I totally agree. I had a hard time seeing the flecktarn even knowing where it was. M81 is good, but didn't just disappear to my eye. Tiger stripe stands out a lot more with the big black stripes at that distance, would work a lot better from farther away I think.
@@mattc9811 Interesting note about tiger stripe, in south east Asia the jungle there has lots of hardwoods and crisscrossing shadows and branches, less leafy vegetation than south America for instance and more sticks. I think it was uniquely suited for that environment.
I'd have to say the Flectarn works best. The black on the tiger stripe stand out too much, though if it was back a little bit in the shadows (or under triple canopy jungle) it would probably work better. The shapes in the M81 are too large. Might work better in a deciduous forest. Just my opinion.
I was surprised how well Flecktarn worked! And I could find better canopy on the property but it would have made it harder to film. Thanks for responding!👍
Best natural camouflage is the one with most brown. Remove green you’re in a sea of brown. Remove brown you have green contrasting blue. That being said the pattern doesn’t much matter it’s only job is to confuse the eye from seeing a solid shape. In heavily wooded or triple canopy peasant black pajamas work very well too especially in shadowy areas. USMC did a study and the Rhodesian brushstroke was almost adopted the Zimbabwean brushstroke wasn’t. The difference between the 2 is Rhodesian is brown base Zimbabwean is green based. So USMC/DOD did a study and discovered brown is most prevalent color not green. That’s why OD was phased out and replaced with FDE/Coyote. Even the Taiwanese added a lot of brown to tiger stripe and compressed the stripes making them very thin like a tabby cat pattern than the wider tiger/zebra print.
Looking at google Earth and spinning around the globe? I would say it’s a rough 50/50 split. Between green dominant and brown dominant. Can you find green in the desert? Yes. Can you find browns in a forest or jungle? Yes. Maybe the WW2 USMC camo had it right with both a brown and a green reversible camo pattern. It also matters who you are and what your doing. The US military right now is a expeditionary force. It doesn’t know where it will fight tomorrow. Contrasted with say the Canadian armed forces, or the Swedish or Swiss armed forces who are primarily a defensive force within their own borders. If you know the ground your gonna fight on? You have the luxury of making a specific camo pattern for your topography. A Swedish camo pattern is going to look vastly different from a Rhodesian camo pattern. And rightfully so. I play Airsoft with WW2 reenactors and I was impressed with how well US paratrooper impressions blended in with its surroundings. Solid earth tones are not a bad choice. And when they blend a khaki with a greenish reinforcement? It blended well. Tiger Stripe for me represents some bad mamba jambas from the Vietnam war. It’s that camo for me. It may be some other camo pattern for other people. A green beret, black jump boots and Tiger stripe with a CAR 15 just says COMMANDO for me. But hands down I think Flecktarn won the competition which for me was surprising! Thanks for your input!👍
That explains a whole lot. It took me time to realize the MARPAT was mostly brown. I like their "Woodland" digital a lot. Probably because it was the first color digital after the Night Vision Digital Camo of Gulf 1, and it was not M81 which was ubiquitous. In trying to paint a L3 Retention Polymer holster I tried to go the MARPAT digital route, but I could not find any brown that worked that was anywhere near close. I settled for a brown and a green IIRC complete mix. It came out a caca orange, even now at close distance. But about 6-8' it looks surprisingly good, The Marine MARPAT brown is very gold to my eye, and despite my efforts, there is no settled mixture that I was confident with. So, congrats to them. Maybe next time I will mix Gold and Brown. But there is still a Green to it.
The only frustration with flecktarn is that there's a pre-2005 colourway and a post-2005 colourway. Not entirely clear if the change was a redesign, or simply a tightening of manufacturer's standards, or maybe both. In any case, it looks like you might have the much more green and lighter brown post-2005 colourway which tends to blend in very well. The pre-2005 colourway are the ones you see that can look far too light or dark (depends which manufacturer it was made by as to how the colours end up fading) and have browns that are almost orange which can often stick out like a sore thumb. Then again, some of the pre-2005 examples work great - there seems to have been a lot of inconsistency between manufacturers.
Hi, you mentioned the color changes of Fleturn around 2005, which is very professional. Indeed, as you said, obviously the Fletarn colors after 2005 are better because they are suitable for more common woodland environments or forest environments. But I think the pre-2005 Fletarn camouflage is still very good to some extent in the common coniferous forests of Germany or central Europe. Because those reddish browns in the pattern actually fit well with the decaying leaves on the ground, I tested them and they worked perfectly. These camouflages are therefore ideal for when a soldier is lying on the ground filled with decaying leaves. Unfortunately, they seem to be only suitable for such rotten and leafy ground environments... The camouflage of Fletarn after 2005 became very good. Due to the color adjustment, the color became greener and the reddish brown disappeared. Therefore Fleturn is suitable for more environments and is closer to perfection. Fletarn is a classic, it's a great and legendary camouflage and I'm a huge fan of it. But I still think its only drawback is that it still lacks more brighter greens. The JGSDF camouflage uniforms are based on Fletarn, but they have a very bright green color. These Japanese camouflage uniforms are nearly perfect, especially in the spring and summer...
