Side by Side Comparison of: American Heritage Billiards vs Lifetime vs Bank Shot Billiards vs Air Hockey Direct vs Carrom

We bought this air hockey table 3 Christmas ago The grand kids love it in fact everyone loves playing on it No problems with in the 3 years

The table is relatively easy to assemble, however, it's best done with two people. Construction is sturdy and high quality. The table works great and my kids love it.

Great table. Good value. Easy assembly. OUR GRAND KIDS LOVE IT

This is a nice air hockey table. We hired someone to come set it up, so I can't comment on that.

We have had the table for several weeks and we're very happy with it. Well made and sturdy. My husband didn't seem to have any issues assembling it. We expect to enjoy it for years to come.

We gave this to our daughter as a Christmas gift, and she absolutely loves it!!! The entire family and friends very much enjoy playing. Very heavy piece but worth it to get a dedicated air hockey table, not a combo table.

Purchased a basketball shooting game from Costco for around the same price but this one blows that one out of the water!!!!This one is very sturdy. Taller than most.EASY to play and use!!Other ones have different games, selections, players qanitys and you have to push buttons in order to play. Annoying for kids that just want to shoot.This one, throw a basketball in it to start the game.Automatically does 2 players, Level one you have 60 sec to score so many points level 2 additional 15 sec and every basket is 3 points, level 3 ........Great game, The kind of game you get when you go to an arcade place. That is exactly what i was looking for.Not one i have to make selections and push buttons which ends up breaking anyways!

The family and I really enjoy this hoops set...It was a little challenging putting together though...I had to keep rechecking parts and pieces with the blister pack hardware to ensure that I was using the right bolts, nuts, etc...but I've conquered much harder projects. Any time there are tools included with a set, I put those aside immediately and break out the tool box...makes things much easier. As far as game play is concerned, it's just plain ole fun. My 9 year old and my 12 year old, me and the wife enjoy the competition and play time that this has created. We recently got an air hockey table too, and both kids agree that the basketball hoops game is much more fun than air hockey. They've included the perfect amount of balls for two people to play competitively. We don't use the scoring mechanism a whole lot because we enjoy just throwing balls up. I did notice that there were dials on the back of the sensors...perhaps those are for sensitivity? I couldn't find a reference to them in the instruction manual...but doesn't really matter to me as again, we don't use the scoring mechanism. I did follow the advice of a previous reviewer, and connected the rear part of the net to the front part of the rim in anticipation of the net confusing the scoring mechanism, but it didn't really matter since we don't use it anyways...over all, I would buy this again in a heartbeat, and now all the neighborhood kids want to come over to our house to play.

We have had this basketball set for two or three years now. We have played on it quite a bit. Both adults and children enjoy playing, and it is a fun thing to do when friends or family come over. It is very good quality. As a few other reviews have noted, one or two of the little basketballs slowly deflate. I guess I don't see that as a big deal. We have a little hand pump that we can pump them back up with. And it is actually easier to make a shot with the deflated ones! We have a Lifetime store near us, but we bought this online because there was a good sale. Lifetime has a lot of quality products (such as swingsets, sheds, tables, outdoor basketball standards) and appears to be a solid, trustworthy company.

Arrived faster than expected. Setup was not too difficult. Great way for my son to pass time without a video screen in front of him. It was a little bigger than I was expecting But the ability to fold it up is great. Just make sure you have the space for it plus people in the room it will go in.

So i read the reviews and yes, the one thing that should work perfect is the scoring. It did not at all for me. Right out of the box the sensor was driving me crazy. If the ball rolled around in the hoop it would count up to 3-4 scores. If the ball bounced around the hoop it would count. Many balls would not register at all. I tinkered with the sensor sensitivity with no luck. I was thinking I paid 200 for a worthless game. So now I was determined to fix this for my kids.Short and sweet fix instructions (see pics):-Drill 5/8" hole just under the hoop and move the lower sensor down. Make the hole a touch bigger by moving a drill bit around the inside.-disconnect the net on the back side of the rim and double up the front net. So no net interference at all and no balls will get stuck!Besides the sensor issue, the built quality is strong and was never in question.With the sensor position fix it works perfectly every shot. It's a 5 star now.Update: after 4 months, everything works great with the sensor position change.

