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 Neos is the
latest "fast reacting rubber" top of the line intro from
Stiga. It has clear enough lineage. The sponge underneath is the
Stiga corporate ACS small cell variety. The top sheets are
related to
Tibhar Makss and Donic SuperSonic S40, in that they are promoted
to
offer greater flexibility and "built in" tension. Neos also
comes out
fully fledged with a "Sound" softer sponge version and "Tacky"
with a
more adhesive Chinese style top sheet.
The family tree turns out to be key in describing Neos.
 Over a month's time, our lab staff tested Neos Sound, Tacky and
"Vanilla" on a series of blades, with confusing results. Using
five ply
all-wood off- blades all three Neos offerings seemed hard to
control.
Although Sound and Tacky launched balls, respectively" higher
and lower
than the medium sponged "Vanilla" version none of the sheets
appeared to
spin especially well and they all "sprayed de ball around pritty
gude"
as one colorful tester kindly offered. We were up against a
deadline
and didn't have a good handle on what this rubber can do.
Making a fairly rare appearance in the mountain Maryland lab he
founded
in 1997 after divesting himself of his global entertainment
holdings
(shared in part with Sharon Stone...who recently divested
herself of a
lizard attacked victim hubby), Don himself turned on the light
bulb.
"SSSSStiff Fastzzzzz. Ballllzzz Fastzzzzzz. Ssssspin Suxz.
Likezzzz?"
Ohhhhhh, yeah.
 We had already learned that things got better with carbon
blades. As
the backing in the blade got stiffer Neos began to shine. Balls
leave
the blade very much like traditional Euro soft sponge rubber
(back to FX
and GPS days)....but with more speed and less spin. AH HAH. This
is
the same basic performance patter we first observed in Makss and
SuperSonic. Ball flies like it should spin, but just goes fast
instead.
Loop winners happen to because they spin, but because they
penetrate.
Tensioned, ultra flexy top sheets are mechanically fast and spin
challenged, but they represent a basic formula for winning 40 mm
points
at the elite level. Neos uses medium to medium soft sponge to
create
driving speed, wild angles and can generate point winning power
from all
ranges. Early tensioned sheets stalled badly in many cases, Neos
on
fast blades suffers only mildly from this malady, sorta like
Innova.
Soooo, the "comp" sheet then should be Innova, which is
related....but
with an older style top sheet.
Viola. On a Spintech five ply Carbo Phenom Neos Max one side and
Innova
Max on the other, glued with Spintech Enduro 50-50 (donated by
tester
Ron Harp :) Neos is nicely indexed by the Innova. The Neos is
more
dynamic, louder and faster. Because it is faster, it is harder
to make
it spin. The ball is gone in a hurry and trampolines forward to
create
some impressive drives that can land almost impossibly wide.
Neos is
not for grazers. The more contact you make, the more you will
get out
of the rubber. Mechanical marvel, as opposed to sticky subject.
The three Neos options bracket this same basic window. Sound is
very
loud, as advertised, throws the ball higher on impact and has
the
closest apogee to a traditional soft sponge shot. Tacky, like
one would
expect, throws the lowest and offers noticeably less lift trying
to turn
over loops against good back spin.
For our money, the plain jane Vanilla Neos is the best of the
three. If
the calling card of a rubber is its speed and ability to counter
drive
at distance, then the fastest one is the best one. Neos' spin
versions
give flavors to the Neos theme, but don't come across as better
versions of traditionally top sheeted soft sponge rubber or
tacky Chinese rubber.
The ball is gone too fast to get impressive spin without speed.
Many times during this test we laughed at the ill tempered early
reaction of one newsgroup wag (a shame about the newsgroup BTW)
who declared Neos to have "no visible evidence of spin". To a
degree, I
suppose, it is true that a player switching from Globe 999 to
Neos Tacky will not be impressed with the Stiga sheet's spin.
But, at 10 feet back from the table the Neos can launch a
fearsome counterspin attack with more total energy than a
Chinese equivalent.
Neos is best used on stiff blades. Best in the medium sponge
version.
Best used by players who win their big points with speedy loop
drives.
Wisdom has always said the best players usually play with less
the
100% off+ style blades. The rapid recovery, ultra flexy school
of
rubber building, however, seems to play best with less
interaction with
the blade, its flex and its harmonics. Too many moving parts
perhaps.
Reduce the variables and the rubber starts to paint a prettier
picture.
As the morning wore on, Don's pacing slowed. A huddle here, a
huddle
there, among the day's testers. The test ended with friendly
matches
and the Neos story started making sense in anger. Winning
attacking
points off the bounce, off the push and ripping nicely against
too-deep
serves. It was a handful, on a light carbon blade with a good
glue job
in the hands of U2000 bangers, but, as advertised, it hits
winners from
everywhere on the court.
Headed back to the tarmac at Cumberland Regional Airport where a
distinctive jade green Gulfstream 5 awaited, Don lit a Cuban
cigar and
grinned.
"Ssssso, makessss ssssense?" he asked, knowing the answer.
"Yep." I replied. It will be on-line tomorrow I promised.
"Ssssgood."
Courtesy of Dave Williams |
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