A lot of M81 is merely M81 style. From what I read or saw presented was that the M81 Pattern was introduced, but a larger pattern for longer distance break up was selected and so named M81. Testing Camo for me is not complete with out high noon light but placed in the fringes of shade. People trained to survive will be as deep in the shade and behind things, so flora breakup is the main concealment. But just within a shaded area you can really make a comparison. As one commentor noted, the TS worked great for Hunter/Sniper still work on the ground, so laying these down and backing off would make for a good exhibit of what they do. Not that any of this is exhaustive. Shade and Ground.
In this particular environment and foliage background, the Flecktarn seems to blend in the best. I am a huge woodland fan over just about anything else, but the German pattern is quite outstanding.
The idea of camouflage is not make something invisible, but to disrupt patterns. Most animals and humans can see shapes better than camo patterns. That's why the woodland and flecktarn do well in a wooded setting. Asian Tiger Stripe was meant for saw grass, tall reeds, and different shades of green foliage. It can work in a woodland setting because of the disruption of shapes.
Flecktarn is the best basic camo pattern in pine forests but not in decidious forests or fields. Tiger stripe works best in all woodlands but is easy to spot when you move or in open areas and autumn or winter, it truly needs shadow and greenery. US woodland or M81 is average in all enviroments just overall good basic camo also in fields and other enviroments. Of course flecktarn works best in winter and autumn because of the orange and reddish colours. If you stay stationary as a sniper in green woodlands tiger stripe is the best camo. If i had to move through multiple different enviroments i would pick M81. That said these are not my top 5 favorite camo patterns. My top 5 is 1. Pencott green (or other variants) 2. Vegetato 3. TACS FG 4.German WW2 splinter/splitter or arid woodland 5. WW2 SS dot camo or russian partizan (similar) Vegetato truly works everywhere in all seasons
Flektarn, tiger stripe, woodland. I think the actual woodland blouse may have fit in better than the Gortex jacket it’s kind of shiny, Although I was issued that jacket and it was way better than my m65 woodland camo jacket.
I like splittertarn or swedish-camo in middle-european areas in spring and summer and sumpftarn or the former Austrian Erbsentarn in autumn and winter (without snow).
Yep, as you’d expect the Flecktarn is definitely the best. With a military background I’m always gonna prefer British standard DPM. But Fecktarn is still a great and highly effective camo especially if supplemented with scrim.
Definitely German Flektarn, then US Woodland, then Tigerstripe for this video. I live in Western WA where things are much greener than Eastern WA. In testing military-grade camo, US Marine MARPAT blended best. US Army current-issue Scorpion camo / Multicam was much too light... better suited for arid / dry open desert-like environments of Eastern WA (non-wooded areas) Newer US Navy AOR-II was just a little too bright to be effective. Latest of my testings were the US Army Multicam Tropic (currently only being used by US Army Trainers / Advisors in The Philippines, Southeast Asia, and in VERY limited use (testing) in Hawaii back when I was with the 25th ID stationed at Schofield (retired now!). Multi-cam Tropic is rare to find in the surplus market, but it's out there (also check for cheapy Chinese knock-off uniforms). Multicam Tropic is fast becoming one of my favorites to use here in the dense woods of Western WA. Having said all that... no ONE camo pattern is going to be the end-all solution. Non-military "hunting" camo will always be your best bet for your particular region 👍
That black bear was Charlie.. Anyway. I've success with black. I can recall in Panama days. Troopers were permitted to dye woodlands black.. And they did.
I’m a fan or woodland, have a lot of it, but flec is good as well if you can get it. The flecktarn is great here so in this location, that’s my first pic, the woodlands. Where I’m from in Southwestern Virginia, I think the woodland would take the prize there in all the mountain laurel.
Flectarn hands down. I had a cousin wear that in a coveralls. I thought flectarn was going to be easy to spot. Was hard to spot him as he stood lower at the shoreline. Didn't see him until he started to move.
The flektarn blends in better with the spruce, fir, pine, cedar trees. Tiger stripe blends in better with dense fern vegetation. M-81 blends in well with dense vegetation of all kinds. Flektarn and tiger stripe are on the expensive side. One pattern you should also look into is the NWU type II (AOR- Type III) pattern uniform. It’s a digital pattern uniform that the Navy Seabees and Navy SEALS wear. It’s a woodland type pattern that blends in well. It’s on the pricey side, but it’s better than the Army ACU’s. When it comes down to dollars and cents, shop around. Used uniforms are cheaper than new ones, but check them over carefully, looking for rips/tears, missing buttons, color fading, pattern that matches the terrain you’ll be operating in. If you find ACU’s are more in your budget, get some Rit fabric dye and dye them to match the vegetation. It’s cheaper. On my ACU’s, I used Green Apple and Dark Green dyes, and the ratio I used was 1 full bottle of Green Apple and 3/4 bottle of Dark Green. Dye them over heat, let them soak for about 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally until you get the desired result. On another set, I used 1 bottle of Mocha and 3/4 bottle of Dark brown, over heat for about an hour, didn’t get the result I wanted, but a bottle of dye is cheaper than buying another uniform set. Stick with earth tone color dyes. Remember, camo patterns are just a base layer, use natural vegetation to create a full spectrum camouflage pattern to blend into the environment.
