Yeah, I understand simple, that's part of why I don't want to use electronics and separate ejection charges, etc

If you want simple, why not go all the way to just leave off the chute (or streamer) completely. Use break-up recovery and let the whole thing fall all the way to the ground. Only problem there is that the rocket then hits the ground harder. In my yard, it's gonna land on rocks (unless I let the weeds grow).

This comes right back around to the question of how to perform dual-deploy on a low power rocket using inexpensive gear. Dual-deployment is not too hard for high power guys, the only difference is one of scale. It would be worth the little extra cost ($1? $2?) to me so I would be better able to launch on the days around here when it is windy. What's an E12 going to cost? I'll bet those will be upwards of $3-4 each, plus the cost of a kit, plus all the time you spend building and finishing it. (And we all finish our rockets nicely, don't we?)

I still think that the weight of a 13mm casing (and probably only partly filled, at that) is not going to be much of a weight penalty. Sure, for competition, you would not want even a little extra weight, but I think this idea is slanted more toward sport fliers and slightly larger low power modrocs. The added weight of the HALO would be less than the epoxy root fillets everyone seems so anxious to add on.