I've used clear vinyl and it worked fine. But what I had was a large single piece of vinyl that covered my entire sewing surface except for the feed dogs.
Then, I bought the slider thinking that adding it would help by covering the area where the feed dogs are (lowered). That wasn't much of an advantage.
I now have my entire sewing table surface covered with white oilcloth and things slide great on it...sometimes too slick for regular sewing!
Bottom line...I'd try oilcloth or vinyl before buying the slider.