Lifetime 71281 In Ground Power Lift Basketball System, 52 Inch Shatterproof Backboard

I found the instructions to be clear and easy to understand. Follow them and everything will come out great. It will definitely take you days to complete the installation but it was well worth the effort and wait. It has already weathered 3 hurricanes here in Florida and came through each one without a scratch. All I did was bring it down to its lowest height

I'm surprised this came shipped via fedex ground to my door... I get a LOT of freight shipments via all carriers (UPS/Fedex/DHS, freight trucks, etc..) and this item I think is really too heavy for the carton and way it is packaged... The box was in 'average' but OK condition as I recall and had some evidence of handling (crushed corners, tears in the cardboard, etc..) but still had most of the poly strapping intact. Although nothing was damaged inside, some of the parts had shifted inside as they were no longer in their correct areas of the carton... Maybe if you live further from the shipping point you might not be so lucky... You will likely need help moving the carton inside as it's almost too large/bulky for one person to move- we used a flat dolly to roll it into storage until ready for assembly.Installed this using the optional ground sleeve. I dug the hole a bit smaller than recommended, probably 24" diameter at the bottom, sloping inward to about 18" at the top) and only used about 3 80lb bags of cement (they recommend about 6-8 bags, around 600 lbs if I recall...) I set a couple of bricks and some gravel in the bottom to help with support/drainage and I filled the bottom post with concrete also. Keep in mind placement of the ground sleeve in the center of the hole you dig vs. how far back from the edge of the playing surface, as the hoop will be about 24" or so from the center of the pole... Might be an issue if you have tall delivery trucks driving close to the goal as I do with my driveway.Don't compromise this step- dig the hole wide and deep enough, use a good level to check the sleeve in both front and side orientations as the concrete sets, checking several times during the first couple of hours. You get one shot at this, since if the sleeve isn't perfectly plumb in both directions, you won't be able to fix it later without digging another hole.Assembly of everything else was fairly easy- the instructions are VERY detailed, however I seem to recall some issue trying to determine length of the appropriate bolts based on their item code in the instructions. The parts are bagged with 3 digit codes that correspond with each step of the process, but some steps involve bolts that are almost the same length, so it can be a bit confusing.. nothing that someone with mechanical skills couldn't quickly figure out, but someone who isn't handy might have trouble...There were a couple of tricky steps to complete since I was working alone, but I used the shipping carton to help during assembly (to lay the parts on to prevent damage) and I think I used a tall box to support the pole during the last steps. You absolutely need a ratchet socket set and extension and a crescent or open end/box end wrenches as there are nylock nuts involved and assembly clearance is tight in some places as I recall.Dropping the completed assembly into the ground sleeve absolutely requires additional people to assist... I found that using an 8 foot ladder placed behind the sleeve and a short 4 foot ladder in front that I was able to help guide the entire assembly as 3 people together lifted it into place and dropped into the sleeve.My son loves it and is always shooting hoops! I hope the 1/8" acrylic backboard holds up better than the previous portable model (from a different manufacturer) that ended up cracking/breaking due to heat & UV exposure.Overall the performance is adequate- there's a bit of vibration when hitting the backboard and the entire goal wobbles a tiny bit... but I don't think this is due to the concrete footing- more to the thin wall pipe and slip-joint sleeve type assembly... The goal assembly only took about 2-3 hours working alone, but just take your time, read through the instructions first... you'll have plenty of time since you need to let the concrete cure for a few days anyway... The whole time they'll be asking you 'when will it be ready'!

First, the negatives, which are very minor. I dislike the way the instructions integrate three languages and found it cumbersome and made it easy to miss things. I much prefer separate manuals for each language, or at least separate sections. The other negative involved connecting the pole sections. You are supposed to align the slot on one piece with the screw hole in other section and then connect them together. I found it impossible to keep them aligned while pushing the sections together, and once they are together, I found it impossible to separate them again -- they fit very snugly (which is a good thing.) My solution, when the slot was not under the screw hole, was to simply drill a new hole in the slotted section through the existing hole in the other section and insert the screw through the new hole. Problem solved.Those are the only issues I had. The positives far outweigh the negatives. I purchased the ground sleeve and installed that in the concrete so I can move the goal in the future if necessary. The instructions for setting the ground sleeve are a bit different from the ones that come with the goal, so if you go that route be sure to follow the right instructions. Assembling the goal was straightforward and accomplished mostly by myself. Once assembled and mounted in the ground sleeve, the goal feels very solid. The materials are high quality and I love the fact that it is made in the USA. The best feature of this goal is the ease of changing heights. My 8-year-old grandson can do it himself, and he likes to lower it when he plays.I highly recommend this goal.

Pros: Hardware seems sturdy and well made. Hardware was clearly labeled and organized. Instructions were detailed and app was really helpful.Cons: Difficult to assemble. You will need at least 2 people (capable of lifting) to finish, 3 would be better.Overall, I am happy with this purchase but I hope it lasts a long time because I never want to put one of these together again. It has 65 steps to assemble. Over the course of the assembly I realized many of the steps could have been assembled at the factory. It seems like they were trying to save costs by making the purchaser assemble 95% of the product. For example, attaching the plastic back board guards uses self-tapping screws right into the metal frame. You will need a power drill for that and some elbow grease. Why couldn’t they have just had pre-tapped holes? That is just one example.At the end of the day, the kids love it and it looks nice all setup. I’m mainly writing this to let other potential purchasers know, you should avoid this if you are not good at putting together prefab stuff or if you don’t have the tools needed.