You have had a wonderfully fuctional basketball system in your backyard for years. You have spent hours out practicing by yourself, inviting your friends and family over, and teaching your children to play. Things were going great until one afternoon, your oldest child comes in and tells you that your beloved basketball system is no more. He and his friends did not do anything wrong. They were just out shooting hoops and the backboard, quite suddenly, shattered. Hey, it happens. Backboard cannot last forever. You got a long life out of the system. Time to hang up the sneaks for good, right? No!

Basketball Backboards Can Be Replaced … Sort of

Before you junk the old system, please read the rest this blog post. The backboard is merely a part of the system. And parts are replaceable. So, question number one is where does one go to replace their backboard? So, here is the sort of part. Several manufacturers actually sell replacement backboards through a whole host of retailers in store and online. However, not every backboard online or in store will work with your system. So, the next question is who made your system? You are most likely to find a replacement for your backboard from either Spalding / Huffy or Lifetime Products as both of these manufacturers actively market replacement backboards. However, all of their backboards are not replaceable. So, next question is what material is the backboard made of? If it is tempered glass, then you are again out of luck as tempered glass backboards are not retailed from either manufacturer. You will have to attempt to order directly through the manufacturer. To speed up your quest, Lifetime Products can be reached at 1-800-225-3865 and Spalding / Huffy can be reached at 1-800-558-5234. If your backboard is not tempered glass then you are still on the right track. Both manufacturers retail backboards made with plastic, polycarbonate, or acrylic materials. So, you are a step closer to find the right system. The last thing that you will need to figure out is what mounting bracket you have on your system to verify compatibility with replacement backboards for sale. For this last question, brackets differ greatly. Contact us with any questions if you got to this point. We will be happy to assist.

Here is some help for you when researching a purchase for an arcade basketball game for your home use. First, we will look at manufacturers of these types of games. Lifetime Products, Spalding, and Escalade Sports are the largest manufacturers of these types of systems – there are many other smaller makers as well. Of these 3 main players in this market, Spalding and Escalade Sports offer a more than 1 system. Each of these manufacturers offer very similar products in quality and play. However, certain minor differences between their product offerings may sway you one way or the other. We will look at each unique portion of their systems next.

Lifetime Products Indoor Basketball Game

Lifetime Products makes only 1 system, model 90056. This system is a double shot game – meaning 1 or two players can play at the same time. This system has a couple of unique parts to it. First, the 90056 Double Shot uses infrared sensors to track scores. Traditional designs use plastic clickers to track scores. No one system is 100 percent accurate; but, infrared sensors tend to be more accurate tracking scores than plastic clickers. Plastic clickers will regularly get stuck in the down position when the ball goes through the net causing the unit to double or even triple count a score. Infrared sensors do not have that problem, essentially eliminating double and triple counting scores. Next difference for the 90056 is the frame of the unit. The poles used in the game frame are thicker diameter and heavier than other comparable poles from other manufacturers. The larger poles make the game more stable and more durable. Next difference, the frame at the base where the players shoot the balls is wider than other double shot game, sometimes by as much as a foot. This added space provides players more space to shoot and less bumping into one other. Lastly, the 90056 is one of the only Double Shot games to come with 7 basketballs. Other Double Shot games come with 5 or 6. This lower quantity of balls regularly interferes with game play when two players are playing as players fight one another to get the basketballs as they roll down the net. 7 basketballs tends to provide smoother game play, and less fighting between players.

Spalding Pop a Shot Arcade Basketball Game

Spalding currently offers two indoor basketball games, a single shot and a double shot. This immediately differentiates them from Lifetime Products as sometimes you should do not want, or do not have enough space, for a double pop a shot shot game. The single shot game provides the same game play as the double shot game, only with a smaller frame and one basketball hoop to shoot at. Their basketball games use traditional plastic clickers. Their Double Shot game tends to be less exensive than Lifetime Products.

Escalade Sports Arcade Basketball Hoops

Escalade Sports has one of the most diverse product offerings for arcade basketball games. They have single shot and double shot games. Of their double shot games they have several product qualities to choose from. Their lowest end systems would be comparable to Spalding’s Double Shot Game. Their mid-range system would be most like Lifetime’s 90056. They also have a high-end goal with a bulky, sturdy frame in what is called their RhinoPlay series. Their mid-range arcade basketball hoops and high-end goals will typically use infrared sensors to track scoring. Their low-end systems will typically use the plastic clickers to track scores.