I see a huge rise in popularity with M81 right now, but I can’t say I’m a fan. Imagine that M81 in those ferns, way too dark for healthy vegetation. I grew up playing airsoft in Maine and there was a lot of M81 surplus, they were always badly silhouetted as soon as they get up to move. Flecktarn and (dry) woodland MARPAT always seemed to work way better.
Like alot of others have said, it's a "good enough" pattern. And like most military patterns, meant to work past 200 yards. Places with dark foliage or alot of earth and browns it tends to shine. Late summer it's my camo of choice
In this example I think Flecktarn blends in the best. I think tiger stripe wins on the "COOL' factor. I wore tiger stripe in country though and liked it and still have some.
If all you had was ECWCS, you need more M81 my friend! 😁 Fleck looks good up close and blends well in a darker environment e.g. lots of shade but it kind of turns flat at distance. So I think the woodland is the winner here. The large pattern breaks up the form of the jacket much better than the fleck which doesn't have much contrast. Tiger stripe has good contrast but the black is too stark in US forests. It would be nice to get some TS with a light brown instead of black.
I used to have a lot of it 30 years ago. All gone. But now I am doing Vietnam Airsoft. So my next purchase will probably be ERDL. So far looking over all the comments I would say Flecktarn is winning in the comments section. I never really liked it. But it certainly looked good in the video. But Tiger Stripe will always warm my heart the most!🪖🇺🇸🎸
The best is woodland as the deeper you go into the foliage the less your seen, fleck seems to be really versatile for both spring and summer, fall and winter. Tigerstripe is just for drip
Asian Tigerstripes don't work as well in the coniferous forests of North America and Europe. There's too much contrast and the black sticks out, although there is one decent exception and that is the old ABU digital tigerstripe pattern from the USAF. Of course, the colors on it are wrong and it needs to be dyed to suit the environment. If you're back east or in Ozarks or Appalachians, dye it with some apple green Rit for summertime. If it's Autumn and everything is going dormant, use a little brown dye and don't leave it in the dye vat very long. You'll darken the ugly sage green and the tans will get very mottled. The same thing works on ACU gear as well. Goes from being Grandma's couch pattern to actually being useful in the woods. ABU is getting harder to find though since the Air Force switched to OCP.
Im a longtime fan of M81, like most folks and never heard of flektarn before, as im only just now deep diving into different camos, but ... damb!, that camo is great!, leave it to those germans they know what they're doing over there!😂😂
in this vid, the flecktarn does best, but i think, if you would film it with more distance, 25-50 meters or more, the more effektive become the tiger stripe and m81 woodland.
Use the camo, get it dirty and let if fade a bit and it will look much more natural. You dont want the edges too hard and the color too vibrant in a natural backdrop
Some honestly intended constructive criticism: Your test would have been much better if you had hung the jackets a little deeper in the woods -- where they would be more immersed in the environs -- and on thinner wire coat hangers that would have been less likely to be spotted. You might even go to the trouble to spray paint the hangers flat brown or flat O.D. green. Hope this helps in future efforts
Buy a Shannon Bug Tamer jacket in Mossy Oak. Good luck on somebody seeing you. Years ago I had one of my hunting buddies walk right by me. He didn't see me, he thought that I was a bush.
You need to back up about 30 yards or so and do this test again tiger stripe and m81 will be the only ones that will break up your outline with tiger coming out on top
@@mountainadventures7346 lol I’m in north Alabama, I done this same test several years ago tiger stripe does the best, but I went with woodland because it’s easier and cheaper to find clothing in that pattern
Ah, you're not far from where I grew up in Eastern BC, Western Alberta. The Flektarn is more faded while the Woodland/Tigerstripe are both pretty bright and new in comparison. They are going to stand out a little more. I'm in the UK now, used to get British Army personnel who would boil wash several times their new DPM uniforms so they faded and didn't stand out so much, this was the good 83 pattern not so different from your Woodland. I think the Woodland would be best when it has faded a little.
Oh cool! Where abouts? I have some family in Invermere I dont know well. The Flecktarn and Tiger is new. The woodland is surplus ECWCS I had laying around. Its all hard to tell with a smart phone camera.
@@mountainadventures7346 We used to go camping around Fairmont, Radium Hotsprings and Lake Windermere so I've been to where your relatives live and down to your Glacier National Park. Lived in different places between Cranbrook and Lethbridge, my parents seemed to have something about highway 3!
@@jelkel25 Crowsnest!👍 I graduated from Kettle Falls. My wife is from Newport. I learned to ski at Red Mtn and played Babe Ruth in Grand Forks, Trail, Salmo, Cranbrook, Nelson, etc. We used to go up to Ainsworth hot springs all the time. And I spent many years snowmobiling up at Revelstoke! We live in some of the most beautiful country on the planet! I don’t know if I could live in the UK. Well if you ever come home you should look me up! Take care!
Fleck is best here. LOVE M81 but man. Why couldn’t we keep ERDL camo?! Tigers like that too dark. Jungles. They make other tigers too. I love that but it doesn’t suit my AO
lol. this is no comparison. every one of these camo patterns will be better than one of the others depending upon what atmosphere they are used in. tiger stripe was designed for jungle where the undergrowth is way different. the u.s. camo is out in the open. move each one to the others position and they may work better. i stand with the old u.s. camo in my environment in new england, i have seen people disappear in the woods. too bad it is difficult to get anymore. i also use swiss alpenflage in the fall. on the ground, in the old cuts, it blends pretty good even though it has blue spots in it. it blends with the berry bushes and small growth better than any of these. there again, i wouldnt wear it in a treestand.
Flecktarn y Woodland funcionan muy bien ,curiosamente por su aporte marrón . Sin embargo al tiger le funcionan en contra las rayas negras que destacan mucho, quizas un tiger mas tenue sirva mejor. Saludos 🇨🇱 ✌
Flèck,, woodlands, tiger. The Tiger black is to intense. The woodlands is to brown. Needs more green. I think the old jungle utilities would work much better. The USAF tiger strip would work well in the sage brush covered mountains.
While I didn't spot the Flecktarn at all in the thumbnail, it could be seen before you walked up on it. This test is not exhaustive enough to come to a conclusion of what is better.
Tiger has too much contrast between very bright and black spots. Easily detectible to a human eye. Also, black itsself is not a color you see in nature.
I disagree. A black bear on a south facing slope is easy to spot. But the same black bear in a dark cedar grove flat disappears. Is not a black bear apart of nature?
@@mountainadventures7346 Animals do not have optimal camouflage. Take female duck, very nice brown pattern, easy to hide. But if you look at a male duck, it does not have good camo. Many examples like this, a seagull is a white bird that you are able to spot easily. A deer has a white behind in the spring, easy to see. A brown bear is another example of a good camo vs black bear, not so good camo. When it comes to humans, the stakes are super high. We have a great eyesight and color recognition. Many animals are simlpy camouflaged enough to not be spotted by other animals, whereas humans have no problem spotting them. Thats my take on this.
That’s what I am trying to convey. It all comes down to very specific topography. A grizzly bear does not like timber as much as a black bear does. So a brown bear does better on an open slope. And a black bear does better in dark timber. Many male birds have bright plumage to attract mates. So it’s not the same, even though many birds have better eye sight than humans do. A black bear in dark timber does very well. Trust me. But that doesn’t mean that it’s great camouflage over the mountain to the south slope. Human hunters use camouflage differently than the military does. They can afford to be very specific. Where as the military must be generalists. A polar bear has perfect camo until in his southern range of Hudson Bay it walks off the pack ice onto dry land. Because like the human hunter he has a specific camo color. Tiger Stripe is a specific camo pattern like that. Wear it in the right setting it does great. Wear it in the wrong setting it doesn’t do well.🤷♂️
1. flecktarn. 2. woodland. 3. tiger
U r wrong
Depends on who's tiger stripe as for woodland being better. But flextarn is number one hands down. I like all 3 though.
I totally agree. I had a hard time seeing the flecktarn even knowing where it was. M81 is good, but didn't just disappear to my eye. Tiger stripe stands out a lot more with the big black stripes at that distance, would work a lot better from farther away I think.
@mattc9811 yup took me a sec to see it to
@@mattc9811 Interesting note about tiger stripe, in south east Asia the jungle there has lots of hardwoods and crisscrossing shadows and branches, less leafy vegetation than south America for instance and more sticks. I think it was uniquely suited for that environment.
They’re all great, the flec appears to work the best. But you would be surprised how just about any muted earth tones blend in
I spotted the flectarn last.
I'd have to say the Flectarn works best. The black on the tiger stripe stand out too much, though if it was back a little bit in the shadows (or under triple canopy jungle) it would probably work better. The shapes in the M81 are too large. Might work better in a deciduous forest. Just my opinion.
I was surprised how well Flecktarn worked! And I could find better canopy on the property but it would have made it harder to film. Thanks for responding!👍
I thought the exact same thing.
I think that ERDL works far better than M81...
Flecktarn, hands down, but I'm still partial to tiger stripe.☮✌
Best natural camouflage is the one with most brown. Remove green you’re in a sea of brown. Remove brown you have green contrasting blue.
That being said the pattern doesn’t much matter it’s only job is to confuse the eye from seeing a solid shape. In heavily wooded or triple canopy peasant black pajamas work very well too especially in shadowy areas. USMC did a study and the Rhodesian brushstroke was almost adopted the Zimbabwean brushstroke wasn’t. The difference between the 2 is Rhodesian is brown base Zimbabwean is green based. So USMC/DOD did a study and discovered brown is most prevalent color not green. That’s why OD was phased out and replaced with FDE/Coyote. Even the Taiwanese added a lot of brown to tiger stripe and compressed the stripes making them very thin like a tabby cat pattern than the wider tiger/zebra print.
Looking at google Earth and spinning around the globe? I would say it’s a rough 50/50 split. Between green dominant and brown dominant. Can you find green in the desert? Yes. Can you find browns in a forest or jungle? Yes. Maybe the WW2 USMC camo had it right with both a brown and a green reversible camo pattern. It also matters who you are and what your doing. The US military right now is a expeditionary force. It doesn’t know where it will fight tomorrow. Contrasted with say the Canadian armed forces, or the Swedish or Swiss armed forces who are primarily a defensive force within their own borders. If you know the ground your gonna fight on? You have the luxury of making a specific camo pattern for your topography. A Swedish camo pattern is going to look vastly different from a Rhodesian camo pattern. And rightfully so. I play Airsoft with WW2 reenactors and I was impressed with how well US paratrooper impressions blended in with its surroundings. Solid earth tones are not a bad choice. And when they blend a khaki with a greenish reinforcement? It blended well.
Tiger Stripe for me represents some bad mamba jambas from the Vietnam war. It’s that camo for me. It may be some other camo pattern for other people. A green beret, black jump boots and Tiger stripe with a CAR 15 just says COMMANDO for me. But hands down I think Flecktarn won the competition which for me was surprising! Thanks for your input!👍
That explains a whole lot. It took me time to realize the MARPAT was mostly brown. I like their "Woodland" digital a lot. Probably because it was the first color digital after the Night Vision Digital Camo of Gulf 1, and it was not M81 which was ubiquitous. In trying to paint a L3 Retention Polymer holster I tried to go the MARPAT digital route, but I could not find any brown that worked that was anywhere near close. I settled for a brown and a green IIRC complete mix.
It came out a caca orange, even now at close distance. But about 6-8' it looks surprisingly good, The Marine MARPAT brown is very gold to my eye, and despite my efforts, there is no settled mixture that I was confident with. So, congrats to them.
Maybe next time I will mix Gold and Brown. But there is still a Green to it.
The only frustration with flecktarn is that there's a pre-2005 colourway and a post-2005 colourway. Not entirely clear if the change was a redesign, or simply a tightening of manufacturer's standards, or maybe both. In any case, it looks like you might have the much more green and lighter brown post-2005 colourway which tends to blend in very well. The pre-2005 colourway are the ones you see that can look far too light or dark (depends which manufacturer it was made by as to how the colours end up fading) and have browns that are almost orange which can often stick out like a sore thumb. Then again, some of the pre-2005 examples work great - there seems to have been a lot of inconsistency between manufacturers.
Which sounds like Tiger Stripe. Books are written about variations!
Hi, you mentioned the color changes of Fleturn around 2005, which is very professional.
Indeed, as you said, obviously the Fletarn colors after 2005 are better because they are suitable for more common woodland environments or forest environments.
But I think the pre-2005 Fletarn camouflage is still very good to some extent in the common coniferous forests of Germany or central Europe. Because those reddish browns in the pattern actually fit well with the decaying leaves on the ground, I tested them and they worked perfectly. These camouflages are therefore ideal for when a soldier is lying on the ground filled with decaying leaves.
Unfortunately, they seem to be only suitable for such rotten and leafy ground environments...
The camouflage of Fletarn after 2005 became very good. Due to the color adjustment, the color became greener and the reddish brown disappeared. Therefore Fleturn is suitable for more environments and is closer to perfection.
Fletarn is a classic, it's a great and legendary camouflage and I'm a huge fan of it. But I still think its only drawback is that it still lacks more brighter greens.
The JGSDF camouflage uniforms are based on Fletarn, but they have a very bright green color. These Japanese camouflage uniforms are nearly perfect, especially in the spring and summer...
The older flecktarn is great for the fall as the woods become more reddish and less green :)
Flecktarn is best in this video
A lot of M81 is merely M81 style. From what I read or saw presented was that the M81 Pattern was introduced, but a larger pattern for longer distance break up was selected and so named M81.
Testing Camo for me is not complete with out high noon light but placed in the fringes of shade. People trained to survive will be as deep in the shade and behind things, so flora breakup is the main concealment. But just within a shaded area you can really make a comparison. As one commentor noted, the TS worked great for Hunter/Sniper still work on the ground, so laying these down and backing off would make for a good exhibit of what they do. Not that any of this is exhaustive.
Shade and Ground.
M81 was derived from ERDL during the Vietnam war.
Flektern blended best here. Shouldve tried multicam also
In this particular environment and foliage background, the Flecktarn seems to blend in the best. I am a huge woodland fan over just about anything else, but the German pattern is quite outstanding.
The idea of camouflage is not make something invisible, but to disrupt patterns. Most animals and humans can see shapes better than camo patterns. That's why the woodland and flecktarn do well in a wooded setting. Asian Tiger Stripe was meant for saw grass, tall reeds, and different shades of green foliage. It can work in a woodland setting because of the disruption of shapes.
Flecktarn is the best basic camo pattern in pine forests but not in decidious forests or fields. Tiger stripe works best in all woodlands but is easy to spot when you move or in open areas and autumn or winter, it truly needs shadow and greenery. US woodland or M81 is average in all enviroments just overall good basic camo also in fields and other enviroments. Of course flecktarn works best in winter and autumn because of the orange and reddish colours. If you stay stationary as a sniper in green woodlands tiger stripe is the best camo.
If i had to move through multiple different enviroments i would pick M81. That said these are not my top 5 favorite camo patterns.
My top 5 is
1. Pencott green (or other variants)
2. Vegetato
3. TACS FG
4.German WW2 splinter/splitter or arid woodland
5. WW2 SS dot camo or russian partizan (similar)
Vegetato truly works everywhere in all seasons
I Like The Woodland, The
Tiger Stripe Stick's Out & Is
Spotted Easy, The Fleck Tarn
Was Very Good To...
It depends on distance also. The flectarn looks great here, but will look like a solid color at distance.
In dense forest like this? It’s pretty hard to see any distance.
Nice test, quick and sweet. Thanks!
