Originally Posted by Kozure
Depends a lot on the field and time of year, I think.
In early spring/late winter, the environment is very brown, trees and brush are bare or with small buds. Multicam works very well around this time.
Best to worst in early spring/late winter (in Southern Ontario typical outdoor field environments - IMO YMMV):
Pencott Badlands
Kryptec Highlander
MultiCam
A-TACS AU
MARPAT
Kryptec Mandrake
Pencott Greenzone
A-TACS FG
M81 Woodland
CADPAT
MultiCam Tropic
A-TACS IX
Mid-spring to late spring, there are a lot of light greens. A-TACS FG is excellent around this time. Penncott Greenzone also works quite well.
A-TACS FG
Pencott Greenzone
Kryptec Mandrake
MARPAT
MultiCam Tropic
A-TACS IX
MultiCam
CADPAT
Pencott Badlands
Kryptec Highlander
M81 Woodland
A-TACS AU
Early summer to mid-summer, CADPAT and MARPAT, being relatively dark and green patterns, work very well in forest and valley terrain. In mixed urban/forest/field, both stand out a little against grey buildings because they're dark. A-TACS FG continues to be decent better than CADPAT/MARPAT near buildings, but less effective in darker forest. Greenzone rules this time, I think. Multicam is at its worst in S.Ont in early summer except in very transitional environments. Kryptec Mandrake seems very good, but I haven't seen it in person all that often in the summer months. This is the one season where A-TACS IX gets to shine, as long as you're still mostly in forest/shrub.
Pencott Greenzone
A-TACS IX
MultiCam Tropic
CADPAT
MARPAT
Kryptec Mandrake
A-TACS FG
M81 Woodland
MultiCam
Pencott Badlands
Kryptec Highlander
A-TACS AU
Late summer, vegetation starts to dry out, MARPAT becomes better than CADPAT due to the greater brown colourway. This is as good as MultiCam gets in S. Ontario - this is the best possible time/season for Multicam outside of late winter/early spring. The top three listed here can switch places depending on the dryness of fields and how built up or not it is.
MARPAT
MultiCam
Kryptec Mandrake
Pencott Greenzone
Pencott Badlands
M81 Woodland
A-TACS FG
CADPAT
MultiCam Tropic
A-TACS IX
Kryptec Highlander
A-TACS AU
Early autumn, MultiCam is still quite good, but is overshadowed by Badlands and Highlander. CADPAT and MARPAT become less effective (MARPAT less so, because of the browns). A-TACS FG is still feasible, but much less so.
Pencott Badlands
Kryptec Highlander
MultiCam
MARPAT
Kryptec Mandrake
M81 Woodland
Pencott Greenzone
A-TACS FG
CADPAT
A-TACS AU
MultiCam Tropic
A-TACS IX
In mid-late Autumn CADPAT sticks out like a sore thumb comparatively at this point. A-TACS FG is also right out, not enough tan/brown, too light. Mandrake also not so great. Highlander is a winner in mid-to-late autumn.
Kryptec Highlander
Pencott Badlands
MultiCam
A-TACS AU
MARPAT
M81 Woodland
Kryptec Mandrake
Pencott Greenzone
A-TACS FG
A-TACS IX
CADPAT
MultiCam Tropic
As many others will tell you, MultiCam works moderately well in almost every season, it just never becomes "the best" for that season. As such, it's the most versatile we've seen yet.
If you want the best possible camo you need to know what season you're playing in and the general type of field you're in. If it's dense forest and brush in spring or sumemr, you the darker patterns of CADPAT, MARPAT and A-TACS IX work very well. Even the old classic M81 Woodland works very well in dense forest, where MultiCam stands out for its lighter overall palette.
If it's a really rainy season, you need brighter greens - A-TACS FG, Greenzone and to a lesser extent, Mandrake. Drier years, late in the season you should go with patterns that have more tan and brown - Highlander or Badlands.
If the field you're in has a lot of buildings (often wood, tan, grey or weather wood colours), adding grey, white or tan colourways as are found in MultiCam and Highlander or even A-TACS AU works well.
Remember that the colour of your kit - your gun and your LBE - are significant factors and can outweigh the concealment factors of your clothing. Also, as I'm trying to hammer into my son, how you move and when you move will conceal you far better than any camouflage scheme.
As noted near the beginning of this post, these relative rankings are my personal observations and may differ from yours. It's my opinion and yours may be more informed than mine. I'm only communicating what I've observed.
BTW - I've lived and hiked a lot through areas around Sudbury and Capreol - not sure how far north you consider "north", but the principal difference is you get a lot of rocky outcroppings and stone (good old Precambrian Shield) in northern Ontario, which makes it better to have a lot of deep brown and grey. You also tend to get denser forest, which makes for darker patterns being more effective. In Southern Ontario, you get a real bright green in spring and summer in many places, and you seldom have a lot of stone (there are exceptions) and that stone is rarely dark brown, grey or red, which is not at all uncommon in northern Ontario.
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