Not sure if anyone would find this of use/interest, but I figured I’d post it up anyway.
The following is just something that I decided to do for my own T&E purposes. Most of it is just my opinion and mine alone, based on my likes, dislikes, and personal observations via my own first hand experiences, or first hand of a trusted friend. I urge you to try things out for yourselves, and come to your own conclusions. If your results and observations are different, then they are different.
First, I wanted to say a few things about BDU’s in general and the material with which they are made. Before I do though, I feel I must point out that my use for BDU’s is not for fun, or play, or a “hobby”. I have them for serious use. So that is the context in which I’ll be viewing and commenting from.
I think much of the time, people do not give much thought (if any) to the material that the BDU’s they are purchasing are made from.
In my experience, the material is an extremely important factor. First, you have Twill material, and Ripstop material. Twill being a smooth material, Ripstop having raised ridges in the material forming a grid type pattern, which is designed to help prevent a rip from spreading once it starts. Second, you have the makeup of the material itself. The most common ones being, 100% cotton, 60/40 Cotton/Polyester, 65/35 Polyester/Cotton *, and 50/50 Nylon/Cotton. There are a couple of others, be these seem to be the most common. Most are available in either a Twill or Ripstop form, but that varies from brand to brand. * Note - There are a couple of different “weights” of the 65/35 materials available.
BDU.com has some good general info out on the various materials here.
http://www.bdu.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=fabric-guide&Category_Code=acu-coats
And Propper has some good info here.
https://www.epropper.com/fabrics.php
My personal favorite materials have long been 50/50 NYCO and 60/40 Cotton/Poly. I have found that these are great year round materials for me, doing well in both summer and winter conditions, wet or dry. I have long had a dislike for 100% cotton material. I find that it wears very fast, is not that durable, fades quickly, and is, in my opinion, downright dangerous when wet regardless of the source of the moisture or the time of year. How a material handles moisture, i.e.- how well does it resist and/or absorb moisture, what does it do with moisture once wet, i.e.- does it tend to hold it, or does it evaporate it quickly, etc. is a extremely key factor to me.
65/35 Poly/Cotton has always been a strong, durable material, but I never liked it much outside of very cold conditions. I found it generally to be too heavy of a material, almost canvas like. However, I recently decided to try a couple of pair of Propper BDU’s made from their 65/35 Poly/Cotton Ripstop that they call their “BattleRip” material, after noticing that it was of a lighter weight than what some are. After wearing the pants to work for a couple of weeks, I have completely fallen in love with them and the material. I have found it to be very comfortable in the heat, and have no doubt that with proper base layers, it will do well in the cold. They also have proven to do very well when wet, and as previously mentioned, that’s a big thing for me.
Moving on to camo patterns. This is an extremely debatable topic, that some folks get really wrapped up on. Use whatever pattern you like, just don’t be quick to rule out something other than your personal favorite, and don’t be too quick to judge another on their choice. Get what you think you like, and then test it for yourself, in multiple environments, locations, conditions, etc.
I decided to take the 4 patterns that I have come to like best, and do some very informal pictures of them. They aren’t professional pictures, and they aren’t meant to be. Again, just did these for my own reasons and thought I’d share. As you may pick up from some of the pictures, shadows and lighting can play a huge part in helping, or hurting, your concealment efforts. Pay close attention to that when your in the field. Usually, shadows are your friend, but sometimes, the opposite is true.
I don’t think that there is any one pattern that truly works to the optimum, everywhere. I do think that there are some that come very close, but, I think that the USMC was really smart in going with 2 different color schemes.
The following is a series of pictures I took using 4 different BDU tops. Multicam, Woodland Digital, Desert Digital, and X-Camo digital. I included the Desert digital, as I think too many people write it off as being no good anywhere except the desert. I think some may be a little surprised to see just how well khaki’s and tan’s can work in a non-desert environment. For the most part, there is little to no vegetation in front of them, and I did this on purpose. This is just to give a view of how they may or may not appear when viewed in front of concealing vegetation, vs. mixed in it, or more behind it. I’ll get to those pics and such later. The sky was mostly clear and it was very sunny.
The Woodland and Desert digitals are Propper’s 65/35 Poly/Cotton Ripstop from their ACU line.
The Multicam is 55/45 Cotton/Poly Ripstop from SKD Tactical.
The X-Camo is 60/40 Cotton/Poly Ripstop from MOC.
All the shots were taken in series at each location in the following order………Multicam, Desert Digital, Woodland Digital, and last X-Camo Digital.
1st view………
2nd view…………
3rd view……….
Here are 2 extra’s I took of the X-Camo digital…….
And one extra of the Woodland digital…………
Random thoughts so far…. The Propper Woodland digital was really impressive in a number of spots that I placed it and really surprised me. I plan on getting some more of it for sure. I am really liking the material, the construction, and the price. I had hoped the Multicam would produce slightly better results. We’ll see how things play out with the future things I plan to try…… Speaking of that……. I have quite a few more pics and such that I plan to take and post, so if your interested, stay tuned and I’ll post updates as I do them.
