I have looked in to renting a parachute but the rental costs are awful. I did not want to spend the money to have a parachute just for flight testing but I would always have it in the future in case I needed it again and then it would be just a matter of having it inspected and re-packed.
Like another pilot wrote, "if you're asking the question you already know the answer". Oh well Aircraft Spruce needs to stay in bussiness too. Thank you for the replies..