Choosing the best system for you

These options for your indoor basketball game provide enough variety that most anyone can find a great system for their needs. Budget conscious purchases will probably want to take a look at Spalding and Escalade games. Quality conscious will want to look at Lifetime and Escalade Rhino Play offerings. Feel free to contact us with any questions not addressed in this post so that we can better assist you in your purchase.

Plan on getting a basketball hoop from Lifetime Products this year for Christmas? Don’t let assembly of the system slow down or ruin your holiday. Here is some helpful tips that will help you during your assembly process.

Read all of your instructions for assembling your Lifetime basketball hoop

When assembling your system, you might find a step that you recognize that parts for and can visualize how they fit into the completed goal. If this happens to you, you might be tempted to proceed with what seems an obvious step in the assembly without actually reading the directions. While you might luck out and get the step completed properly sometimes, this is definitely not advisable. Lifetime frequently puts little notes on certain steps that will direct you to do or not to do something until something else is completed. For instance, you might read a note that says “Do not tighten bolts until assembly is complete”; or “Before completing this step, make sure you do ‘this or that thing’ first.” By reading the instructions all the way through, you will save time by not having to redo steps when you inevitably get to a step that is not completable based on a previous step not being followed correctly.

InGround basketball hoop help

The most important thing I can suggest here is that if you are ordering an inground system and you want to assembly complete for Christmas, you will need to start several days earlier (longer if the weather does not cooperate). For instance, when assembling an in ground basketball system you will need about 72 hours for the cement to set for the inground portion of the system, even when using a ground sleeve. Plan ahead, and start assembly with enough time for all steps to be completed properly. You do not want to rush assembly of your system and have it set incorrectly.

Portable basketball hooop help

For a portable system, you ought to mainly consider what you will use to fill your base. Generally, bases of portable goals are filled with water. Water is the easiest to fill and unfill with these types of systems. However, water does have some draw backs. For instance, if your climate where you live has freezing temperatures during any part of the year, you risk damaging the base when the water expands. Lifetime makes several recommendations for dealing with water-filled bases; the key is simply doing something that avoids the water freezing. An alternative to this is sand. Sand is not a cure all per se. Sand tends to weigh about 1.5 times that have the base filled with water – depending on the density of the sand you use. So, the plus-side to sand is a heavier, more stable base and no freezing worries. The minus-side is the heavier base is much more difficult to move around and harder to put into the base. Choose wisely.

Additional help is available

Lifetime wants you to have a positive experience with their products just as much as you want it. Thus, they also provide a customer service line with trained technicians that are available to help with assembly issues at no cost to you. They can be reached at 1-800-225-3865. Use this resource as needed.

Sheds are produced in many different materials including wood, metal, and plastic. Most manufactures, like Lifetime Products, will make sheds out of one of these materials. Other manufacturers, such as Duramax, make sheds out of a couple of the materials. In many cases, the intended use and location you have for your outdoor storage shed will determine which material you should have for your shed. We will explore the differences and appropriate uses for sheds made with plastic and metal.

Plastic storage sheds: Review of Features

When you see that a shed is made with plastic, you need to suppose that all parts of the shed are made with plastic or that the shed is weak or flimsy in any way. All plastic sheds have reinforcements to the shed wall and roof structure. Of these reinforcements, such as those made by Lifetime Products or Duramax, the material use is powder coated steel. The powder coating of the reinforcements helps the metal resist rusting and corrosion. The metal reinforcements serve to help stiffen the walls and roof structure. They also help the roof support weight and pressure for things like snow storms. Most of these sheds include floors. The flooring tends to be relatively thin and must be supported with some sort of foundation structure underneath. This type of shed is highly useful for specific needs.

Who would want a plastic storage shed?

Plastic storage sheds tend to be much lighter than metal sheds. They are easily assembled and disassembled. Thus, someone that might want to move their shed to a different location on the property or a different property all together would benefit from the plastic shed modular design. Plastic are also not going to rust over time. Even with powder coating, or some other sort of coating, all metal eventually rusts. Thus, a shed with walls and roofs made of metal are much more likely to rust quicker and need upkeep compared to a plastic shed that has metal structural parts placed safely inside the shed. Thus, those who intend on using their sheds in a adverse weather climate might benefit the most from the plastic shed design.

Metal Storage Sheds: Review of Features

Most metal storage sheds are going to have a modular design (meaning the shed is built using interlocking panels). Unlike plastic sheds, most metal sheds do not include a floor. Metal sheds panels are reinforced with metal support beams to help strengthen the shed structure. Metal sheds tend to be more rigid than their plastic counterparts due to the nature of the metal material. Metal storage sheds also have a covering for the metal panels that will help resist rusting.