Flektarn, tiger stripe, woodland. I think the actual woodland blouse may have fit in better than the Gortex jacket it’s kind of shiny, Although I was issued that jacket and it was way better than my m65 woodland camo jacket.
I like the goretex for shedding rain. It’s just noisy. Especially the pants.
It might as well be like zebra stripes for the tiger stripes. The flecky has a bit over m81.
Tiger stipe was developed for jungle environments, not for terrain in Europe or North America
works no where
I like splittertarn or swedish-camo in middle-european areas in spring and summer and sumpftarn or the former Austrian Erbsentarn in autumn and winter (without snow).
Germans got it right
1st video I’ve seen from you…Subscribed as soon as I seen the Chevy lol
I would have to say the flecktarn looks best. Thanks for the video. Been doing research to see what camo works best in ohio.
Yep, as you’d expect the Flecktarn is definitely the best. With a military background I’m always gonna prefer British standard DPM. But Fecktarn is still a great and highly effective camo especially if supplemented with scrim.
Tiger strip may not be the best camo but it looks the sickest
The vegetation looks very similar than in Germany, where the Flecktarn was developed. So for this vegetation the Flecktarn is the best, in my opinion.
Definitely German Flektarn, then US Woodland, then Tigerstripe for this video.
I live in Western WA where things are much greener than Eastern WA. In testing military-grade camo, US Marine MARPAT blended best.
US Army current-issue Scorpion camo / Multicam was much too light... better suited for arid / dry open desert-like environments of Eastern WA (non-wooded areas)
Newer US Navy AOR-II was just a little too bright to be effective.
Latest of my testings were the US Army Multicam Tropic (currently only being used by US Army Trainers / Advisors in The Philippines, Southeast Asia, and in VERY limited use (testing) in Hawaii back when I was with the 25th ID stationed at Schofield (retired now!).
Multi-cam Tropic is rare to find in the surplus market, but it's out there (also check for cheapy Chinese knock-off uniforms). Multicam Tropic is fast becoming one of my favorites to use here in the dense woods of Western WA.
Having said all that... no ONE camo pattern is going to be the end-all solution. Non-military "hunting" camo will always be your best bet for your particular region 👍
Slightly faded woodland is by far the most usable in any forest
That black bear was Charlie.. Anyway. I've success with black. I can recall in Panama days. Troopers were permitted to dye woodlands black.. And they did.
Flecktarn is the best one.
Flectarn stands out the least.
I’m a fan or woodland, have a lot of it, but flec is good as well if you can get it. The flecktarn is great here so in this location, that’s my first pic, the woodlands. Where I’m from in Southwestern Virginia, I think the woodland would take the prize there in all the mountain laurel.
Flectarn hands down. I had a cousin wear that in a coveralls. I thought flectarn was going to be easy to spot. Was hard to spot him as he stood lower at the shoreline. Didn't see him until he started to move.
Well I am not the fan of flecktarn for me it is too dark and too red yet it works quite fine in this place. Perhaps try Wz.93 or MAPA B camos!
You can some canopy and tiger stripe is great
The flektarn blends in better with the spruce, fir, pine, cedar trees. Tiger stripe blends in better with dense fern vegetation. M-81 blends in well with dense vegetation of all kinds. Flektarn and tiger stripe are on the expensive side. One pattern you should also look into is the NWU type II (AOR- Type III) pattern uniform. It’s a digital pattern uniform that the Navy Seabees and Navy SEALS wear. It’s a woodland type pattern that blends in well. It’s on the pricey side, but it’s better than the Army ACU’s. When it comes down to dollars and cents, shop around. Used uniforms are cheaper than new ones, but check them over carefully, looking for rips/tears, missing buttons, color fading, pattern that matches the terrain you’ll be operating in. If you find ACU’s are more in your budget, get some Rit fabric dye and dye them to match the vegetation. It’s cheaper. On my ACU’s, I used Green Apple and Dark Green dyes, and the ratio I used was 1 full bottle of Green Apple and 3/4 bottle of Dark Green. Dye them over heat, let them soak for about 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally until you get the desired result. On another set, I used 1 bottle of Mocha and 3/4 bottle of Dark brown, over heat for about an hour, didn’t get the result I wanted, but a bottle of dye is cheaper than buying another uniform set. Stick with earth tone color dyes. Remember, camo patterns are just a base layer, use natural vegetation to create a full spectrum camouflage pattern to blend into the environment.
I still use my Military issue woodland.
Flectarn or M81
I see a huge rise in popularity with M81 right now, but I can’t say I’m a fan. Imagine that M81 in those ferns, way too dark for healthy vegetation. I grew up playing airsoft in Maine and there was a lot of M81 surplus, they were always badly silhouetted as soon as they get up to move.
Flecktarn and (dry) woodland MARPAT always seemed to work way better.
Like alot of others have said, it's a "good enough" pattern. And like most military patterns, meant to work past 200 yards. Places with dark foliage or alot of earth and browns it tends to shine. Late summer it's my camo of choice
@@BlaineKK37 Maine has extremely dark foliage with brown pine litter, I still see problems with M81
Why is tiger in the open?
They are hung on the same tree in a line? It’s a forest. Not a studio.
M-81 the best in my view of the video... wish you the best and all your viewers...
