This page is to document vendors Rocket Team has experience with (good and bad). Vendors to avoid are first and uncategorized, vendors that are just fine are categorized below that.
Note: Add links to all vendors
This includes nose cones, body tubes, parachutes, motor retention, avionics bays, kits, and the like.
Apogee Components: General parts. Comprehensive inventory, up to mid-range high-power. Good experience, but significantly more expensive.
Madcow Rocketry: General parts. Less comprehensive inventory, but a good competitor.
Wildman Rocketry: General parts. Less comprehensive inventory, but goes all the way up to "the big stuff". Also a good competitor.
Public Missiles: Especially good for tubes on tubes on tubes.
Estes: Primary supplier for A-E motors. These can also be found in some hobby stores. Avoid the larger (E and above) motors, as they have a very high failure rate.
Quest: Similar to Estes, but with a smaller market share.
Cesaroni Technologies, Inc.: Our main supplier for rocket motors. AMW/ProX sells their stuff and is usually on-site for MA/ME-based launches. They very polite, occasionally difficult to reach. Factory explosion occurred Spring 2016, supply will be limited for 8+ months.
Important notes: Vmax warning and Forward closure warning
Aerotech: Less common supplier of rocket motors for rocket team, mostly due to shipping times.
Loki Research: Less common motors, but lots of interesting products. Not a lot of team experience.
McMaster: Tons of materials, nuts, bolts, stock, etc. 1 day shipping is also awesome.
Someone fill in here, I don't know much about this.
APC Composites
US Composites
X-Winder?
Sparkfun: Lots of electronics components
Adafruit: Similar to sparkfun. Also has great tutorials on using their products
Digikey: The McMaster of electronics components
OshPark: Sponsored us for PCB's in 2016. Quick delivery time, we can assemble the PCB components in lab.
Missileworks: Feature-filled rocket altimeters
PerfectFlite: Another company that makes altimeters (such as the StratoLogger) that the team has used.
Eggtimer: Solder-yourself kits for rocket electronics
Altus Metrum: High end altimeters for rockets which include telemetry and GPS.
Hobby King: Servos and lipos. Also lots of RC stuff should that be needed.
Rocketman: High quality, 4 shroud-line chutes. Different strength ratings, and descent rate table matching rocket weight to appropriate chute. Chutes also usually come with a loop sewn in the top, which proves incredibly useful for single-separation dual-deploy systems.
Fabric supplier????
Other sewing equipment suppliers??
Fruity Chutes: Chutes of many sizes.
Top Flight Recovery: Cheap, but still high quality parachutes
Tinder Rocketry: Sells Tender Descenders, which are useful for single-separation dual-deploy systems. The reliable of Tender Descenders is in question, but they have proven themselves in flight to date.