Who would want a metal storage shed?

Metal sheds are great for non-aesthetic, strictly functional needs. The design is very simple, rarely even having any windows. Because of this simplicity in design, they also tend to be a littler shorter than plastic sheds, which makes them ideal for strictly storage needs. This height difference can be significant in some cases. For instance, some metal Duramax sheds are as short as 65 inches of head room. Whereas most plastic sheds, such as those from Lifetime Products, have 76 inches or more of head room. Most metal sheds are going to be priced lower than comparably-sized plastic sheds.

While this is the first topic we will cover in the basketball hoop purchasing guide series, this is not necessarily the place you need to start with your shopping. The maker of the basketball hoop you are interested in just makes for a great logical sequence to proceed through to discuss the ins and outs of buying an appropriate basketball system for your home or organization. Each basketball hoop manufacturer, if successful, tends to target a particular market segment to fit the needs of a market segment better than anyone else. Thus, if you are wanting a high-end hoop, do not expect to find great options from low-end producers, and vise versa. The following list of common basketball hoop makers will help you sort who caters to your particular needs.

Lifetime Products

Lifetime Products is possibly the largest manufacturer for consumer-end basketball systems in the world. They have accomplished this status through perfecting the basketball hoop features catered to a low-end budget. Do you own, or have you seen, a basketball hoop that can be raised and lowered? Chances are you are looking at a system made by Lifetime Products. Lifetime is who made raising and lower the backboard common place in a residential basketball goal. Lifetime Products has the most extensive product selection in the low end compared to just about any other maker. Their systems can be seen priced as low as $100. Due to their success at the low end, Lifetime has also dabbled in the high end. Their high-end basketball goals are called Mammoth basketball goals. These types of goals are typically priced in the $1000 to $1500 range. Mammoth basketball goals are very comparable to most any other manufacturer of basketball system in the high end of products.

Spalding / Huffy

If you ever see Spalding or Huffy basketball systems, first thing to know is that websites frequently use these names interchangably because they are both owned by Russel Athletics. In general, you will likely see Huffy label on low-end basketball hoops and Spalding on higher-end hoops. However, Spalding goals can be priced anywhere from $250 to $2400. Huffy and low-end Spalding basketball goals typically have a plastic, acrylic, or polycarbonate backboard materials. On Spalding’s high-end basketball systems, the backboards are either tempered glass or acrylic. To know when you have reached the high-end basketball line, you will typically see the brand product name Arena View. The Arena View basketball systems have very comparable specs to the Mammoth basketball line from Lifetime, but also include several models that have larger poles, thicker backboards, and stronger rims.

Goalsetter

Goalsetter is unique among most any high-end basketball hoop manufacturer in that they are one of very few that manufacture their hoops in the United States. Based in Iowa, Goalsetter makes a very unique basketball hoop product. Their poles, which they term as off-set in design, have a portion of the pole that is vertical and an upper portion that angles back. At this part that agnles back and returns to a vertical position, the mounting arms for the backboard come forward back in front of the pole. This type of design is unique to Goalsetter and easily identified when looking for a basketball hoop. One other thing of note with Goalsetter basketball hoops is that each of their systems is available in tempered glass and acrylic.

Goalrilla

Goalrilla makes high-end basketball system with 54, 60, and 72-inch backboard models. Goalrilla also makes a few mid-range systems under the brand name Silverback. Their pole sizes are comparable to Mammoth; however, they differ considerably in their lift mechanisms. All Goalrilla systems will have a bolt-down anchor pole. The 60-inch glass Silverback system will also have a bolt-down anchor kit. All other Silverback systems will have an in-ground pole

Just as a note, there are other basketball hoop manufacturers out there. We have simply covered the major ones. Until next one.

Lifetime Products has several tables that are easily portable. These designs include options like fold-in-half tables, carrying handles, camping tables with benches, and folding picnic tables. Each design has some overlapping uses and some specific uses. Here is a run down of these tables, with their model numbers for easy searching.

Fold-in-Half Tables

These types of portable tables come in 4 foot, 6 foot, and 8 foot models. These types of Lifetime table allow for compact storage and easy transportation. Many customers that use this type of table are those needing a light-weight table that can fit in small areas to transport around. Customers like this include DJ’s, wedding receptionists, party planners, and home uses. These model numbers include 80174, 80175, 4428, and 24534.

