$46.99If you grew up watching the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s like me, there’s a sweet memory of shooting hoops and wanting to dunk like Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan. In reality, I can barely touch the rim on a ten-foot hoop, but thanks to the Pro Mini Basketball Hoop from BADGOAL, I was able to create my own dunk contest in the comfort of my home office… although my shooting could use a lot of work. Be sure to watch me embarrass myself on the mini hoop in my video below.
You’re reading Tested with gadgetnewsonline, where we explore everyday tech essentials that make life a bit easier. Browse through our entire guide for all of the latest reviews, and sound off in the comments below if there’s something you’d like to see featured.
Ballin’ out with Pro Mini Basketball Hoop from BADGOAL
The indoor mini basketball hoop comes in red, blue, or pink (seen below) and carries a $46.99 MSRP. However, BADGOAL often offers sales and discounts, so be sure to keep an eye on the pricing of this item.
Features at a glance:
- Upgraded reinforced frame and a sturdy alloy-steel rim
- The rim features a spring-loaded mechanism that bends to 60-degrees, enabling “pro-like” slam-dunking capabilities
- EVA shock-absorbing strips prevent door scratches and reduce noise during play
- Designed for ballers 5 and up
- Three game modes: Solo training, head-to-head competition, and a time trial
- The hoop features an electronic scoring system that tracks each made shot and cheers for you while illuminating LED lights on the backboard
- There is also a one-touch mute button when you want to play more quietly
gadgetnewsonline’ take
As you’ll see from my footage below, the only thing bad about this slam-dunk-friendly mini hoop is my basketball skills. That said, this is a fun little toy for an office or for your kids to shoot around on.
The neatly packed hoop has everything you need to get it up on a door and ready to dunk on. As you can see from the image above, you’ll get a backboard, steel rim, net, shock-absorbing pads, and all the necessary hardware and respective tools to assemble everything. The mini hoop kit also includes four inflatable basketballs and a plastic pump to fill them with.
Assembly took a little longer than expected, but the instructions were clear. I first attached the score and sound box that counts your buckets, then attached the rim from the other side. The steel alloy rim is quite sturdy and features a spring-loaded mechanism that can bend to 60-degrees allowing for realistic dunking.
Two hooks screw into the top rear of the backboard for you to hang the hoop over an average-width door, which still enables it to close. That said, the hooks are not adjustable, so if your door happens to be too thick, you might have to try to hang it somewhere else. Here’s a look at my mini basketball hoop hung up in the basement.
Once you have everything put together, you’ll need to add 3 AA batteries to the back, then you’re good to go. As I mentioned before, BADGOAL provided me with four inflatable basketballs, but for some reason, one of them was smaller than the other three, even when fully inflated. While I appreciated the company including a pump, it was quite flimsy, and I broke the handle off filling up the third ball (see video below).
Once you have your rim connected, your net attached, and your balls inflated, installation is as easy as hanging the hoop on a door and turning it on. My best option was my office corner, but it was a tight space, so I’d recommend a larger room with more area around the hoop to jump around in.
As you’ll see in my video, I am not great at basketball, even on a mini hoop indoors, nor am I pretending to be. That said, I felt that the basketballs that came with the mini hoop were too light and bouncy to aim, so whenever they hit the rim or the backboard (which was often with me shooting), they bounced all over the place. I would have preferred balls with a little more weight to them in order to control my shot arc better. This felt like shooting a slightly heavier balloon.
As such, I found dunking much more fun, but I also had a blast exploring trick shots, bouncing the ball off the floor or the walls of my office and into the hoop. One upside to shooting with such light rubber balls is that they didn’t damage anything, including the paint on my walls or the objects on my nearby desk, although they were knocked several times.
Again, I highly recommend putting this hoop in a larger open area with tall ceilings (for tres from downtown of course).
Overall, this mini hoop is easy to install, keeps a perfect score, and has LED lights and sounds to add to the gaming experience. Kids would certainly love it, but I could see adults having fun and even getting a little competitive with it in an office or home basement.
Be sure to watch my full video review to see all the features of the Indoor Mini Pro Basketball Hoop, including my lack of shooting skills.
Buy the BADGOAL Pro Mini Basketball Hoop
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments