You All Helped w/Goggles NOW HELP WITH CAMO!!!!

[BALLISTIK]

I am looking to buy camo now and want to know what is the best pattern to get. I personally like the ACU and MARPAT desert but I think the woodland would be better. Now I see a lot of people on here that have the Desert Patterns. I plan on playing in the wooded games but would also like to do some indoor CQB. I am looking for opinions in what is better and why even though it might not be your favorite looking but you know its better for what I am looking for, if there is such a thing.

Thanks again for everyone's help. On the goggles I am going to get contacts and get some good goggles. I am liking the ones with the fan for under $40.

AGAIN THANKS IN ADVANCE and cant wait to see the suggestions.

[Weezy]

Honestly in Michigan, Camo is not going to be 100% effective. Just go with what you like and what fits the budget. I have ACU personally, You can go to your local Military Surplus store and they will have Mil-Spec ACU and Woodland. Also you can try it on there before you buy it so you can get the best fit......Nothing worse than having BDU's that don't fit! Trust me on that

[Thor]

There is no best pattern. These are the things you should look at when you buy camo for airsoft:

1) What patterns do I like?
2) How easy is it for me to get this pattern, and am I going to try to match my gear to it?
3) How well does this pattern fit in to a "green vs tan" line-up?

Check out my noob camouflage guide: miairsoft.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=newb&action=display&thread=25344

It may help your decision. One thing I would like to point out, don't bother with Multicam as your first set of camo. It often times bounces back and forth between green, tan, or "special" camo at events.

My personal recommendation? Get a set of woodland (or marpat) to start out with, and then if you want to spend a little more, get some Desert 3-color (or desert marpat) or ACU. Since you said you want to play some CQB too, your color choice won't really matter for that, as nothing you pick will blend in. But, CQB isn't about blending in anyway.

[Knife]

Avoid ACU. Both MARPATs work wonderfully. I'm also quite a fan of multicam. Any desert pattern is not going to be that effective in Michigan. Don't wear desert camo with black gear, you stick out and are an easy target.

[BALLISTIK]

Ya I think even though I dont like it I am just going to end up with the Woodland Marpat. But I really do like the Desert Marpat. How does black go with the patterns so I only have to buy one set of vest and holsters as I am sure I will be buying for my son also. That way I could use with both patterns.

[Thor]

Unless you already have a lot of black stuff, I would go with either coyote tan/brown gear, or even OD. But, if you've already bought black gear, it will look better with the woodland marpat than with the desert.

[Kilo Oscar Tango]

As touched on before, camo isn't everything. Use of shadows and varying light levels is more important than the pattern or color scheme. Everything that is matte will work in shadows and if you are in a low-light area with someone looking in from a high-light area they will not be able to see anything.

Having said that, I find it much more simple to pick a loadout I like, base my gear on that and then rinse and repeat.

My personal favorites include Woodland MARPAT and Flecktarn, and many people love Multicam. I have seen photos of real military personnel in the field with pretty much every pattern in both OD and CB/TAN gear, or pattern-specific (MC gear with MC uniform) gear, so no matter what you do you can't go wrong.

I suggest looking through here for some inspiration: www.militaryphotos.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?6-Strictly-Photos-Video/page3&order=desc

[Knief]

If you haven't bought black gear yet, don't. Black is a terrible color to wear in outdoors. It's a color that doesn't occur naturally in large patches, unless you're playing on the side of a volcano. Look around in the woods in Michigan. Do you see any black? So if you were in a game and scanning the woods, and saw a 1/4 chest sized patch of black, what's the only thing it could be? A person wearing a black vest sticking out from behind a tree.

Black is an unnatural sight in the woods, so our eyes key in on it pretty quickly. I've gotten more than a few kills because I noticed somebody's black vest showing through thick brush that otherwise obscured their camo and face. Had they been wearing a Coyote Brown or Olive Drab vest, I never would have seen them.

Coyote Brown goes with pretty much everything. It matches tan based camos, as it's tan itself. It'll be darker than the base of 3-color and Desert MARPAT, but it won't be as dark as the dark tones in those patterns, so it doesn't look out of place against it. Similarly, it matches the brown tones that you see in old US Woodland, Woodland MARPAT and Multicam pretty well.

OD works well with green based camo, but does look a little out of place against tan based desert camos most of the time. It's not necessarily inaccurate in an impression because a lot of soldiers in the Desert Storm era were issued old Woodland and OD gear from previous engagements with their desert camo. But it wouldn't look very current, and doesn't look very slick unless you've got an impression perfected to go with it.

