Lifetime Products and Goalsetter have both been producing basketball systems for many years and both have come up with great high-end systems. Lifetime Products has branded their particular model the Mammoth Series while Goalsetter maintains its main company name in the name of the product but has varying levels of system, the highest being the Signature Series. These two brands, the Mammoth Series and the Signature Series, will be the focus of this article.

The Mammoth Series has been around for nearly a decade and provides a great unit for many situations. While Lifetime Products does maintain a plant in the United States located at the Freeport Center in Clearfield, Utah, most of the Mammoth components are manufactured in China. The Mammoth Basketball System features a glass backboard, the same material used in the NBA, NCAA, and many high schools. Glass is used mostly joel embiid injury because of its rigidity providing a superior rebound then a polycarbonate, acrylic, or plastic material. The glass on these systems measures a sturdy 3/8" thick surrounded by a 2 inch steel frame. The smaller systems, backboards measuring 54 inches and 60 inches in width, have a 5" x 5" square pole and use a J-bolt anchoring system. The largest backboard, regulation size 72" x 40", has a 6" x 6" square pole and uses the same anchoring system as its smaller backboard counterparts. The size of the backboard, material of the backboard, framing of the backboard, size and shape of the pole, and anchoring system all lend to the stability of the system and rebound of the ball off the backboard. All Mammoth Basketball Systems have a lift mechanism that uses a handle to raise and lower the rim height from 7.5 ft. to regulation 10 ft. Finally, the Mammoth Series Basketball Hoops all have a Lifetime Limited Warranty honored by Lifetime Products.

The Goalsetter Signature Series provide nearly all the same specs with some slightly different features. Goalsetter manufactures all components in the United States at their plant in Lynnville, Iowa. Their systems also have 3/8" glass backboards, however, they also have the option of changing the material to acrylic. The Signature Series backboards range in size from the 72" MVP model to the 48" Champion model. The MVP and the Captain feature a 6" square pole, the All-American and the All-Star a 5" square pole, and the Contender and the Champion a 4" square pole. The Goalsetter Signature Series line all allow you to raise and lower the rim from 6 ft. all the up to regulation 10 ft. These systems use a wedge anchoring system and have an off set pole. Finally, these also feature a Limited Lifetime Warranty.

Now to the differences between the systems. When looking at these two on the surface, they feature close to the same things, but when you dig a little deeper some differences and strengths and weaknesses emerge. For instance, while the Mammoth systems have a Limited Lifetime Warranty, their warranty does not cover damage due to dunking. Goalsetter on the other hand covers dunking under their warranty considering that, in the words of one of their reps, "part of the game". The Mammoth warranty also does not cover the backboard in their warranty, whereas, at the time of this writing, Goalsetter does. Goalsetter covers the rim with their warranty, but this is not part of their Lifetime Warranty for the rest of the system. With each succeeding upgrade of the quality of the rim, comes a better and better warranty, maxing out at 5 years on their collegiate breakaway rim model. Mammoth warranties, on the other hand, cover the rim in their Lifetime warranty. These warranty points might sound trivial, but when spending upwards of $2,000 on a basketball system, a customer ought to know what they are getting.

As far as design and functionality their are several differences of note. To start with one of the most obvious when you look at these systems you will immediately notice the difference in the pole design. The Mammoth Systems have stuck with the traditional straight up and down pole, whereas Goalsetter has created an offset design where the pole goes straight up for about 6 ft, angles back, and then has the mounting arms coming forward over the straight up and down portion of the pole. They call this design "off-set". The goal of this design was to increase stability of the unit to maintain the weight of the backboard and these larger systems. This becomes a clear advantage when you see a picture they currently have on their website, showing a tree that had fallen over onto a customer's system and had entirely mangled the mounting arms, but the pole stood completely firm. This, according to the story, required the customer to only replace the mounting arms and backboard, instead of having to pull out the entire pole and anchoring system saving them hundreds of dollars in parts and labor. As far as playability, the difference really is not noticed as the typical player will likely exert a small fraction of the weight and force of a falling tree.