Do you have any recommendations for good HPR parachutes? I have personal experience with Top Flite, but I've heard of Bama, LOC, Fruity, etc
Giving advice on TRF about parachutes is like giving advice on religion or epoxy
Having said that, I have tried many of the parachute manufacturers and some time ago I standardized on two. For all my rockets 25lbs and below, I use Fruity Chutes. They are expensive, but I have found them to be worth it. Their Iris Ultra Compact chutes give you super performance in a small package. With a 2.2 Cd, they outperform most other chutes at the same size, so you can downsize and still have safe landing speeds. I am a big believer in smaller chutes - they tend to have less deployment issues and eject easier. So, I use their Iris ultra chutes for most HPR mains and their Classic Ellipticals for drogues. As a bonus, they have one of the best descent calculators on the web.
Realistically, you only need one chute of each size. I install a swivel on the attach point on the rocket (usually the payload bay shock cord) and then use snaplinks to clip the parachute to the swivel. This way, not only can I switch the parachutes between rockets, I can make a call at the field based on weather conditions.
For rockets 25lbs and over, I use Skyangle Cert 3 parachutes and drogues.
Just want to add this disclaimer - these are my preferences, many people on this forum have great suggestions and preferences that work for them, so it does pay to ask around. There are great options that are cheaper than Fruity Chutes and Skyangle.
The only thing I would really recommend is sticking with a brand and product through a number of weight classes. This gives you apples-to-apples comparison when you need to decide which size chute you want to use. If you use a bunch of different brands, it is almost impossible to compare and decide. A 48" Fruity Chute Iris Ultra Compact is vastly different than a 48" LOC, for example. I want to be able to reduce the decision factor to size only and the only way I know to do that is by using the same brand/model at different sizes.
The reason I switched to Skyangle for my big stuff is they are more cost effective at those sizes. Fruity Chutes is awesome, but they get out of my price range above 84". On the other hand, a SkyAngle Cert 3 XXL can handle a 100+ lbs rocket and is only $240.
Once you figure out the chutes you want to go with, recommend waiting for Black Friday sales. You can really save a bundle at that time of the year.
