Poolside Basketball Hoops | Product Comparison

Which of the 3 poolside basketball hoops that we carry is best for you?

To start off, Spalding and Lifetime Products, as I have mentioned before in other posts, are each others' main basketball equipment competitors. Because of this, many of the features and designs are very similar between the 3 products. I will simply go through a few features that are the same, and a few that are different to aid you in the selection process.

Spalding | Poolside Basketball Hoops.

Model Number: 77054.
Backboard Material: Eco-composite Plastic.
Adjustable rim height: Yes.
Pole Size and Shape: 3" diameter Round.
Rim: Breakaway.
Base: Portable.
Base Capacity: 28 gallons.

This poolside basketball hoop is great for any situation, in that it features higher end items such as a breakaway rim and a full size base. This unit also comes with a swimming pool basketball. With that said, you will get these added features at a premium costing you about 15-25 dollars more than the Lifetime 1306 Acrylic Backboard and about 30-40 more than the comparable 1301 Lifetime plastic backboard poolside baskeball system.

Lifetime Pool Side Basketball Hoops | 1306.

Model Number: 1306.
Backboard Material: Acrylic.
Adjustable rim height: Yes.
Pole Size and Shape: 3" diameter Round.
Rim: Static.
Base: Portable.
Base Capacity: 26 gallons.

The Lifetime 1306 Poolside Basketball system is the highest end swimming basketball hoops Lifetime Products offers. The unit save you some money as compared to the Spalding system or the Lifetime 1301 basketball system, while giving you a better backboard material as far as rebound goes. With this system compared to the 77054 you lose the breakaway rim and the size of the base is slightly smaller as well. You will also need a basketball since this unit does not come with one.

Lifetime Poolside Basketball Hoops | 1301.

Model Number: 1301.
Backboard Material: Polyethylene Plastic.
Adjustable rim height: Yes.
Pole Size and Shape: 3" diameter Round.
Rim: Static.
Base: Portable.
Base Capacity: 26 gallons.

This unit, while not having the same features as the 1306 and the 77054, is still a great unit for most situations. The pole size is still the same as the other units and the base is the same size as the 1306. Where you lose against both units is on the backboard material when compared to the 1306 pool side basketball system, and on the breakaway rim and base size on the 77054 poolside basektball hoop. All is not lost, however, as you will save anywhere from 20-25 dollars on this system compared to the 1306 and 30-40 dollars compared to the 77054.

So, what should you ask yourself before making a purchase? First, does price mattter to you? If not, than you can safely exclude the 1301. Second, what functionality is more important to you: breakaway rim or better rebound? If dunking is big for you, the 77054 is a great fit because of the breakaway rim. If the playability of the backboard is essential, than the 1306 is your best option there because of the acrylic backboard. Lastly, the size of the base is important in that the weight and stability increases with a larger base. The 77054 give you the largest base, but only by 2 gallons. In most cases this weight difference is minimal. The only reason to really want a larger base is if you anticipate very aggressive play, in which case the 77054 is your best bet. Please keep in mind that no matter how large the base, there is always a possibility of tipping the unit over so please never hang on the rim on any of these systems. Good luck shopping.

Related Poolside Basketball Goals Posts:
Poolside Basketball Hoops | Basketball Backboards | Types of Materials Comparison.
Lifetime Basketball | Spalding Comparison.
Basketball Hoop | Acrylic vs. Glass.

Basketball Backboards | Types of Materials Used

What material is best for your Basketball Backboards' system?

Basketball Backboards Overview:

I have previously posted on this information concerning basketball backboards' materials used on basketball systems. In this post I will try to go beyond what I had previously said and go into brand names and manufacturers.

Basketball backboards in the market currently have just about the exact same materials between manufacturers. These are mainly glass, acrylic, polycarbonate, and plastic. under each of these headings are several patented names, but not much real difference in construction.

Glass Basketball Backboards:

Glass is glass no matter who you go to for your basketball system. The only real things to be aware of when you are shopping for a your basketball hoop are: how thick is the glass, and how thick is the frame.

Thickness of the glass is important for many reasons, which I will not elaborate on too much here, but not for the rebound of the ball. Thicker glass typically only gets better strength in the event something were to collide with the backboard; i.e. a rock. Many salesmen will try to sell you on better rebound with more thickness, but this is not neccessarily the case. The bigger determining factor is actually the thickness of the frame. Typically, if you are getting a glass basketball backboard you ought to be getting one that has at least a 2 inch thick frame. This will assure you the most optimal rebound. Anything less than this will possibly cause a wiggle in the backboard throwing off your shot.

