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So many types of camo out there

I recently got an email about a new type of camo that is supposed to break up a silhouette better than previous types. It’s by a brand called Hiden. 

Hiden

This got me going down a rabbit hole about all the various types of camouflage that have been thought of and produced over the years, but I had to stop myself from going too deep because there is a lot! Did you know there is an entire encyclopedia about camouflage? https://camopedia.org/ It shows various colors and patterns used by countries all over the world.

You have the traditional kind 

heritage

You have the digital pattern which I imagine was designed and useful in the early 2000’s when digital cameras and scopes were being used by the military and the digital pattern made people blend in with other pixels on screens.

digital

There’s the abstract pattern that looks like a bunch of watercolor spots

abstract

The popular leaves and limbs

leaves and limbs

And this unique one by Sitka

Sitka

There are tons more, but these are the ones I’ve seen out and about as being common and easily available. 

I know the prepared and many of you discourage camo because it actually does make you stand out as possibly owning guns and being a bigger target versus the gray man blend in with the crowd, but there are also times when some camo might be useful when needing to hide and breaking up a silhouette.

What are people’s thoughts on camo and do you prep with it? What pattern do you use? It will be very dependent on the environment you are in or are planning on being in, each pattern comes in various color schemes, and the above pictures are not good representations of how good they actually are in the real world because these are on a solid white background.

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  • Comments (8)

    • 2

      dazzle

      Fun fact, during WW1 war ships were sometimes painted with this dazzle pattern. The artist thought that it is near impossible to make an effective camo pattern to make a ship invisible but if they made one that possibly would confuse people it might be effective. Inspired by zebras, the dazzle pattern supposedly made it harder to tell the shape, distance, and speed of ships. So if you wanted to shoot at a ship, you didn’t quite know where to shoot. Sonar and other technologies made this obsolete by WW2, but it still is a cool piece of camouflage history. 

    • 3

      Many more real world situations where bright colors are more desirable than camo, among many others, walking on a dark road at night.  The battlefield is a different story.

      I did volunteer search and rescue for many years wearing typically a bright orange shirt, usually looking for some one in dull clothing..  Never a problem/  Folks should have at least something bright with them.

      IMHO, camo is basically useless

      • 1

        I agree with hikermor here. Camo has it’s place for the military, certain types of hunting, and extremely rare times where you need to hide from people, but the most likely situation you are going to be in will require you to have bright color clothing.

        Now if they had a jacket that was camo on one side and reversible to hunter orange on the other, that would be a versatile piece of gear to have.

        If I were to select a camo option from one of the above, that Sitka one on the end is my favorite.

      • 2

        good point on reversible clothing.  I once had a reversible down jacket, dark green on side, bright orange on the other. Perfecto!!

    • 3

      Hunter here. Camo does little better than just wearing drab clothes, which also blend better in urban areas.

    • 2

      We’re in the Sonoran Desert where pretty much everything is tan and hot. We stay away from black because it just cooks you and your supplies. Mostly try to find clothes and preps that are brown or tan and stand up to the heavy UV of our sun.  I have bought a couple of desert camo nettings for if we had to try to hide supplies or vehicles.  A challenge, here, is that the desert can be very open compared to a forest.

      I have also ordered a tan Sunbrella boat grade fabric for sewing replacement bags for gear, as well. Any stuff sack or gear bag that comes with stuff, here, just disintegrates in one season.

    • 2

      Sometimes having a high viz reflective vest / orange bump cap can be a damn good idea, especially when other people might be hunting in your area.

      Hi viz vests themselves are a kind of urban camouflage, people don’t notice the person in the vest, just the vest…asked for a description and they say the guy in the high viz vest. 🧐

    • 2

      As a long time hunter, in the woods almost any camo of mixed colors is good, but before camo was so available we wore drab colors of green and brown. For hunting geese in the north country in winter we made simple ponchos from white sheets. For duck hunting we wore drab tan and brown colors while hiding in the reeds. All are ans wee meant to break up your outline. The real point is it depends on why you need camo and what you’re hiding from. As has been said before, the “gray man” option may be best in a civil survival situation, and the drab grays can help a bit to hide you in the woods as well.