The biggest question you have to answer is if the cost is worth it. You can find indoor basketball games at Sams Club, Costco or WalMart for $100.You can also pay five times this amount for a Rhino Sports which uses metal side grates instead of nylon netting.I actually bought a $100 kit before buying this item.There is no question the quality here is top notch.One main advantage to the Lifetime unit is the electronic scoreboard is AC power.Most others on the market, including more expensive ones, use batteries.Do be aware that you will need to assemble and use this near a wall outlet.Once assembled, the goals are rigid and sturdy and the unit doesn't wobble.I am pleased with this purchase.I was meticulous with assembly and had no issues with the scoreboard. Many reviewers said the electronic scoring was hit and miss.If you are careful with insuring the sensors are flush, and place the main unit correctly with black and brown wires, you should have no issue.Also, some mentioned balls did not stay inflated, but I've had no issues with the basketballs.I assembled this alone and it took about 4 hours, but I worked at a deliberate and causal pace.With two people, it should be quick and easy.The pieces are all marked with identifiers.The nuts and bolts as well.The assembly instructions are clear - not the best I have seen, but adequate.Do not bother with the included cheap wrench- use your own socket wrench and assembly will go much faster.There are only a few confusing moments during install, such as how the nylon return sleeve should be laid out.My kids and I have already played on this many times and sometimes roughly and the unit has been solid.I would recommend this to anyone with the room and a high ceiling.I will update as needed if I encounter any issues.Update 11-19-12 ---One month later and absolutely no issues with the BB goal. Our teenage daughters had a Halloween party for 30+ 7th and 8th graders. 4 hours of abuse from teenage boys and the BB goal is still performing exceptionally. In my opinion, if you assemble carefully and torque the nuts and screws for the scoring unit, you will have no issues.Update 12-01-12I have had one basketball lose some air. The other 6 are fine.Update 12-12-16 ----Still going strong, but basketballs do need to be aired up on a consistent basis. That is a minor issue

Read a lot of reviews before purchase. We considered purchasing a more expensive brand but didn't wanted to go overboard for the kids (age 12, 9, and 5). This has been great. It arrives on a big wood pallet. Be prepared to have to break that down/get rid of it. It is VERY heavy. I thought my husband and I would be able to lift the table. Nope. We hired a couple big guys to lift it and help us get it down to our basement. They were huffing and puffing! Not bad to put together. My husband states, "easy!" We love it. We are all having a blast. I will concede that the air blower is not arcade quality and there are a few spots where a slow puck will get stuck. In general though, this is a fun table! Looks nice. Perfect for amateurs and kids. Feels sturdy. Perfect for us. If you just want something for family fun this is great! No problems with it yet. Scoreboard works pretty well. A bit loud. I picked this for our family rec room because it is a very inclusive game. Almost anyone can play air hockey! :)

My family enjoys playing on the air-hockey table in our game room. However, the fan didn't work after I initially put it together. I contacted the seller, and they shipped a replacement fan to me at no extra cost.

We just gave this table to my 12 year old for Christmas. We have only had it for the one day, but it is working great and my son loves it. Assembly is definitely a two-person job as this table is quite heavy. The table uses captured nuts that have been hammered into the table l legs. This helps simplify assembly, but there were two missing upon arrival which is why I took one star away.

Like the other reviewers have said, this is a very substantial and quality table if you're not willing to buy a full commercial one for several times this price. It's definitely a better choice if you're looking to pay half this table's price or more - IF you have the room. I had to pay movers to get this where I wanted it because 250+ pounds of 7 feet long is unwieldy; they could not get it safely around the tight bend for the basement so had it to put it in the Plan B location. Play is just like being in an arcade. I bought the 2 Commercial Hockey Goalie Mallets w/ 2 Large Blue Air Pucks to replace the hollow feeling strikers and added felt (6 Air Hockey Mallet Felt Pads ) to them; the pucks included were fine. The only problem has been one of the 2 goals does not register on the overhead scoreboard (1 star off for that plus the delivery scheduling was more difficult than it should have been).

