Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We bought the Lifetime 51550 as a gift for our grandson's 7th birthday. Beside the reviews here, I found this system recommended on several other sites. As much as I like reading product kudos, I usually concentrate on repeated downside comments noted on the 1-star and 2-star reviews. In this case, I read 1-star and 2-star comments on the Lifetime basketball product line, not just this particular model. Many had stated that their product had missing parts, had unacceptable parts damage or that the packing was not sufficient. When I received mine, the box was somewhat torn and warped, but nothing inside was missing or damaged. At 80-pounds, it's a chore to move and I suspect that was the cause of the box dilapidation. Another repeated concern was how lousy the instructions were. I agree that a little more narrative would have been helpful and blow-ups of some of the more detailed diagrams would have been helpful, but, all-in-all, I got through it without too much trouble. On the positive side, they did have the nuts/bolts/spacers/etc for individual steps packaged separately. The instructions suggest assembly is a 2-person process. I prefer working alone so that parts and processes don't get confused HOWEVER it would have helped having 2 persons when attaching the backboard to the post (see steps 4.3 – 4.4 on the instructions - that was a challenging balancing act using tables, coolers and scraps of wood!). Instructions - http://www.lifetime.com/CustomerService/AssemblyInstructionFile/1423/51550.pdf I also could have used some help filling the counter-weight – fill & tip, fill & tip, and it keeps getting heavier. Also brought up repeatedly was filling the counter-weight. 1) If you select to fill with water in an area that freezes, you need to reduce the amount of water by 9% minimum to accommodate water expansion to ice. It seems I read this base holds 31 gallons, so I would reduce that to 28 gallons, but I'm not sure how I would verify these numbers. Besides, those of us who live in freeze/thaw states know the damage the freeze/thaw cycles do every time we hit a pothole. 2) I decided on sand – or, more precisely, pea gravel. Pea gravel flows more freely than sand - sand tends to clump and stick. Because someone said it took them 8 hours to fill the counter-weight with sand and a funnel (YIKES!) I choose to drill a 3-inch hole and plug it with a 3-inch test plug. 3-inch plug - http://www.homedepot.com/p/Oatey-3-in-Gripper-Plastic-Mechanical-Test-Plug-33402/100168770 The 3-inch hole allowed me to pour, without a funnel, about 2/3 bag of gravel at a time while the post was upright, tilt the base to get the gravel up front, and repeat. In an over-abundance of caution, I covered the plug's wing-nut with a tennis ball (see photo). FYI - 31 gallons of water weighs about 258 pounds, 28 gallons weighs about 233 pounds, and I put in 350 pounds of pea gravel and there's room for more. I like the extra weight and not worrying that freeze/thaw might damage the base. Time was also mentioned. Being a reasonably fit grandpa in his early 60s and working alone, it took me about 2-1/2 hours to prepare a base and assemble everything. It took me an additional 40 minutes to fill the counter-weight with gravel. No one mentioned the obvious - the base needs to be stable and keep the pole reasonably plumb with the backboard vertical. Part of my assembly time was removing snow, picking and shoveling the dirt to level, adding/racking 2 bags of sand to fine-adjust level, and covering it with a 1/4 sheet of plywood. It's just part of being anal. It seems like a quality product and adjusts easily. I expect years of service. More importantly - the expression on my grandson's face when he saw it – priceless!