On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 1:50:31 PM UTC-7, Craig Reinholt wrote:
On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 1:18:42 PM UTC-7, John Foster wrote:
Is there any general consensus of which brand of parachute is better than others, or are they all about the same?

It would be best to talk to a master rigger that packs lots of round chutes of all brands. Many riggers don't pack round chutes regularly and are only casually knowledgeable about them. The master rigger can give you the pros and cons of each brand. Each has it's own peculiarities.
Craig

A lot of good info.
Agree that square chutes are the way to go. Some basic training should be done before use, a brief ground school at least. Your rigger may be able to provide this.
The basic price for National and Mars rigs seems to not have leg hardware you can release. I'd recommend "quick eject" hardware so you can get out if being dragged. This might make the price similar to others?
Perhaps the most comfortable rig I owned was ordered after taking the trailer to the manufacturer (Butler), pulling out the fuselage and sitting in the glider with a few different systems. When I sold that glider the buyers insisted on buying the chute, it was such a good fit.
Some parachute/harness/container combinations may just not fit you or the glider. You may not like the external pilot chute (Strong) or the position of the ripcord (Parachutes Australia) etc. My current (Paraphernalia) square rig is not the best in Schempp-Hirth gliders. Dan Marotta has my old one for the Nimbus (National).
Jim