[BALLISTIK]

OK air boss I like the Coyote Brown with MARPAT Woodland. Now where is a good place to get the Coyote Brown gear at. Now mind you I dont have to have the REAL stuff right now. I am just getting into it and I have a son to buy stuff for so what would be my budget to do this is sort of down to 2/3 so I can also buy for him. But he is sent on wanting to get Woodland Marpat an I really like the way the OD and Coyote look with it.

[Knife]

You can get cheap replica coyote brown vests from www.ebairsoft.com. You can get pantac gear from airsoftsmith.com. You can get Flyye gear from Maj. Scott on these forums. Real deal gear can be found on ebay, skdtac.com, optactical.com, triadtactical.com and such.

[Thor]

I think the main problem you will run into with your boy is finding gear that will fit him decently. Most vests, chest rigs and harnesses will likely leaving him deep ocean swimming, if you get my metaphor.

See if he likes this:
www.rsov.com/express/product.php?langId=1¤cyId=1&manufacturerId=10&prodId=3819&cateId=96

Otherwise, I don't have any terribly good suggestions. He could run a blast belt with all his pouches on it and have it hooked to suspenders, but like I said, getting gear for him right now might be hard. I'd hate for him to be all frustrated because his gear doesn't fit right.

You on the other hand Ballistik, can pick pretty much whatever you want obviously. I don't know what kind of size guy you are, but the bigger you are, the more likely you will gravitate to some kind of vest like a CIRAS or similar.

[BALLISTIK]

Ya I was thinking the same thing you suggested, a belt with suspenders for him. But I like that light chest rig too. As for me I was thinking like this for now ( www.airsoftgi.com/product_info.php?cPath=28_96&products_id=3831 ). Just to get things started. I know I am a noob and I am just getting into this and I greatly appreciate everyone's help more than you know. I am learning quite quickly from the help. I just read a thread about a guy bitching about the woodland team being a bunch of noobs and sucking. I know my son and myself will be noobs and I expect people to get frustrated just because of that fact. But to limit that would I be better just to get Marpat Desert or ACU Desert?

[Knief]

The guy who was bitching in that thread is 15 years old and joined this forum like, 4 months ago. Don't let him influence what camo you buy. You're better off starting with a set of Woodland MARPAT and expanding from there later. It's a better camo for blending in, and it really doesn't matter if you're on the same team for every major event. The green team doesn't always suck, and it's not always full of noobs. Lately, since more games have started allowing "civilian" attire, and have put civies on the tan team, it's really balanced out a lot.

Getting back to gear, the vest you linked to isn't necessarily bad for the cost, but it's lacking in one crucial area. It's not a modular set-up, which means you're stuck with the pouches that it comes with and in that specific configuration. It doesn't leave any room for you to modify the vest to fit your needs (i.e. go lighter for an aggressive assault, move pouches around to suit where you like to draw/dump mags, carry different types of side arm mags/accessories/loose bbs/etc.). Most people prefer a modular vest for that reason, but it costs more money to get that benefit. It's up to you to decide whether or not that's right for you.

That vest is also not Coyote Brown. It's a lighter tan color that's going to look a little strange with Woodland MARPAT. MARPAT has a tan in it, but it's not very prominent, and it's not very prominent for a reason. It's darker brown color covers a much larger area in the pattern, and that's the color that you want to try to match.

For optimal style and color, I would look at something more like these:

www.airsoftsmith.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=31_77&products_id=1638

www.airsoftsmith.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=31_77&products_id=1963

www.ebairsoft.com/6094-plate-carrier-sapi-plates-p-2237.html

www.ebairsoft.com/mlcs-hydr-pack-p-1566.html

www.ebairsoft.com/cirs-normal-version-p-1395.html

I could keep going, but these are just some examples. I have a vest that's a lot like the last one I linked to, but made by Pantac (well, Phantom, but they became Pantac). It's a great style, and the ebaybanned version is supposedly pretty nice.

[Kurt 19D]

Agreed with the Airboss.. ;D My kid and I have been playing for 3 years now. While we and most of our "team" have multiple sets of camo we seem to wear woodland more. There is nothing better than woodland (or MARPAT) in the woods during the summer.

[Knife]

Don't get ACU. It's nearly 100% inneffective in Michigan. Sure, there are times, but it's not worth it. Get Desert MARPAT, that will actually blend in decently well during fall/spring, especially in dead grass or reeds. I'd try and stay away from the vest you linked, I've never found them to be very comfortable or effective. MOLLE is the way to go, the higher cost is worth it.