Arrived sooner than expected. Easy to put together. The only thing I did not like is the instructions that came with it does not tell you how to operate the table.

Took me about three hours to put this together - the instructions are not especially intuitive, and the hardware provided is not the highest quality. I had expected as much for the price we paid.One of the sensors was not registering shots, so I adjusted the sensor sensitivity to no avail. I took the net off that hoop and the sensor started working. The other net had broken anyway, so I took that net down too.It is a sturdy piece of equipment and I'm glad we bought it, but I would gladly have paid a few bucks more for better hardware, nets and sensors.

 Overall it is very fun, has two different height adjustments for lower ceilings, our playroom has 8ft - so the standard height was fine. As others have stated in the reviews the sensors are off and adjusting them really does not make much of a difference, 1 saw one guy in the Amazon reviews actually drilled a hole under the rim to fix this problem. Balls that hit the rim sometimes count as a point. Sometimes a ball that spins on the rim can get you 2 or 3 more points. It is kind of funny actually. If you can look past then don't worry about it. The construction is very good, solid pipes, wood backboard and thick metal rims. It is a well made item. 2 balls deflated, I contacted lifetime they sent me two replacements. I don't like that you only have 1 game option and need to make 30 points in the first round in order to go to the next round. You need to throw a ball in the hoop to start the game, these drawbacks can be frustrating for younger players. My high score is 109 with about 10 of those actually being missed shots. LOL

I had an older version of this machine as a kid, and now 20 years later, I have one again. The reason for the gap is I actually played the last one so much I eventually wore through the fabric ramp. It was a different material than the current version. It had some kind of plastic coating. This fabric ramp is much better than this version.The game is very sturdy. It was a little harder to put together than I expected, but overall not too bad. I am having tons of fun with this thing all over again.Not to brag, but I am pretty good at this game. Even in my ripe old age of 31 right now, 7 balls is not enough for the game. As a kid I bought extras to have 10. That was a much better number. With 7, I shoot too fast and get frustrated when I can't find a ball to shoot. This is an even bigger concern when there are two players.That leads me to another small gripe. There is a small metal bar across the bottom of the ramp. It's basically where your thighs hit the game. The problem is that if you swish a shot and the ball rolls back at you very quickly, the ball will sometimes hit the bar and bounce right out of the game. That is very annoying. The ball also sometimes bounces out over the top of the side nets by the rims. I don't think there's a solution to that problem, and it doesn't happen very often.One last gripe is the scorekeeping. It uses IR sensors. My game as a kid had a black bar that ticked as the ball went through. The upside to IR should be that, unlike the bar, it doesn't need to reset to count a basket. It should count every ball that goes through, unlike the bar, which if you made two shots in rapid succession, the bar wouldn't always reset and your shot wouldn't count. Unfortunately, things don't work as planned. Even toying with the sensor adjustments as suggested in the instructions doesn't help much. I get credit for shots I didn't make and I don't get credit for shots I did make. It's just a game, so it's not the end of the world, but I'm pretty serious about my high scores (179 as of this writing, no bank shots). I wish it was more accurate.Overall, I am very happy. I get a few hours of fun from this every week. I can't say that about many things I spent similar money on.

Bought this for the showroom for March Madness and it has been a great hit! Sturdy construction and it comes with all necessary equipment. The sensor to keep score is not always accurate, but it's good enough. It took 2 guys to put it together and took them about an hour or so. Much better unit than the one I bought last year.

