Getting back to the OP, I always trot out the old chestnut that beginners should start with a rubber that *anybody* can control, then later on progress to the fastest rubbers *that person personally* can control, at whatever stage of the game they are at.
I also personally believe that the popular and fastest tensor / catapult / ESN style rubbers should ideally stay off your blade for the first three years at least, otherwise you risk ruining your technique before you've fully established it...but again, that's just my opinion personally.
If you want a good, consistent, non-tensor, all round grippy rubber, with acceptable spin and speed, that is cheaper than a Joola Energy Xtra but still pretty similar to an JEE, then the Focus 3 Snipe or regular focus 3 is your best bet IMO. The other options here all come close, but usually fall down on one or two measures:
- Raksa 7 and AK-47 yellow are both great rubbers, but noth are also a big step up in speed compared to the F3, and don't have quite the same control. I find all the Rakzas are slightly more expensive too.
Mark V, Sriver, and other similar antiques are still great rubbers, but I would say the sriver is a tad slower than the F3, the Mark V MAX / Mark V HVS is a touch faster, and ALL of them are more expensive to buy, without delivering much to justify that extra cost.
Xiom Europe is a great entry level tensor, but is slightly slower than the AK-47s, and slightly faster than the Mark V / Sriver / Grandpa Simpson's old faithful.
I still keep coming back to the F3S for beginners (even though it is also starting to get long in the tooth), because it's incoming spin insensitive -- it's a rubber which any beginner can control pretty well, and a good player can still be damaging with at club level.
And while almost all the other rubbers mentioned here can make the same kind of claims, in my experience none of them are consistently available at F3 prices all year round, and in any/every country you care to mention. The Focus 3 and Focus 3 Snipe really are just a no-brainer recommendation for any no-skill (or low skill) player.
If I did have to add one more option to the mix (and I do 😁) then it would be the Tuttle Beijing IV max - it's a chronically underrated rubber frankly given it's enormous similarity to F3S / Mark V / sriver / Rakza 7 in the control stakes, but it is also a tiny bit faster than an F3S (around Xiom Europe speed frankly) and is still spinny enough to be dangerous. (Closest direct comparison in playing feel would be a xiom Vega intro, or a Joola Energy Xtra, but it still comes at a F3S price point).
Biggest knock against the Beijing IV however is its longevity - it's effective working life is basically just okay -- it doesn't last nearly as long as an F3S does, which if you take care of it, is a very long lasting rubber indeed -- almost at Mark V levels of longevity frankly IME. Plus there's one final plus worth mentioning, which is I find the F3 series stand up very well to regluing, though given their chicken-feed pricing, replacing a torn one is not really a big issue.
Hope this all helps. Good luck with it 🙂
