I'm in the market in the next year or so and wanted to get some recommendations/experiences from y'all. Where did you buy, what brand, self-build/install vs hire someone, etc...

I want to be able to raise/lower with ease since my kids are pretty young. My wife prefers a roll-away kind but growing up those always seemed rickety. I remember thinking a Goalrilla in concrete in the ground was really nice.

Budget is flexible. I want something sturdy and hopefully not hideous since it will be in my front yard.

TIA!

Just from experience. They all break pretty easily. Find a used one. Usually people just want to get rid of them and you can get it for cheap if you have a truck and can haul it.

Backboards are expensive to replace (200$300) so I just keep replacing ours with cheap plywood and paint. Lasts about 2 years, then redo.

We've owned several of the rollaways and don't care for them at all at this point. If you fill them with enough water, pea gravel, etc, to actually make them stable when using a real basketball, they can't be rolled away anyway.

Personally, if I ever do it again, I will do something more like the Goalrilla stuff. They are thick enough steel that they don't fail regularly and the backboards are made better.

I remember quite an extensive, detailed & experienced thread about this on this forum that would be worth the search time/effort. It certainly was above my head ....

We went with a Pro Dunk goal about 20 years ago and it's held up really well over the years and even been through a few hurricanes.

We got a MegaSlam one and it does what you mention. Has held up well for the 2 years we have had it.

We did the 54" Goaliath Prodigy about 4-5 years ago. I read reviews that people didn't like that it shook so much due to the pole being 2 piece. My high school aged son, middle school aged daughter and myself shoot often and have never thought the goal shakes enough to be bothered by it. Like, I mean we have a backyard half-court with a shooting machine, shoot often, and no issues.

We originally had it out front on a sloped driveway. My wife insisted! A previous job of mine afforded me to have the hole dug for me. I poured the foundation and assembled the goal by myself. My wife inserted the thru bolts as I lifted the backboard slightly above the shoring I created in the bed of my truck.

When we moved it to the backyard, I dug the hole this time and the foundation was poured with the new slab by others. A friend, my son and myself then installed the backboard on the pole in the new location.

I have seen people on our neighborhood facebook page say that Dick's Sporting Goods will install them. I am a DIY type person and this install was one I felt very comfortable with. I would go with an in ground hoop if you think it'll be used a lot over time. The roll away hoops seem to generally fall apart over time and the quality of the backboards seem lacking as well. I have been pleased with our hoop at the price. We even bought it with a black Friday deal at a significant discount.

We went with the 60" Goaliath from Dicks about 3 years ago.
Still in perfect shape. Looks great. Kids raise and lower it themselves. I ask that they not hang on the rim when they dunk, but I'm sure they do when I'm not looking. There is a little bit of shake when hit by the ball, but nobody has ever complained about it. You honestly forget it shakes at all after the 1st or 2nd shot. It's a quality hoop.

I installed it myself.

Dug the hole about twice as deep and as wide as the instructions said. I think I used 12 bags of concrete. Had a buddy help me put on the backboard. Just one person to hold it and one person to put the bolts/nuts on.

The Goaliaths are about 1/2 the price of the Goalrilla's. I've never seen the Goalrilla in someones yard, but I would have a hard time imagining its twice the value. I really like the one we have. It's solid, looks nice and has held up well with kids playing on it multiple times per week over the years.

another vote for goliath

My kids got this one for Christmas. I'd buy it again in this stage of life. Used the sleeve rather than pouring directly around the pole. Growing up we swapped the crappy 2 piece pole that came with our goal with a piece of drill stem, and that was in my head during install.

The summary of my research was spend $400 or spend $2500. Everything in between was only slightly better in terms of rebound and rim play. Some of the $600 and $800 options had much worse rebound.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/428370796

Had a goalrilla years ago. That thing was strong!

I can't give any recommendations about actual goals, but when the base of our first one rotted and let all the water/gel mix spill into the yard I swapped the base out for a ProBase and have really liked it. It is extremely well built and when it comes time to replace the goal finding a good used one with a busted base makes for a cheap replacement.

Got a free one from a customer and had one of my guys help me cut a square out of driveway and repour deeper with bolt sleeves and bolted it down.

I got an adjustable Lifetime portable basketball goal 7 years ago for free. No telling how long the previous owner had it. Backboard & everything on it is in great shape. Seems to have held up better than a lot of the other brands I see like Spalding. Just have some sand bags sitting on it in case I want to move it.

Ordered a Pro Dunk Gold the day our ISD announced closure in March of 2020. Highly recommend.

I like to tell this story when basketball goals come up. Forgive me if you've heard it on here before.

When I was a kid, a neighborhood kid a few years older across the alley wanted to put in a pole and BB goal. He wanted to borrow my dad's post hole digger, but was, like other neighborhood kids, intimidated by my dad (he saw my dad yell at me a lot!!). My dad was admittedly not a huge fan of Andy, but I don't think he was going to mind him using the digger. After he finally asked, my dad let him borrow the digger and Andy (the kid) did a great job with the hole.

One late spring or summer evening the neighborhood kids and I were all out playing/running around and we heard these faint cries in the distance. We couldn't tell what they were, but we just kept listening and moving toward the noise. We finally got near Andy's house, looked toward the hole, and saw the end of his legs and feet kicking back and forth. Andy had fallen head first into the hole! We all ran over there and pulled him out.

Later that evening or the next morning, I told my dad and he just died laughing. When Andy returned the digger, my dad asked, "so, how did everything go?"

This was a classic family story that we laughed about the rest of my parents' lives.