted from up high, my son from down low), and then dropped it on the wood. Took us about four or five drops to get it fully seated. Much easier than I expected (about 5 minutes total). We did use WD-40, but not sure whether that mattered or not. As a caution, I reminded my son everytime, before each drop to keep his feet clear. Trust me, you would do some serious damage if you dropped the pole on someone's foot.
When you install the main pole on the base, get nine inch socket extender. I happened to have 3-three inch extenders that I linked together, and it saved me a phenomenal amount of time tightening the nuts that hold the pole to the base. You need the extenders to have maneuver room.
Believe it or not, with just the pole installed on the base, it doesn't tip over. That surprised me, but was good for installing the side braces.
One little gotcha installing the wheel assembly ... on step 4 in the instructions, it shows a cutout of parts 14/15 and W7. Make sure you put bolt W7 through the hole in 14/15 before you install that part on the wheel axel. I didn't, and I had to undo it and reinstall. Just some wasted time.
It's important to lean the pole on a sawhorse like they tell you. However, my sawhorse was actually to low, as I suspect most standard size sawhorses are. When you install the elevator tubes, make sure they are at least about six inches above the ground, as you'll need that when you install the backboard. Bottomline, the pictures show the pole leaning on a sawhorse with a lot of ground clearance. You need that ground clearance (and I didn't have it at first).
I found installing the backboard to be my hardest step. Largely, because I didn't have a tall enough sawhorse so I didn't have eough ground clearance. I almost thought one time I was going to puncture the glass with one of the elevator tubes (fortunately I didn't). But you need two people for this at least. I'd recommend anchoring the lower elevator tubes to the backboard first, and then the upper (and freely moving) ones second. It may seem simple, but one of the tricky steps is trying to properly fit the plastic washer (part A4) betwen the elevator tube arm and the backboard frame. With my fumble fingers, it was a bit challenging with not much space to work.
On the backboard assembly, I had to tighten the bolts just a little bit tighter than they recommended (they say flush, I had to go a turn or so further). You can play that one as your assembly dictates.
Don't forget to fill the base about half way before you try to stand up the goal assembly (I did forget). Trust me, with an empty base, and the backboard installed, it will tip forward very easily. I almost lost it a couple times at this point. Would not have been cool to see it come crashing down.
I found that it actually rolls pretty easily on asphalt or concrete. When you pull the gray front piece forward, it actually lowers the front wheels in place, letting it roll freely. It's real heavy (probably somewhere around 600 pounds when full of water/sand), but it rolls pretty well. But it will not roll at all on grass (didn't try it on dirt). It's simply too heavy and will sink in. I actually had to use some plywood ramps to get mine to it's final location.
Installing the rim and fascia pieces was pretty straight forward (though again you need some coordinated fingers to get the rim bolts in the right place).
All in all, I had a lot of fun putting it together, and my son is having a lot of fun practicing on it.
Hope this helps a bit.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Great hoop but check your parts when shipment arrives May 31, 2009
By C. Cho
Great hoop system. The 60" glass backboard feel like you are shooting at an indoor hoop on your drive way! My kids wouldn't stop playing after we got it setup.
I was debating to hire someone to come out and assemble the system. So when I received the shipment, it sat in my garage for 5 days. Then after getting a ridicules quote to have someone come and assembly it, I decided to do it myself with.
So my 9 year old daughter and I ripped open the box Friday afternoon after work and started to assemble it. If you take few minutes to read the directions, the steps are very easy to understand and not very hard. We were done by night fall, about 3.5 hours. Probably faster if I had another adult to help.
When you get your shipment (it comes on a wood pallet in 3 big boxes) - kind of intimidating - open it up and check for any damages. We had one of the smaller water reservoir that had a crack in it so it won't hold water (or sand). Thought about requesting for a replacement part but that would have meant that we had to wait another week or two. And I would have to reassembly the whole system to get water reservoir replaced. So I am using couple of sand bags to give it more weight.
One last suggestion, be sure to have the right tools. Make sure you have all the tools suggested in the setup guide. They aren't anything special, just things like socket wrench, saw horse, etc. It will make your setup much faster and smoother!!
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Impressive basketball hoop Mar 25, 2010
By Helen L
For a portable hoop, this is amazing. Took my husband and I an afternoon to assemble. That part is not easy and I would say that you need someone who is familiar with assembling things. Putting the post together was the hardest part and at some point I thought we wouldn't be able to do it. You really need someone who is strong with a good back. Make sure you have good help. Once together it is terrific and very stable. My boys and their friends have enjoyed playing basketball with it and has made our old hoop look pretty sad. I have only one rule tho, and that is no hanging off the hoop.
I would recommend this, but know going into this that you need someone with a good back to help put it together. There is a lot of pounding one piece of post into another and you need to stand on a ladder to get the height to do it. We live in an area that is quite windy and it stood thru many storms and cold weather. We have had it for almost a year.
UPDATE: THIS HOOPS HAS GONE THRU A WINTER NOW AND IT IS IN GREAT SHAPE. WE PUT ANTI-FREEZE IN THE WATER AND IT NEVER FROZE. STILL HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS HOOP.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Very Stable, rock solid rebounds, but cracked reservoir creates problems. Mar 29, 2010
By Steve
I did a lot of research and came up with this one. I assembled it mostly by myself in one day, so it can be done. My wife and kids helped occasionally when needed. Recommend a sawhorse and then a stepladder to rest the unit on at various steps. Also, a key is to have deep sockets available, as well as socket wrench extenders (a really long one). Put some WD40 on the juncture between the two main poles--that will ease their joining. Once I did that, and straightened them out with a mallet, they slide together with just a few pounds onto the board as described in the manual.
If you have a cracked bottom reservoir like I do, you'll need to try and squeeze a quarter ton of sand into the little sand access hole after fixing the hole. THAT'S irritating and time consuming, including the trip to Lowe's to pick up all of the sand once I discovered the water leaking out. Make sure to check this before assembly, as once it's all together, it's very difficult to fix the crack (Mighty Putty? I've used duct tape and it's worked to hold the sand in, anyway).
Not too happy with the moving of it--front wheels when engaged don't give enough clearance for anything but a perfectly flat surface, and my driveway is not perfectly flat, so it hangs up repeatedly when moving it.
Now that I have it up, incredibly stable, very good design. A rebound off of the center of the hoop barely shakes it! Rebounds off of the sides shake a bit, but no more than most inground units do.
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