Acrylic Basketball Backboards:

Acrylic is considered to have the next best rebound, though the difference betwen arylic and polycarbonate rebounds is minimal. Acrylic backboards were more prevalent a few years back, but many manufacturers have moved away from their production in hopes of increasing the strength of the backboard using other materials. Just like glass, acrylic is acrylic except for this time there are some brand differences in the market. Whenever you see the word "fusion" in the name of a Lifetime basketball system, this always refers to acrylic. Spalding and Goalsetter each only use acrylic in the names, so there should not be any confusion with what are getting through these 2 suppliers.

Polycarbonate Backboards:

Polycarbonate was designed into basketball systems for its increased strength. Polycarbonate is said to be 30x stronger than comparable acrylic models. Acrylic, over time, has been known to crack when exposed to UV radiation after many years, thus losing its strength. Polycarbonate is supposed to eliminate this, creating a longer last basketball system. Polycarbonate is the same material used in the production of bullet proof glass, though none of the basketball systems, which use this material, would be considered bullet proof. Polycarbonate is mostly used by Lifetime Products and Spalding in some of their lower end systems. Polycarbonate is polycarbonate, but with Lifetime the patented name is Makrolon and Lexan. Spalding just refers to it as polycarbonate.

Plastic Backboards:

Plastic has the most diversity in available types, i.e. plastic is not the same plastic between suppliers. Lifetime Products uses what is called polyethylene plastic, which is a polymer of the alkene, ethylene. Spalding uses what they call eco-composite, which essentially is recycled plastics. Because of the source of the plastic used by Spalding is not really well known, it is hard to determine what is the plastic's chemical makeup. Both manufacturer's use this material to make a quick, cheap basketball backboard for their lowest end models. With this material you get the cheapest of options and a beginner system, but you also get a potentially very long life. As evidence of this, consider Lifetime Products claim of their plastic (HDPE), which they state ,"... will not fade, crack, or peel when exposed to the sunlight." Plastic would have what is considered the worst rebound of the choices already listed.

Hopefully this gets you a good feel of the materials available on basketball backboards. Please leave any comments if you have any questions or any other helpful differences you know of between these options.

Basketball Backboards Related Links:

Baskeball Hoop | Acrylic vs. Glass.
Portable Basketball Hoops.
Goalsetter | Mammoth Basketball Hoops.
98865 Basketball Backboards | Mammoth Style System.

Lifetime Basketball vs. Spalding Basketball

What are some differences between Lifetime Basketball and Spalding Basketball Products?

Lifetime Basketball Products and Spalding Sports are essentially direct competitors when it comes to residential basketball systems. They go after similar target markets, i.e. home and personal sport courts, and thus have very similar products. Some of the comparisons below for their basketball line jargon should be helpful.

Lifetime Products' Quick adjust is comparable to Spalding's Exacta-Height The Exacta-Height probably has the advantage over the Quick Adjust because the Exacta-height uses a handle, whereas the Quick adjust requires a broomstick. Both are difficult to use however.

Lifetime Products' Action Grip is comparable to the Helix Lift from Spalding. Both of these are squeeze handles that are gripped and then pushed up or down. These allow height adjustments with a little less effort The Quick Adjust and Exacta-height methods.

Lifetime Products' Power Lift is comparable to the Spalding's U-Turn mechanism. Both of these allow the user to move the hoop height up and down between 7.5 ft and 10 ft with infinite increments. Lifetime's Power Lift probably has the advantage in that they use the handle method that is used the Action Grip and Helix lift, but instead of moving in 6 inch increments, it allows the user to release the handle at any point, essentially giving you infinite height selection. The U-Turn system is a turn crank located below most backboards on the Spalding system. This mechanism tends to be more awkwardly placed and a little more tedious to use since you must turn the crank many times to move the backboard up and down.

If you have further comparisons that might be helpful for customer's information in purchasing, please leave your comments below.

Related Lifetime Basketball | Spalding Basketball Posts:

Lifetime Basketball | Atlas Product Comparison.

Lifetime Basketball

Lifetime Basketball Hoop - Spalding Basketball System

Here is a quick comparison between Lifetime Basketball and Huffy / Spalding Basketball. Lifetime Basketball systems have overtaken the consumer basketball hoop industry. Because of this, Lifetime Products offers a far larger range in basketball hoops than is currently offered by Huffy. It is typically easier to find the right match with Lifetime hoops than with Huffy because of the larger selection. They offer many types of basketball backboard and rim combos to portable basketball hoops to inground basketball systems. And within each of these categories, Lifetime Basketball offers a large assortment of products from begginer level hoops to professional size glass backboard systems.

Huffy offers similar products but much fewer of them as compared with Lifetime Basketball. Huffy does offer great systems, since they have been around longer. They have major contracts with colleges and professional leagues to provide basketball equipment for stadiums. These things certainly make their line worth looking at and comparing. More on these products later.

View our Lifetime Basketball line here.

View our products review for Lifetime Basketball Hoops.