Spalding "888" Series In-Ground Basketball Hoop

The Spalding goal is an excellent option for driveway hoops games! Super sturdy yet with a forgiving rim, the goal provides stability from shaking so rebounds are true. High quality materials, relatively easy assembly - make sure you have at least 3 people to hang the backboard - the 60inch is HEAVY! But the bolt on process is quick so the effort to hold up the board is brief. The padded 6x6 inch post forms the foundation of the goal, installing nicely with the lag bolt J-hooks that protrude from the concrete base. Don't use the fast-setting option for concrete but the "just add water" types are fine. Will likely take 3 days to cure, especially in humid conditions. The hand crank used to raise and lower the goal has small gearing so it does take some effort to move the goal. Makes for a nice warm-up to the arms and shoulders! I highly recommend this unit and the Amazon install service. Our local team was extremely responsive and kept in great contact through the process which spread over multiple days due to very rainy weather we experienced. The new goal makes for a great value and will be a tremendous asset to our home for years to come.

Product is of great quality, went together seamlessly and as instructed, and holds up just fine to me dunking on it at 230 lbs. You will need three people, and working off the truck was much easier than working off ladders and safer too I would guess. It is heavy duty which means it is a heavy product but the only real challenge was getting the backboard up as everything else is a two person gig. It looks great and Spalding customer support was GREAT when something turned out to be damaged during shipping they sent a new part immediately following our conversation which was in large part "we are sorry for the problem, we'll send you a new one tomorrow and thank you for your business." You can't get any better than that.

This is, by far, the worst delivery I have experienced with an on-line order. I am not able to review the actual product because I still do not have all of the parts necessary to use this basketball hoop, despite the fact that it was ordered a month ago. The original shipment did not include the rim, net or the necessary hardware to install the rim. How do you forget to include the rim assembly for a basketball hoop? I called Amazon and they were very friendly and offered to send me an entirely new system -- pole, backboard, etc. -- because they cannot just send the rim assembly. Alternatively, they said I could call Spalding directly and Amazon would reimburse me for any expenses. I called Spalding directly and they agreed to send the rim assembly and "no doubt" it would arrive within three days. Six days later the new rim arrived, but the bolt-pattern did not work with the backboard, so I am going to have to mail it back to Spalding. Supposedly, the correct rim has been shipped, but I remain skeptical. The people at Amazon and Spalding were very pleasant and apologetic, but this has been ridiculous. In retrospect, I seriously regret buying this through Amazon. Any money saved has been far exceeded by time spent and frustration of trying to simply get all of the parts. I have purchased through Amazon many times and this is the first problem with a delivery. This experience, however, is enough to give me considerable pause before ordering anything that is either large or that requires timely delivery.

So far the basketball system is working great, only some minor issues. The boxes came in separate deliveries. No net came, even though it’s suppose to be included, and noticed the black paint lines on the backboard were coming off when we opened box. Little disappointing.

I bought this goal for the driveway to play with my 10 year old son. I decided to spend a little bit more and get the bigger pole and overall more stable structure that this model provides. We got it up over the weekend and have not been disappointed. The kids love it and I have enjoyed it myself. There is little to no vibration from the background and the system is overall very solid. The only vibration you get is if you really bang it extremely hard of the backboard. It took about 6 hours to install total (2 hours for hole, 2 hours for concrete and base setting, and 2 hours for goal assembly). The instructions are pretty straight forward. The one recommendation would be to use a pickup truck bed to put up the backboard rather than a ladder. The backboard is very heavy and this was the most difficult part of the instalation. You can do it with 2 adults, but this part works better with 3. The only confusion from the instructions was how much concrete you need. The instructions call for a hole that is 24" deep and 24" across. I dug it an extra 6" deep to 30" and used 12 bags of concrete to fill the hole.Overall we are very pleased with our purchase.

I'm very satisfied, however, after all the work to put it in, I wish I'd spent more on the arena view with installation pinning system. I bought a cement tube at Ferrell and dug a hole 20"x48" deep. I used pea gravel, then inserted my 19.5x48" tube. I used quikcrete 5000-- It took 14 bags, a wheelbarrow, a shovel. I hired 2 guys for the pole assembly and paid them a generous 50 each. I did the concrete and bolts work all by myself. It took 3 of us 1.5 hours to assemble pole backboard etc. Using 3 step ladders. This model does not have pinning. Backboard must go up after pole is up. Plan for about 200-300 in install costs. It's great. Hard solid good rebounds, allows for light dunking. All one pole, pole weighs about 200lbs.