Carrying Handles

Several tables have carrying handles that will assist in moving these tables around. These handles are on the table top edge. Some of these tables include the fold-in-half models from Lifetime, but others are simply adjustable tables or regular folding-leg tables. Model numbers that have carrying handles include 4428, 80161, 80160, 24534, 80174, and 80175.

Folding Picnic tables

Picnic tables are normally a very large, difficult-to-transport object; however, when you can fold the table flat, it becomes much easier. Lifetime rectangular picnic tables can all fold flat, which makes managing the transportation much easier. Picnic tables from Lifetime that can do this include models 2119, 2123, 80215, and 80123.

Lifetime Products, National Public Seating, and Correll all manufacture adjustable tables. These different manufacturers use a couple of different design options. These different design options provide uses for different needs. We will explore these options here.

Lifetime Products and National Public Seating

Lifetime Products has a traditional push-pin design. Simply engage the pin triggers on either side of the table legs and either pull up or push down on the table top to change the leg lengths. When the table-top height can be locked in, the push pins will pop out in a locked mechanism. National Public Seating uses a similar mechanism. Simply engage the push pins and slide the legs longer or shorter as needed.

Correll

Correll, inc. uses a screw-locking mechanism to change the height of many of their adjustable tables. This design is a little more cumbersome than simple push pins; however, their mechanism allows for a larger quantity of height settings. For instance, the Lifetime and National Public Seating design typically provide 3 height settings ranging from 22 inches and 36 inches. The Correll design has 11 settings ranging from 22 inches to 32 inches in 1-inch increments. Thus, both designs have their advantages and disadvantages.

When shopping for an inground basketball hoop, monitoring variations of the same, or similar, feature is important to make sure you are getting the best basketball goal for your money. We will compare several manufacturers of basketball systems in this post and hopefully help differentiate between basketball system features before you purchase.

Basketball backboard material comparison

Perhaps the best place to start in comparing basketball systems is the backboard material. Backboards today are essentially made of one of four materials: glass, acrylic, polycarbonate, and plastic. When looking at a basketball system, if the backboard is made of glass, they typically are referring to tempered glass. This glass is the same type as that on your windshield of your car. Acrylic backboards are also almost always frequently referred to as acrylic by the manufacturer, though you might see EM5 listed as the backboard material of basketball systems made by Lifetime Products. If you see EM5, that means acrylic. Polycarbonate backboards are also almost always referred to as polycarbonate; however, you might also see makrolon and shatter guard for backboards on certain systems made by Lifetime Products. If you see this type of wording, or similar, they are referring to polycarbonate. Lastly, plastic backboards are rarely referred to as plastic in product descriptions. For instance, Lifetime Products will normally refer to their plastic backboards as polyethylene. Spalding and Huffy call their plastic backboards eco-composite. Both manufacturers have slightly different plastic construction. For instance, eco-composite from Spalding and Huffy means that the plastic is made from recycled materials.

Height adjustment mechanisms

Nearly every basketball hoop manufacturer any more has some component on their basketball goals that allows the user to raise and lower the backboard. Of these different options, Lifetime Products is the most unique in their approach, though they do share one mechanism design with some Spalding and Huffy basketball systems. This mechanism is probably the oldest mechanism still available on some in ground basketball systems. The mechanism uses some sort of stick, such as a broomstick pole, to engage the mechanism. Lifetime Products refers to this mechanism as the Quick Adjust, while Spalding and Huffy call it a Ratchet Adjustment Bracket. These are the same mechanism with the same functionality and adjustable range. Lifetime Products then goes off on their own with several different handle height adjusters. Their mechanisms include the Speed Shift, Action Grip, Power Lift, and Rapid Cam. These mechanism engage in the same way, using a handle with a trigger; when the trigger is engaged, you either push up or pull down on the handle to raise and lower the backboard. Each of these mechanism are listed in order of increasing strength and stability. Each step up provides added design features to help provide added strength, and sometimes ease, of using the mechanism. No other manufacturer uses any similar design as of now, so these will not have any direct comparisons from other manufacturers. Spalding and Huffy, Goalsetter, and Goalrilla all share a similar mechanism on many of their inground basketball systems. The mechanism is a crank that you operate using a rotating lever. On Spalding and Huffy basketball goals, this mechanism is referred to as U-Turn. Goalsetter and Goalrilla did not name their mechanism by itself and simply refer to the mechanism as a turn crank in most instances. The only comparison that can be made between the cranking mechanism and Lifetime Products Power Lift and Rapid Cam is that these mechanisms all allow infinite height settings between the lowest and highest setting so you can engage and disengage the mechanisms at any time in the movable range. Of all of these height adjustment mechanisms, Goalsetter’s turning crank allows the lowest height setting at 6 feet.

