Spalding 54" Glass Beast Basketball Hoop

Great unit once you survive set up. Comes in two large, heavy boxes. Fit in the back of an SUV with the back seats folded flat. Packed well, took around 40 mins to open everything up, lay it all out and to put all the plastic, styrofoam and cardboard away. The more people you have helping with fitting the two main poles together the better. Sprayed heaps of silicon spray (WD40 would work too) and got up an A-frame ladder to ram the 2 poles home. They are a very tight interference fit, would not recommend attempting to fit them dry. Manual says two able bodied people are required for some steps, the more the merrier, I am mechanically minded and the entire setup process took around 4-5 hrs. Quadruple check the poles are facing the right way as they cannot be seperated once they are pressed together! Manual does not say this (it should!) but make sure the plastic sleeve that goes over the height adjusting ram has the circle cut out facing out. This circle allows you to later stick the height measurement stickers on when calibrating the system height. Most challenging bit was attaching the backboard to the support arms. I'd recommend four people do this while the system is supported on a saw horse. One person to line up the washers and spacers, the other 3 holding up the heavy glass backboard. Do not over-tighten at this stage or it will be extremely difficult to wind the backboard up and down by the handle. Filling the base requires a bit of time also, halfway at first, after the backboard is attached and the system is still on the saw horse. This will make it easier to allow the system to be tipped upright. Ear to the base as it's filling will tell you how far it's been filled. Some holes for the front plastic rebounder plate did not line up 100% and had to be skilfully worked. Leaving all the screws loose till you get the last one lined up and in will be the best way to do it. We've had numerous systems over the years, the beast replaced a 54" polycarb spalding system. With the hoop tension set to the max setting there is no contest - the beast is super solid and has much less give and wobble. Ball comes off the rim close to the way it does off a stadium hoop. No lucky bounces! Finally the handle/lever system really does allow the system to be moved around. Poor turning circle but can be wheeled around easily by 1 person.

This is a fantastic Basketball System for the home! The portable base allows you to move it around as you need with ease using the hidden lift-jack wheel system on the front. It's fully height adjustable from 2.3m to 3m using the handle on the rear. And the 54in Glass Backboard handles being outdoors in all elements, as well as providing excellent rebounding. The base holds 190litres of water and provides the basis for a solid platform and excellent overall stability of the system. The downside to this system is the build process as it comes completely flatpacked in two very heavy boxes. The instruction manual is well layed out and easy to follow in most parts, however there were two parts that were issues arose. First was when you had to connect the two parts of the rear pole - top and bottom. They needed to slot into each other and overlap a certain distance. Challenging, and I just managed it with a great deal of banging! The second was when it came time to connect the glass backboard to the rear poles. Following the instructions, you did this with the system standing completely upright, which just didn't make sense to me - cause how are you going to get up there? And holding the glass backboard at that height for any period of time was going to be significantly difficult. The instructions need to be amended to have the backboard connected whilst the system is lying down (which it is for most of the early part of the setup), and then stood up! As a family we absolutely love this Basketball System. It's awesome! Already having family competitions every day! Highly recommeded and would have given it a 5star except for the issues encountered with setup/instructions.

Great professional system but the plastic base is fragile, the new one leaks and getting a replacement base under warranty

Purchased this system last weekend as a replacement for our old cheaper version that blew over in a storm and smashed the backboard. It takes time to put this system together, but i feel that it is very well constructed. You definitely need 2 adults to build this. Also, I like that it has 4 wheels. Our old system had to be tilted onto its two wheels to move around. This system has 4 wheels so is much easier to move around on a paved or concrete area. The plastic base has a steel frame built into it, which gives me confidence that this will last a while. Problem with the old system we replaced was that the plastic base cracked and the water leaked out, hence it fell over in a storm. Also, I like the screw mechanism for raising and lowering the hoop. A final tip, I have a Prado 120 series and this system comes in 2 boxes. One box went into the back with the back seats folded down, while the second box went onto the roof racks. If you don't have an SUV, you will need a trailer, or have it delivered.

This basketball systems name says it all! An incredibly tough and durable system that i have had the pleasure of using for 8 years with no troubles!! Its easy to move due to its fold out handle and has a simple height adjustment mechanism. Its safe to say this system isn’t going anywhere when weather attacks it. Amazing product

really happy now its setup, works great. will use this daily, and the kids absolutely love it. not as 100% sturdy as i would have thought (eg the backboard wiggles a bit when shots hit the rim), however i think this is part of the tradeoff of having a height adjustable system. i think if you screwed the nuts in the backboard support struts completely tight then it would be sturdier, but would lose the ability to raise/lower. in any case, will use this daily, and the kids absolutely love it. **Joining the two poles together can be quite challenging! I've seen examples online of ppl having the same problem. strongly suggest sanding back the top section of the bottom pole, or having WD40 handy before trying to join them. Mine got stuck 1 cm short of minimum requirements and took me ages to figure out a solution. ended up chiselling a flathead screwdriver under the lip of the pole and then levering it to stretch the pole out so it could slide in further, and used a lot of WD40. i used a towel on the bottom of the pole and hit it with a sledghammer 5-6 times to get it to go the last 1cm (again not advisable but was necessary). hopefully your system doesn't have this issue and its more straightforward for this part** be prepared for a long setup process (took me 6 hours, 99% of which by myself, which isn't advisable but couldnt be helped, probably 4 hours with 2 ppl) which apart from the two poles issue, is pretty straightforward, just need the right tools and carefully follow the instruction

Solid and aesthetically pleasing design. Nothing but net babahhhhhh

We paid for top of the line in this Spalding basketball system. Paid extra for delivery and installation. The glass shattered within a few weeks from a ball being thrown from the three point line. After a lengthy wait we received a replacement glass back board. It has since shattered as well. All up we have probably had this system for 6 months. Very disappointed. Would not recommend this product to anyone