Brief:
This a review of Rockethead Rockets' pre-assembled 12" Mylar parachute. Rockethead currently offers 10", 12", 15", and 18" chutes and will soon offer their first kit. You can find new product announcements on The Rocketry Forum's vendors forum.

Construction:

The chute came packaged in a small bag and included a card with instructions and pricing on their chute line. The instructions merely say to place a drop of thin CA on each shroud line knot and to inspect the chute prior to launch.

The chute itself is silver Mylar cut in an octagonal pattern. The lines are 12" long thin Kevlar®. On one end they are tied to holes in the chute, which are reinforced with circular tabs front and back. The chute also comes with a snap swivel.

I don't want make this brief review a comparison of Mylar vs. other materials, however, Mylar in general provides high visibility, some heat resistance, and tends to open better than plastic chutes. I have been using some 12" rip-stop nylon chutes in some models, but the Mylar packs better in the smaller diameter models. The pluses of this particular product are:

1. It comes pre-assembled (I don't particularly care for assembling chutes)
2. It comes with a snap swivel (I always use one anyway, both to avoid twisting and to move them from rocket to rocket)
3. With Kevlar® shroud lines the chute will be all the more forgiving if you don't put enough wadding in and will never break
4. With reinforcement of the connection points front and back, this chute will be about as tough as you will get with Mylar

I rate this chute a '5', relative to your typical modroc chutes (other mylar ones I've used, Estes/Quest plastic, etc.)

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Recovery:
I flew this chute twice in my FlisKits ACME Spitfire. The chute packed easily, which is good because I have a lot of shock cord in that BT-50 and there isn't much space left. The chute performed well on both flights, however on the second I proved that Mylar is not impervious to ejection gasses. I usually use a square (more for bigger tubes) of Estes wadding and some dog-barf to make a plug. This works well to protect my chutes. However, I repacked it hastily on the field - no Estes and not enough dog-barf wadding, it seems. Once corner of the chute was slightly damaged. I will use a bit of clear tape and the chute will be flyable.

Even though the slight damage was probably my fault, I'll take off a point in my rating.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Since this is a short review, there is not much need to summarize my thoughts. This chute may cost a skosh more than a plastic chute, but should outperform and out last them. If I had used a plastic chute on the second flight described above, it really would have been in bad shape. When I need more modroc chutes of in this size range (10"-18"), I know where I'm going to get them.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5