Basketball pole size and structure

Lastly, we will look at pole size and structure. Lifetime Products and Spalding and Huffy attempt to cater to a cheaper basketball system to a high-end system. As such, their poles can get particularly small. Lifetime Products has some systems with poles as small as 2.75-inches in diameter. Lifetime and Spalding then start to overlap in pole sizes at 3.5-inches in diameter. Both of these manufacturers, along with Goalrilla’s Silverback line, then move to a 4-inch square pole. In structure, Lifetime and Spalding follow similar designs in their low-end goals by segmenting their poles into 3 sections. The design allows the packaging to be very compact, thus allowing cheaper shipping costs to move the product around. Silverback basketball systems use a 2-piece pole design. Spalding and Huffy also have a couple of intermediate-quality in ground basketball systems with a 2-piece pole. From here all the way to the top basketball systems from these manufacturers, the systems will have a 5×5 square pole or larger with a 1-piece structure. Lifetime’s high-end basketball systems is the Mammoth basketball line. The Mammoth systems will share the same pole sizes as many Goalsetter and Spalding basketball systems as well as 1 Goalrilla basketball goal. Of all of these manufacturers, Spalding makes the largest pole size at 8×8 on 2 of their high-end Arena View basketball goals.

Some customers, among others, have reported back on their Lifetime Products item they purchased. They frequently advise us on the difficulty they experience when assembling their items. To be clear, most customers do not have any troubles with their items – a small minority do. Of that minority, the majority of those take issue with the assembly. We recently had one of our employees purchase one of the 22127 Lifetime round picnic tables and wanted to report back on the assembly experience. Please note that while you may not be purchasing a Lifetime picnic table, the point of this is instructive and should be applicable to any of Lifetime Products models.

Assembling the 22127 Lifetime Picnic Table

“I must say, to start out, that not any one step of the assembly was difficult or hard to understand. However, it did take my wife and me 3 hours to put the table together. Hopefully, our experience will help you slash your assembly time in half, or better. One thing that you should be aware of to start your assembly is that Lifetime frequently groups hardware parts (screws, nuts, bolts, etc.) by section of the assembly. This is to help you keep track of what you are doing and what you need next. So, on our 22127, for instance, the hardware was grouped by table frame assembly and bench assembly. Figuring this out before you start making the product should help cut time off your assembly. From there, like I mentioned previously, no one step was difficult to understand. However, when reading the instructions, you really need to do just that – READ THEM! As soon as you start assuming, based on the picture or parts needed for that step – what you need to do for that step, you are going to run into trouble. For instance, at the end of several steps in the 22127 assembly, Lifetime will have little boxes that say stuff like, ‘Warning: Do not do such-and-such thing until such-and-such step’ or ‘Important: Do such-and-such thing before proceeding with such-and-such thing’. In particular, one part of the table frame assembly had us attach a horizontal bar to the main framework of the table using a couple of screws. Sounds easy enough, right? So, I started attaching the bars like a I would anything with multiple screws, screw in each screw part way at a time until they are snug. However, as I approached it this way I found that one could start just fine, but the other was impossible to move to the point the other one had done. After nearly stripping the second screw to a point it could not be used, I noticed one of those little boxes on the instructions that said that I needed to put in one screw at a time. Upon completing the first screw, I was to unscrew it one full rotation and then put in the other screw. So, I did just that and almost like magic, the other screw went right in. Reading the entire step on the instructions before proceeding with assembly will save you tons of time. The instructions are parts are just fine, in my opinion. The only thing the person assembling the product needs to do is read them.”

For some that have been coming to our website to shop during the months of March through June are likely already familiar with this post before I even write it. Items from Lifetime Products are frequently out of stock, or on a production delay, during the Spring season. Many of their items are made in the United States, so they usually are only out of stock for a week or two at a time in most cases. However, other items are imported from factories overseas. These items can be out of stock for months at a time, depending on how accurately they were able to forecast demand. We will always try to provide updated expected ship dates on individual listings. Before ordering any item from Lifetime we encourage you to look at the extended description for the products. The extended description is the view that shows a large picture, volume pricing, and many more product details then the short description for the item. If the item is on back order, a large font red message will show at the top of the listing that will provide the expected ship date. If there is no message, then we expect the item to be available to ship right away. Also, as always, you are also welcome to contact us via phone or email if you have any questions about availability.