In this example I think Flecktarn blends in the best. I think tiger stripe wins on the "COOL' factor. I wore tiger stripe in country though and liked it and still have some.
I think that is the consensus that Flecktarn won. But I am with you Tiger Stripe is the coolest! And thank you for your service!🇺🇸🫡
There's two versions of tiger stripes: Mekong Delta (one you have) and the Highland version (Silver Tiger Stripe.)
Flecktarn is my favorite.
If all you had was ECWCS, you need more M81 my friend! 😁
Fleck looks good up close and blends well in a darker environment e.g. lots of shade but it kind of turns flat at distance. So I think the woodland is the winner here. The large pattern breaks up the form of the jacket much better than the fleck which doesn't have much contrast.
Tiger stripe has good contrast but the black is too stark in US forests. It would be nice to get some TS with a light brown instead of black.
I used to have a lot of it 30 years ago. All gone. But now I am doing Vietnam Airsoft. So my next purchase will probably be ERDL.
So far looking over all the comments I would say Flecktarn is winning in the comments section. I never really liked it. But it certainly looked good in the video. But Tiger Stripe will always warm my heart the most!🪖🇺🇸🎸
Flektarn ftw. That tiger stripe would work well in lower lighting though
Clickbait, I didn’t see any flecktarn anywhere in this video.
@@Redneck_Technophile It blended that good huh?
Would be cool to see them in the trees behind some shadows…I think the m81 would Excel and the flacktarn would be too dark
The best is woodland as the deeper you go into the foliage the less your seen, fleck seems to be really versatile for both spring and summer, fall and winter. Tigerstripe is just for drip
Woodland BDU perfect, from a far I
couldn't see it until you got close tiger stripe I could see it from a far
Check out the new experimental Cadpat. It's got more brown base.
Flecktarn is always my default. Perfect for here in Northern Europe.
M-81; back in the 1980's I was part of the 1st issue. However I live in Kansas and none of these work on the plains 🤔
Chocolate chip? Thank you for your service!🇺🇸🫡
I state, as the previous message !
☝️💪💯🇺🇸👏👏🙏
Asian Tigerstripes don't work as well in the coniferous forests of North America and Europe. There's too much contrast and the black sticks out, although there is one decent exception and that is the old ABU digital tigerstripe pattern from the USAF. Of course, the colors on it are wrong and it needs to be dyed to suit the environment. If you're back east or in Ozarks or Appalachians, dye it with some apple green Rit for summertime.
If it's Autumn and everything is going dormant, use a little brown dye and don't leave it in the dye vat very long. You'll darken the ugly sage green and the tans will get very mottled. The same thing works on ACU gear as well. Goes from being Grandma's couch pattern to actually being useful in the woods. ABU is getting harder to find though since the Air Force switched to OCP.
If the tiger stripe was vertical instead of horizontal it would be more effective
Depends
Maybe increasing the distance between camera and clothes would help, from this short distance you can spot all three easily.
I was afraid if I moved them any further back from the road? You wouldn’t see them at all.
@@mountainadventures7346 It might be best if we would barely see them, so they almost do their job.
Flecktarn, tiger, woodland. But also it depends on the spot. In the shadows-tiger. In bushes - woodland. On the ground- flecktarn
Im a longtime fan of M81, like most folks and never heard of flektarn before, as im only just now deep diving into different camos, but ... damb!, that camo is great!, leave it to those germans they know what they're doing over there!😂😂
in this vid, the flecktarn does best, but i think, if you would film it with more distance, 25-50 meters or more, the more effektive become the tiger stripe and m81 woodland.
Use the camo, get it dirty and let if fade a bit and it will look much more natural. You dont want the edges too hard and the color too vibrant in a natural backdrop
The M81 is over 10 years old. 🤷♂️
Flectarn no.1
Then m81
Then tiger.
I want some german oakleaf. Works great here in Oklahoma
Some honestly intended constructive criticism: Your test would have been much better if you had hung the jackets a little deeper in the woods -- where they would be more immersed in the environs -- and on thinner wire coat hangers that would have been less likely to be spotted. You might even go to the trouble to spray paint the hangers flat brown or flat O.D. green. Hope this helps in future efforts
@@johnking6406 I wasn’t trying to hide them. I said that in the video.
I do this once a year during the season.
I like brown mostly.
They begin to work once there is stuff in front of them.
Buy a Shannon Bug Tamer jacket in Mossy Oak. Good luck on somebody seeing you. Years ago I had one of my hunting buddies walk right by me. He didn't see me, he thought that I was a bush.
I have a viper ghillie hood. And I would concur that 3D really throws the eye off!👍
My tiger Stripe never had or would have that much light color. Maybe in fall or snow. It’d be my choice.
I also vote for the flectarn.
You need to back up about 30 yards or so and do this test again tiger stripe and m81 will be the only ones that will break up your outline with tiger coming out on top
@@chrisdobbins1209 I can’t. The forest won’t allow it.
@@mountainadventures7346
lol I’m in north Alabama, I done this same test several years ago tiger stripe does the best, but I went with woodland because it’s easier and cheaper to find clothing in that pattern
@@chrisdobbins1209 Tiger Stripe is just old school cool!👍 Wood land is easier to come by. It’s also standardized. Some TS looks like garbage.
