What Camo is the best?

We are going to open up a huge can of worms here, and this topic will be one we will cover in a number of later posts as well. The title says it all, and the short answer is "it depends". Sure, that doesn't really seem like an answer, but let's dig a little deeper.

First, lets quickly cover what camouflage is. Camo is a disruptive pattern to make the wearer blend in with their surroundings visually. This is why "it depends" is the best answer to our title question. Where are you? A rocky desert will have different colors and shapes needed to blend in than a deep forest would, for example. In the desert, tans would be the primary color of camouflage clothing, while in the forest greens and darker browns would work well to hide you. But camo alone is not the answer, it is only a part of how we see things.

Humans are more able to see movement than pattern. We can see pattern, but we will notice movement first. Surprisingly, in many cases, a person wearing no camo at all and choosing to sit still against a tree is often far more hidden than another person in the best camo for the environment walking past them. The tree helps to break up the human shape, and our eyes and brains notice the movement before anything else. Little quick story for you; Bishop and I were sitting in white shirts on a hill side, many people approaching did not notice us until they got within AEG range, while they did notice the people moving at the top of the hill 125 feet behind us. Yep, plain sight in white. Had we been in camo they probably would have walked right up on us quite often. (We were the OpForce for this event.)

Being still is only part of the magic formula to being invisible in plain sight though. Humans also easily recognize familiar shapes and outlines. A persons head and shoulders or the outline of your AEG are both easily recognized. If you can stay still with something that breaks up your outline between you and your opponents, you will be much more effective at staying hidden. Brush, grass and small trees all work well. Granted, they impede your vision some, and block your fire lanes, but if you can stay still and unseen it is much easier to ambush your opposition.

Now that we have discussed being still and concealing your outline with your environment a bit, lets get into the actual meat of this article; camo patterns.

Any disruptive pattern will help, especially if it matches the local color scheme and pattern. Some civilian hunting camouflage is made for specific areas, and can be incredibly effective. But most airsoft players will want a more MilSim feel to their games, so they will usually adopt military camo clothing.

For your first airsoft outfit, we strongly recommend either simple OD green or woodland. OD green blends in to most environments very well, and woodland is available as surplus for very low prices compared to more modern/current camo patterns. We have seen woodland BDU pants and coats for 10 to 15 bucks each at gun shows and some surplus places, so shop around a bit and see what you can find. And for OD green, you can often find old OD green coats at goodwill for a few bucks.

For your second outfit, get tan. Most games are green vs tan, so be able to play both sides. Again, goodwill can be a great place to find tan shirts and pants. Once you have a basic kit in two colors, you can start chasing other camo patterns, and that will be the topic of our next post on camo - what camo patterns work for what environments and so forth.

Til then, stay low and stay still out there. Take time, squeeze that trigger and win the game!

More soon!