This should be a 5 star product. I'll explain why it's only 4 right now...First, putting this together takes some patience, but it comes together nicely. I recommend 2 or more people working together.I read about problems with the score board so I plugged that into the wall before installing. The one I received does not work while plugged in. (Tested different known working outlets). It does work with batteries however. But it also won't work while plugged in and with batteries at the same time.In addition to the scoreboard issue, there are 4 screws to install the scoreboard. We received 3 that looked the same and one that was smaller. That was irritating because that screw won't work, but I'm living with it because it's stable nonetheless.To the company's credit, we were sent out a new scoreboard to see if that would fix the problem. It didn't. Now we need to contact them again to ask for a new power adapter (a part that the rep originally thought may be the issue but is on back order from China and will take weeks after the allotted return time).Now for the FunThis arcade system is tons of fun. It is sturdy. It works excellent. Yes sometimes points get registered for just 'hitting' the sensors and not actually going through the hoop but that's fine by us. My kids are having a blast playing this. We haven't had it long enough to see the balls shed their paint on our walls, but I'm hoping that doesn't happen. Replacement balls are $10 a piece. I'm waiting to decide if I want to do that. Some of the balls don't hold air that tight. But it doesn't take away from the fun.I do not regret buying this system. It's good fun for my kids and I enjoy taking breaks every once in awhile to try to beat the high score. The company stands behind their product. It would be a 5 star item if I didn't have to worry about broken or missing parts, but since the company backs their equipment, this is nowhere near a lower rated item. The backboard is solid and so are the hoops. I see this lasting quite a while in our family.

I bought this for my dad for Christmas as a fun game for the family to play during the few times we're all able to get together (parents are empty nesters).I thought it would be okay, but it was a hit. He had friends come play and was playing on this thing multiple times a day. Very entertaining for all ages.Extremely sturdy construction, though it's quite tall and long so make sure you have the space. It probably takes 2 people around 2-3 hours to put it together.The reason I didn't give it 4 stars is the scoreboard. The lasers don't count shots randomly. Sometimes it gets them all, sometimes it missed 3 in a row. When you're trying to break 100 for the millionth time and it doesn't count a shot and you lose on 99 it's more than a little frustrating.Overall a very good product. Durable and fun for all ages, while still having a competitive element that really takes it over the top.

I bought this table after reading a lot of reviews and it is not what I expected. The blower on the table is very weak. The paddles that come with this table are aligned with felt and they fell off after the first 30 seconds of use and scratched and scuffed up the surface of the new table. If you're going to spend this much on the table just go the extra distance spend the extra few hundred and get the top of the line product table

It's built really well but the eyes that see the ball could be better. They don't have much for adjustment it seems. Followed instructions and you can get close but still miscounts baskets or double counts takes a lot of messing with to get it perfect which I haven't achieved yet.

I'm giving this product 3 stars because this unit very solid and will with stand the test of time. The reason is it only a 3 star is the issue with the inaccuracies with the scoreboard. We have spent so much time testing the sensors on the hoops to gain more accurate scoring but we havn't had any success. Very disappointing when the scoring misses shots or in some cases counts baskets that didn't go in through the hoop.

Great double shot. We had to replace an old one. The point system seems pretty accurate. Fairly basic to put together. Took my husband and I a couple hours. Only issues is it's so tight the balls tend to get stuck and stack up in the rim. And I wish it had and on off switch. You just leave it plugged in and it powers down when not in issue and then starts when balls go through but then the game starts right back up after it's over. Can't pick didn't levels or times or anything. But it still works in a house of four boys. Very sturdy and durable.

In ways one of the best purchases I've made for my son. Was a Christmas gift for him last year and he plays on it daily still and it is what he and his friends do when at our house. My complaint is that within a couple of months of use, the basketballs appear to be shedding their rubber or rubbing off on the black tarp and the orange dust is all over the room. It's on the walls, the curtains, the floor, etc. It cannot be vacuumed off of the tarp but can be wiped off of hard surfaces with a damp cloth. I've looked for replacement parts and have yet to find this information easily because I would like to replace the tarp and use different basketballs than the ones supplied. The system really is solid, very sturdy, assembly is relatively quick and we have not had issues with the scoreboard as some have mentioned. The dust is concerning, however, because it cannot be beneficial to breathe. Any insights appreciated. I would buy this again but would replace the balls provided with different ones.

