Dr. Neubauer Buffalo Test Report (with videos)

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   Dr. Neubauer Buffalo Review (in comparison with Dr. Neubauer ABS)

Disclaimer: I received the rubber from Dr. Neubauer for testing

About the reviewer:
My USATT rating is around 1900. My strength is my forehand with which I score the majority of my points mainly through looping; my serve is probably above average for my rating. I play close to the table with blocking and looping. I play with frictionless anti on backhand, mainly for returning serve and blocking topspin loops.

Setup:
Both Dr. Neubauer antis were played in red with 1.2mm sponge on a Butterfly Schlager Light blade with Nittaku Hurricane III Neo max on forehand. I have played with the ABS for the last couple of years on various blades recently on Dr. Neubauer Hercules.

Description on Dr. Neubauer’s website: 

 The perfect Anti-Spin combination between spin reversal and control
BUFFALO provides highly interesting playing characteristics thanks to a completely new rubber composition.

A long and tedious development program finally enabled us to combine the strong points of all our existing Anti-Spin rubbers. This results in an exciting new rubber that will set a new benchmark both for control and disruptive effect.

BUFFALO produces excellent spin reversal while blocking against topspin shots with a lot of rotation thanks to its completely frictionless surface. Also control was decisively enhanced to ensure safe and disruptive blocking close to the table.
In that regard BUFFALO can be considered as an alternative to our old frictionless long pimple rubbers especially as far as spin reversal is concerned.

Furthermore BUFFALO enables to produce deceptive attacking shots. The most effective technique is aggressive pushing on chopped balls but counter-attacking against float balls will also put pressure on your opponent.

All in all BUFFALO is a fantastic weapon for blocking close to the table – try it out!

Category:     Anti-Spin
Colours:     red +black
Sponge:     1.2 + 1.5 + 1.8mm
Speed:     55
Disruptive effect:     100
Control:     83
Category:     Anti-Spin
Colours:     red +black
Sponge:     1.2 + 1.5 + 1.8mm
Speed:     55

Appearance:
The surface of the Buffalo has kind of a mate finish similar to the ABS and it also appears to be the same sponge as the ABS which is fairly hard and dead. Many people believe it is the best sponge for frictionless antis. The Buffalo topsheet feels harder than the ABS but the most striking feature is the very short pips, much shorter than ABS or any other anti I have tested before like Grizzly or Gorilla. The Buffalo topsheet appears slicker than that of the ABS out of the package. 

Weight:
The weight of the Buffalo with package was 69g, the rubber uncut was 39g and the cut rubber was 30g. I did not weight the ABS but the total weight of the blade felt very similar so the weight should be within a couple of grams.

Feel/Touch:
The Buffalo feels quite hard, definitely harder than ABS, but it also has a very direct and crisp feel. Long pips ox players might appreciate such a feeling. Too me it provides good feedback for the ball and quite like the more direct feel compared to ABS. Players who have played classic antis with soft sponge might not like this feel or at least will need to adjust

Speed:
The Buffalo is slow and I mean it is really slow, quite a bit slower than ABS. This is probably due to the combination of a hard topsheet with very short pips on the proven hard and dead ABS sponge. To me this is THE most outstanding feature of the new Buffalo as it can played on a fast OFF blade without any problem. The ABS seemed too fast on the Schlager Light and many blocks against fast loops went long with still drop in with the Buffalo. It is Buffalo to block very short against loops which I have not experienced like this with any other anti. It is still fast enough though to attack with

Control:
The Buffalo has the best control, also because it is so slow, of any anti I have tested so far. The control with ABS is good but with Buffalo it is great. I personally like the crisper more direct feel of it. However, you have to understand that it is still a frictionless anti so it takes quite some time to master it despite its very good control. However the Buffalo is less sensitive to the blade angle than the ABS and therefore it is easier to play with. Most frictionless antis including the ABS are quite sensitive to the blade angle so that the margins for error are smaller. This has definitely been improved with the new Buffalo.

Spin Reversal:
The reversal with Buffalo is absolutely brutal due to the hard and slick topsheet; it is definitely higher than with ABS which actually already has a pretty good reversal. I think it is on par with the reversal of Grizzly.

Throw Angle:
The throw angle of the new Buffalo is quite low and definitely lower than with ABS. This makes it possible to block loops very short and low over the net but it also allows to attack underspin with an aggressive push were the ball stays very low. On the same strokes ABS shows a higher throw and more adjustments have to be made. At the beginning I actually pushed a few balls into the net with Buffalo but you get used to the lower throw very fast and it makes it a more dangerous rubber.

Blocking:
This is what the Buffalo is made for and this is where it really shines. It does not block by itself, but with the right technique the block against topspin becomes a real weapon even better than with ABS. You have more control and can drop the ball shorter to disrupt the attacker but most importantly you can also block fast loop drives because it is so slow. 

Attacking:
The Buffalo is certainly not primarily designed for an attacking style of anti-play like Grizzly for example, but on a fast blade attacking of underspin balls is actually very good. You can either attack underspin with an aggressive push or with kind of a “lift” where the ball is driven with a fairly open blade face. Both techniques will reverse the underspin into topspin. Even though the Buffalo is slower than ABS, I liked the attack with it more because it seems to have more margin for error which allows you to be more aggressive on the stroke. Again, if you primarily want to attack with anti, there are probably better options like Grizzly or Gorilla but blocking is much more difficult with those. 

Conclusions:
After only one session, having played ABS for a couple of years, I immediately knew I would switch to the new Dr. Neubauer Buffalo. I played the ABS on faster OFF blades because I liked it for my forehand attack but then my anti play suffered so I switched to a slower blade (ALL+ to OFF-) but I did not like my forehand as much. Now with the Buffalo, because it is so slow, I can play an OFF blade and still control my backhand side nicely. I also like the high reversal coupled with the good control and seemingly less sensitivity to the blade angle, which is something most frictionless antis suffer. The Buffalo might not only be interesting for frictionless “veterans” but also for players coming from long pips ox or classic anti who want to make their game a little trickier.

Below you will find 2 videos showing some techniques the new Dr. Neubauer Buffalo on backhand. My practice partner in the video has a USATT rating of 2400.

1. Backhand drills, mostly block against loop to demonstrate reversal and how short you can block the ball:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_kg5vAUeP4

2. A couple of practice games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnOoXyqiu2I