Lifetime Basketball Hoops Selection Help

Lifetime Basketball Hoop Selection Help:

Lifetime Products manufacturers many different basketball systems for a variety of uses and needs. There are many ways to approach understanding the features and quality of what is available. In this article, we will approach the question by the level of basketball player the product is meant for.

Beginner Basketball System

Beginner basketball systems are well-suited for players just learning the game. In this category of basketball hoop you will see words like youth, fusion, plastic, and telescoping pole. When you see the word Youth in the title of the product, that generally refers to the rim being smaller than regulation and the height of the rim being lower than regulation. Youth, in this case, means the rim is 14 inches in diameter and the overall rim height is 7.5 feet. Regulation rims are 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet off the ground. Fusion refers to the backboard construction, typically meaning an acrylic backboard material mounted on a plastic frame. When the title of the product uses plastic, polyethylene, or Impact this refers to the backboard material being plastic mounted on a plastic frame. Lastly, when you see the words telescoping pole, this means that the height adjustment on the system is accomplished using a push pin and a serires of locking holes that allows you to slide the sections of the pole in and out of each other to adjust the height of the rim, typically in 6-inch increments. Beginner basketball hoops are available in portable and inground models.

Intermediate Basketball Systems

Intermediate basketball systems are well-suited for younger but developing basketball athletes. These goals will typically being described as polycarbonate, acrylic, steel-framed, and shatter guard. Polycarbonate and acrylic have had a long and opposing relationship from the start. Acrylic backboards are the older design. They are supposed to be more rigid in composition, thus providing a better rebound. But, acrylic is known to weaken considerably under prolonged exposure to UV radiation. Enter polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is similar to the material that bullet-proof glass is made from and thus is considered to be 30 times stronger than acrylic. Manufacturers have come a long way with their production process of these two materials, greatly improving on each. In all practicality, you will not see a difference between these two materials. In this level of system, you will see one not-well-understood improvement. Frequently looked over is the material of the backboard frame. What we saw in the beginner level of system was frames made of plastic. In the Intermdiate - and advanced level - we see the frame going to steel. Some will get a Lifetime basketball system and complain of the rebound quality. These complaints are almost always directed at systems with a plastic frame, which, rather than helping the ball bounce off of the backboard, absorbs a lot of the impact and drops the ball down. Steel frames greatly enchance the rigidity of the backboard, thus improving the rebound. Shatter Guard refers to the finish of the backboard with strength enhancing qualities like UV protection. Both polycarbonate and acrylic backboards will likely have this finish, stated or not. Lastly, some of the backboard in this level of system will have a glass material of backboard. In this case, Lifetime currently has two intermdiate systems with glass backboards. Glass is a preferable playing material for the backboard due to the incredible rebound they provide.

Advanced Basketball Systems

In Lifetime Products' advanced line, we see a new brand name show up: Mammoth. Mammoth basketball goals come in 3 sizes: 54 inches, 60 inches, and 72 inches. In this level of system we see enchancements to the pole, the height-adjustment mechanism, the backboard thickness, the frame thickness, and warranty. The pole size on the Mammoth basketball systems are 5x5 on the 54 and 60-inch models and 6x6 on the 72-inch model. The largest pole on the two other levels of system we have mentioned is a 4x4. The height adjustment mechanism improves greatly with a beefy pneumatic device Lifetime refers to as Rapid Cam. The enormity and overall strength of this device is immediately noticeable and contrastable to either of the other two levels of system already discussed. As previosly mentioned, Mammoth basketball backboards are made with tempered glass. The glass on these backboard is about 50 percent thicker than any of the other materials on the lower-end systems. The backboard frame is also much thicker - between 50 percent to 100 percent thicker - which supports the backboard material much better. Lastly, the warranty on the beginner and intermediate level system is for 5 years through Lifetime Products. On the Mammoth line, however, Lifetime offers a lifetime warranty.

Pricing for these different levels of basketball system:

For the beginner level systems, expect to pay $100 to $200. The intermediate systems generally start at $250 and go to about $600. The advanced systems - the Mammoth Basketball line - expect to pay between $900 and $1500.