Love it! It's a really nice double basketball arcade that folds up. We bought this one in particular because it folds up, but we've never folded it up because it's kind of a pain to do so. Unfortunately, we did have some trouble with it working after a month. The scoreboard stopped working and a couple of the balls kept losing their air. I called Lifetime and they were great about sending us a replacement scoreboard. They had said that they had redesigned it and we had the "older" version. The new ones seems to be working better, though it does randomly shut down completely and we have to unplug the arcade for awhile to "reset" it. This is a pain. Lifetime also sent us a new set of balls, which we have just inflated. I'm curious if they'l stay inflated or fall flat like the others. It's very sturdy though... and if they electronic part of it was fixed, it would be a 5 star product.

First, we ordered this as a Christmas gift for our child. It did not arrive in time - same as a huge amount of orders did not arrive for the holiday this year for many of us. We put it together upon receipt. It is complicated, but ok. It is sturdy and has quality materials. However, one of the basketball hoop's sensors did not work. Therefore, only one side of the goal worked to keep score, etc. The product came with a 90 day warranty. We called the company about the defective part. The lady on the phone was defensive, mean, and rude. She definitely did NOT provide good or even tolerable customer service. We simply called as directed and requested a part that was NOT defective. Isn't that the LEAST we can ask of a product? Her response was unacceptable and Amazon should rethink selling items from a company that cannot provide decent and reasonable customer service. We will NOT buy from them again - and sadly for them - not because of the quality of the product, but their poor customer service.

For $200 I expect completely accurate scoring from the infrared scoring system. So far, scoring is less than accurate. Misses baskets and double counts baskets, as well as registers baskets that rim out (all occur w varying frequency--mostly every game) I have read reviews that said inaccurate scoring and some that were very pleased with the product. At this point, if it wasn't already put together, I would return. I am going to request the company send a new scoring system.

Great hoop, solid construction, accurate score keeping, looks great.But.... The balls get stuck in the net every single time. Sometimes a second or third ball will knock the first one out. Either way it completely ruins the game. They need to make wider nets to accommodate

Received in time for Christmas. Product seems to be sturdy and good quality but both hoop sensors don't work. Major letdown for Christmas morning

Very sturdy for shooting baskets. However, the left score keeper stopped working within the first 20 minutes of use. Very disappointing!!! This makes it difficult for any type of competition.

Fun for the first few months. But if you play it regularly like we did in our office, the sensors will stop working and you have to keep score manually. Which is not fun if your mathematically challenged like we are.