See what shadowing at his left forearm? "Black Pajamas."
I think black bears do well in these forests.
Ah, you're not far from where I grew up in Eastern BC, Western Alberta. The Flektarn is more faded while the Woodland/Tigerstripe are both pretty bright and new in comparison. They are going to stand out a little more. I'm in the UK now, used to get British Army personnel who would boil wash several times their new DPM uniforms so they faded and didn't stand out so much, this was the good 83 pattern not so different from your Woodland. I think the Woodland would be best when it has faded a little.
Oh cool! Where abouts? I have some family in Invermere I dont know well. The Flecktarn and Tiger is new. The woodland is surplus ECWCS I had laying around. Its all hard to tell with a smart phone camera.
@@mountainadventures7346 We used to go camping around Fairmont, Radium Hotsprings and Lake Windermere so I've been to where your relatives live and down to your Glacier National Park. Lived in different places between Cranbrook and Lethbridge, my parents seemed to have something about highway 3!
@@jelkel25 Crowsnest!👍 I graduated from Kettle Falls. My wife is from Newport. I learned to ski at Red Mtn and played Babe Ruth in Grand Forks, Trail, Salmo, Cranbrook, Nelson, etc. We used to go up to Ainsworth hot springs all the time. And I spent many years snowmobiling up at Revelstoke! We live in some of the most beautiful country on the planet! I don’t know if I could live in the UK. Well if you ever come home you should look me up! Take care!
Flecktarn, woodland, tiger stripes
Fleck is best here.
LOVE M81 but man. Why couldn’t we keep ERDL camo?!
Tigers like that too dark. Jungles. They make other tigers too. I love that but it doesn’t suit my AO
Tiger Stripe, Duck Hunter and ERDL are old school cool!
Flecktarn-#1
Flectar, m81, tigerstripe
Flecktarn wins hands down.
lol. this is no comparison. every one of these camo patterns will be better than one of the others depending upon what atmosphere they are used in. tiger stripe was designed for jungle where the undergrowth is way different. the u.s. camo is out in the open. move each one to the others position and they may work better. i stand with the old u.s. camo in my environment in new england, i have seen people disappear in the woods. too bad it is difficult to get anymore.
i also use swiss alpenflage in the fall. on the ground, in the old cuts, it blends pretty good even though it has blue spots in it. it blends with the berry bushes and small growth better than any of these. there again, i wouldnt wear it in a treestand.
Flecktarn y Woodland funcionan muy bien ,curiosamente por su aporte marrón . Sin embargo al tiger le funcionan en contra las rayas negras que destacan mucho, quizas un tiger mas tenue sirva mejor.
Saludos 🇨🇱 ✌
Flecktarn woodland then tigerstripe
Flèck,, woodlands, tiger. The Tiger black is to intense. The woodlands is to brown. Needs more green. I think the old jungle utilities would work much better. The USAF tiger strip would work well in the sage brush covered mountains.
While I didn't spot the Flecktarn at all in the thumbnail, it could be seen before you walked up on it. This test is not exhaustive enough to come to a conclusion of what is better.
Flecktarn is way above the rest, up there with the best, ugly but good. I think the tiger looks cooler.
I agree on both counts
Flecktarn works best un your video, i think you should try realtree camo for your area and seaon, youll find you cant see it all.
I wear tiger but my tiger wears m81. Get rothco tiger stripe.
I’ve tried it. I don’t like it.
M81 is the winner for me by a long way tigerstrip stands out way to much a I'm definitely not a fan of flacktarn
M81
Too much black in the camos, Black is not a good camo color.
Tell that to a black bear.
@@mountainadventures7346 Yeah, But For real black is really not a good camo color, It sticks out in nature, Just look.
Tiger has too much contrast between very bright and black spots. Easily detectible to a human eye. Also, black itsself is not a color you see in nature.
I disagree. A black bear on a south facing slope is easy to spot. But the same black bear in a dark cedar grove flat disappears. Is not a black bear apart of nature?
@@mountainadventures7346 Animals do not have optimal camouflage. Take female duck, very nice brown pattern, easy to hide. But if you look at a male duck, it does not have good camo. Many examples like this, a seagull is a white bird that you are able to spot easily. A deer has a white behind in the spring, easy to see. A brown bear is another example of a good camo vs black bear, not so good camo.
When it comes to humans, the stakes are super high. We have a great eyesight and color recognition. Many animals are simlpy camouflaged enough to not be spotted by other animals, whereas humans have no problem spotting them. Thats my take on this.
That’s what I am trying to convey. It all comes down to very specific topography. A grizzly bear does not like timber as much as a black bear does. So a brown bear does better on an open slope. And a black bear does better in dark timber. Many male birds have bright plumage to attract mates. So it’s not the same, even though many birds have better eye sight than humans do. A black bear in dark timber does very well. Trust me. But that doesn’t mean that it’s great camouflage over the mountain to the south slope. Human hunters use camouflage differently than the military does. They can afford to be very specific. Where as the military must be generalists. A polar bear has perfect camo until in his southern range of Hudson Bay it walks off the pack ice onto dry land. Because like the human hunter he has a specific camo color. Tiger Stripe is a specific camo pattern like that. Wear it in the right setting it does great. Wear it in the wrong setting it doesn’t do well.🤷♂️