The following is just something that I decided to do for my own T&E purposes, but I thought I’d post it up here in case anyone was interested in it. 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.

I was asked later in this thread, to put up some of my thoughts on recommended brands, etc.. So, here are the ones that I like. Keep in mind, these are what I like, based off my own personal uses (serious use, prepardness minded, utlility focused) and experiences. Anything not listed is because I either dont like it for my uses or, because I havent tried it.

In no particular order :

* SKD (Multicam)

* Propper ACU line (Multicam, Digital Woodland, Digital Desert, Khaki)

* Propper Discount BDU line (Khaki)

* Tru-Spec Pro G line (Digital Woodland, Digital Desert)

* Tru-Spec TRU line (Coyote) {They also offer Mutlicam and Digital Woodland and Desert in the TRU line, and I assume that they would be equal in quality to the Coyote ones, but I havent tried them first hand}


MOC X-camo - The first iteration was ok construction wise, but the material wasnt the best in the world. The second iteration was again ok construction wise, but the material is even worse than the first, and not servicable for my use. I think the color scheme and such has a lot of promise though.

Reserved for future posts....


Adding RAF's post from page 19....

You have much to learn young padawan.

I have a number of things planned to do.... not going to all be overnight, as this will be an ongoing thing.

Here is one pic of the 3 digital patterns.




Here is a crappy pic from a while back of all 4. I'll be getting a better pic of them all together.

Yeah, its been impressing me more and more over the last year.

Thanks for putting that link up. Its a good reference for additional comparison.

As noted above, the top left is MOC's X-Camo.

Top right is Propper's Desert Digital, bottomo is Propper's Woodland Digital.

I was referring to the X-Camo. They appear to have toned down the tan in it just a bit so its not quite as "bright" so to speak. I'll have a newer set of it soon as whats in the picture is the older one. The woodland that 5.11 is using is very close to the X-Camo in pattern and colors.



To my knowledge, the digital woodland and desert that Propper uses is pretty darn close to actual MARPAT minus the EGA. Might also be a bit of difference in the actual pattern of the pixelation used vs. MARPAT, but I believe the colors are the same. I have someone I can verify that through, but in the meantime, if anyone knows for sure, feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Is right.    


Though I sure wouuld like to have one of those.....  

The tan in the X-Camo is very bright. Thats something that my buddy and I mentioned to the folks at MOC when we spoke with them at the SHOT show back in January. They commented that they were actually in the process of toning it down a bit. The last time I was at the store here locally that sells it, I noticed that they had new stock on the shelves, and it seemed to have the changes they mentioned at SHOT. I plan on picking up a newer pair and comparing them as well. My buddy is also doing a little experiment with his that I hope to through up when he gets done.

That is a good possibility......    Keep in mind though, that Propper plainly states that their digital BDU's are not NIR rated.

Thanks. I've been experimenting with various colors/patterns for several years now, and with a good friend for the last 7 months or so. Just finally decided to start putting some of it all down and sharing a little. I hope someone might get a little useful info out of it all. As you note, terrain, vegetation, lighting, etc..., all affect how well a pattern/color combo will work in an area.
As for my area? If I had to pick one, right now it would be the digital woodland. Multicam would be a very close second. That said, the X-camo does hold some promise, but I need to experiment with it a little more. Even the digital desert can be effective when used properly (something I hope to be able to show as well). For me, its more than just the pattern though. The material its available in is a big thing for me, as well as cost. Someone could come out with a great pattern/color combo, but if its only available in 100% cotton, I most likely wont use it. Perfect example. A few years ago I came across Desert Tiger Stripe. It works really well in my area (see pic below).....however, its 100% cotton ripstop and it sucks in the heat, sucks in the cold, and fades easily. If someone would come out with it in a 50/50 NYCO ripstop, 60/40 Cotton/Poly ripstop, or a lighter 65/35 Poly/Cotton ripstop (like Propper's Battlerip...hint hint Propper), I think it would be a very viable choice for a number of area's.

Thanks. I've checked out their site before. It would be nice to see how some of their patterns actually look/work when printed on material, and to actually be able to purchase some BDU's to try out.

Picked up a new X-Camo top and Boonie. They newer version is a definite improvement to me. They took the previous tan area, and made it slightly darker shade, closer to khaki (but not quite), more green and brown was added, and the overall "tone" of the colors is a little more subdued. I need to get some better pics taken (the lighting is off on these below), and obviously some outside in use, but here are a couple I just snapped real quick.

Old version on the left, new version on the right.

Multicam and the New X.

Patience my good man....patience......

Tactical Tailor does offer a lot of their gear in both Digital Woodland and Digital Desert. Honestly, I like the idea of just using Coyote gear, that way you have some versatility and can run it with any of the 3 digitals.