I'm kind of surprise I'm the first to review this unit here at Amazon. There are some many systems in the $150 range, but I spent the extra $100 for hopefully a solid build. And I was not disappointment by the build quality. It is definitely sturdy. Just watch the Lifetime video, it doesn't lie. The frames are solid, the rims are nice and thick. By looking at the pictures of the other systems, you can just imagine the flimsy frames shaking when you shoot because their frames are thin and the rims don't look thick either. So this Lifetime product is definitely worth the extra money if you're looking for a rock solid structure.Now here is my complaint. These types of arcade games are useless without accurate score-keeping. You need to earn a certain amount of points to get bonus time, and it's very frustrating to not get any bonus time because the thing can't count properly. And when you're competing with friends, it's no fun having to keep track of the baskets the machine didn't count. You have to trust what your friend tells you, and they have to trust what you tell them. You get into conversations like, "Well, I really won cause I'm missing 10 pts here!!" You might as well shut off the electronics! I've never owned an arcade type basketball game, so I don't know when infrared score keeping took over the older system, which I read was some sort of clicker in the middle of the rim. When the ball falls through the basket, it falls on the clicker and that's how it keeps count. I read that the negatives about the old system is that the clicker can break and you'll have to replace them. Make sense and newer technology is always better, right? Well, I'm not so sure. I think I want to find an old system just so I can compare. If the clicker is more accurate, then I'd rather have a clicker that I have to replace once in awhile, than an infrared system that never works.In conclusion, the Double Shot Basketball ended up being a $250 indoor hoop. If I didn't want score-keeping, I could have bought an over the door hoop for $25 bucks and custom make my own ball return net. So this has been a disappointment. If Amazon or Life-Time offers me a $100 credit, then I'd keep it just for the awesome hoop, but for $250, I want the score-keeping accuracy!!BTW, it took me over 3hrs to build. I did it alone, but definitely a helping hand that you can call on anytime would help. I've contacted Life-Time to ask them if this infrared system is inherently error prone, or if I have a faulty system. I hope it's faulty, which would mean a new electronic component will make this the perfect arcade system. But if this is just inherently error prone, then I will no longer trust any infrared basketball system. Believe me, it is frustrating when you're 2 pts away from bonus time and the machine doesn't count your last 4 made baskets. I was going John McEnroe on the machine as if it was a person.Lets see how Lifetime can help me. I will keep you guys updated. I will either have a perfect system, or this whole thing is going back to Amazon.12/23/2010 UPDATE!!Life-Time is very good with replacing parts. Along with the defective score-board, 2 of the 7 basketballs deflated overnight no matter how much you pump. So they sent me 2 new basketballs too! I got the new scoreboard and unfortunately, this one was defective as well. However it was an improvement. This time the score-keeping on the right is perfect, except for during it's transition in giving you bonus time. It usually gives a bonus sounding alarm, if you make a basket simultaneously at this moment, it doesn't count your hoop, but still a vast improvement, and something you can accept knowing that it's probably by design. However, the score-keeping on the left is as bad as my first unit. It will miss at least 5 to 8 buckets in a span of a game. So we just take turns shooting the hoop on the right, and it's very fun and I see the potential. I asked Life-Time if they want to try a third time. Not sure if they'll do it, if not, no sweat.. this thing is going back to Amazon.12/30/2010 UPDATE!!The 3rd Scoreboard functions properly! I imagine many units are sold with scoreboards not counting properly but some people don't care probably cause it's for their kids, who also probably don't care. But for the competitive adult buyers, get ready to go through a few rounds of exchanges. I finally got a scoreboard that counts every basket, so don't give up. This is still the best system out there in this price range. When you miss on the cheaper systems, you hear a "CLANG" on the flimsy frames. When you miss on this system, it's more like a "THUD" cause it's just constructed better.1/1/2011 UPDATE!!After playing around with it some more, the infrared still misses shots, but they are few and far between, and does not effect game play. The faulty ones will miss 4 to 7 baskets within the first 30 seconds. The one I have now will sometimes not miss at all, but then other games it may miss one or two when you go deep into the game. I suspect this will be the case with all infrared systems, it's not going to be 100% perfect especially at this price range. I recently also tested out old school ones with the clicker. Though the clicker is more accurate, I prefer the infrared with it's minor inaccuracies over the clicker because I realize the ball gets stuck more often than the infrared misses shots. It's no fun when the game is interrupted, or you have to start over because of a stuck ball. The clicker system would work perfectly if you don't play with a net, but that's no fun. I know some of you may say, "Man, this guy is picky!" Yes I am. This wasn't bought for kids, we bought it for grown-ups. So for all the big boys shopping around for a hoop, I hope you appreciate this info.

After waiting 7.5 hours for a 5 hour time window given for delivery the driver expected my husband to help get it off the truck. Then it arrived damaged with a huge hole in the box, footprints all over the box, and water damage inside the box. I read the reviews ahead of time but took a chance.... bad choice.

Would not recommend.

Arrived with a broken blower. Been waiting for weeks for a repair now.

Enormous and the scoreboard doesn't work. Some baskets don't count, some are 2 points, some are 3. Buy something else, this is very low quality material and it takes up a ton of space.

Broken after the first day. The sensor on the left hoop stopped tracking score. Seller was difficult to work with on return. Wouldn't purchase again.

It is a bad product . The score keeper was broken after the second use. They replaced the piece two more times and still doesn't work.

The left basket double counts points ever since we opened the product. Makes it unfair play. Since this is a defect, what can be done about this? The balls deflate often.

We were so excited for this for Christmas and beyond. Horrible instructions and hardware for setup. The worst was the faulty parts which made it impossible to put together. Huge disappointment...Beware.

It stopped keeping score after the 3rd or 4th time my kids played it! The only reason they play is to see who can win! So sad...they loved the first three games!! It was great family fun!! Now, we have this eye catching toy...that no one plays!! Too bad quality is so hard to find.