Well said Josh.
It's also important to realize that all beginners are not created equal.
Since the closest club to me is an hour away, I teach a lot of people to fly through an RC ministry at my church, mostly kids 7-18yrs, but several adults as well. Some have absolutely no RC or flight experience at all, some have a little Rc car experience but no flying, some have a little video game or simulator experience, some have played with Air Hogs or something similar and have some basic understanding of flight, and some have actually flown real planes but never RC. Each one will progress a little differently, and each one will have different abilities and desires if/when they get ready to buy their own plane.

We have tried several different planes in our ministry, including just about every Parkzone and Hobbyzone plane made, as well as a couple different glow trainers and some other electrics. We still use most of them, but the electric plane we use the most and have bought several of is the Super Cub. The reason is, most people seem to be able to learn better on this plane than any of the others, and it is the easiest and cheapest to repair. The decision to buy several of them was based on other peoples' overall experience and success, not my own. If this had been true of the Apprentice, or any other plane we tried, we would have invested in them instead.

When one of my students is ready to buy their own plane, I base my reccomendation to them on their ability to fly, the type of flying they like, and the $ they can afford. Most of the time Super Cub is my reccomendation because it is so versital, sometimes not. I have a few students who bought a J-3 brushless after flying mine because they liked the size, the speed, power, and/or they weren't ready for ailerons. A couple have bought T-28's after flying mine because they had the skill and room to fly it. A couple have bought Slo-v's because they like to fly slow or they can't see well enough to keep track of faster planes. A couple flew everything I had before buying their own and went right to the Stryker. A couple have even bought their own glow/gas planes. FYI, the Avistar is the glow trainer I reccomend.
My point is, every plane and every person has qualities that may or may not work together, but from my experience, the Hobbyzone/Parkzone planes are some of the best electrics to learn with, and the Super Cub is always a safe bet for the money if you are trying to teach yourself!