Camo is one of my favorite parts of airsoft. I'd like to share some of my links and resources for camo history and references. A good camo is a contradiction. It functions to both conceal you and to identify you. Nothing makes your team look more like a team than when all of your members wear the same pattern.
There are hundreds of camo types. Each country's military has its own and even within a country's military, it's not uncommon for different branches, divisions, and units to adopt their own uniqe type. Some countries have adopted camo patterns of other contries (ie. the Iraq military uses our phased out 6-color desert "chocolate chip" pattern) or in some cases copies another countries design and modifies it (ie. CADPAT and MARPAT).
There really is no 'best' camo. Just like football teams or AEG's, everybody has a bias for their camo pattern. But we can talk about what camo works better for the time and place.
COMMON AIRSOFT CAMO
US Woodland is the most common and most copied pattern in the world. It's so common that even the bad-guys wear it (remember those videos of Bin Ladin?) due to it's broad avialability. It is also the most common pattern used in airsoft for the same reason.
Woodland relies primarily on tonal contrast (dark and light shapes) to break up the wearers silhouette. It's brown, green, OD, and black colors were chosen to best blend in with the landscape of Germany and central Europe (developed at the end of the Cold War). In the varied terrain of North America it's best used in late spring and Summer in heavily green and wooded areas. A liability in dry arid fields and during winter/late fall in seasonal fields.
3-Color Desert (TriColor) and 6-Color is the second most common airsoft camo due to it's great supply in the second-hand/surplus market. Developed as a cheaper replacement for the earlier 6-color 'Chocolate-Chip' desert camo used in the Gulf War. It was desiged for the Arabian desert, mountains and arid MOUT environment. Somewhat more useful in the fall/winter than Woodland, it can stand out in very lush greeen folliage of Summer.
MARPAT the US's first fielded 'digital' camo. The USMC's MARPAT (short for MARine Disruptive PATtern) was based on the success of Canada's CADPAT (though some argue how much) Digital patterns rely on small color shapes and variations to create a blending texture to the background. A similar effect is achieved using non-digital means by Flecktarn.
MARPAT comes in woodland, desert, and urban color variants. All more effective in blending in with the environment than either traditional Woodland or 3-Color. DMARPAT is slightly more utilitarian for fall airsoft (though MARPAT's brown coloration still is quite effective), arid and urban terrain.
UNIVERSAL CAMOUFLAGE PATTERN (most often referred to as ACU) is the US Army's new pattern meant to be an all-in-one design, for both woodland, desert and urban environments. It's quickly becoming a very popular airsoft camo. In field games it blends well against rocks, gravel, and buildings. But in the lush greens of summer folliage, it stands out. This is made worse by the fact that most 'commercial' ACU is has a slightly blue/grey tint compared to Army issue ACU which has tan tint. It works very well in winter and on CQB fields. ACU stands for "Army Combat Uniform" which actually the name for the design of the uniform.
TigerStripe utilized by US Speical Forces since Vietnam, it's longevity proves its effectiveness. Commercialy availiable in both desert and standard 'jungle' colors. TigerStripe thin and rougher edged shapes better blend in with the folliage than Woodland. A new digital variant is the new camo pattern of the US Airforce. Contrary to myth, TigerStripe was not designed to simulate a 'blur' to allow a soldier to be concealed while moving through jungle, nor is it designed to be only used prone to simulate tree trunks. Desert TigerStripe contains hints of OD green that allow it to be used year round in many environemnts. Visually, it shares similar properties to Brittish desert DPM. In summer woods, it blends well against tree trunks and wood bunkers.
MultiCam is known as the Gucci of camo for its exceptional cost. But it is more than worth its price due to its effectiveness. Made only by New York's CRYE Precision, it has become bootlegged by Chinese knock-offs. MiltiCam was an outgrowth of an earlier 'Scorpion' pattern that Crye developed for the US Army's Future Warrior Program. The Army instead chose ACU because of a misguided desire for a 'digital' pattern to keep up with the USMC's MARPAT. It is utilized by SOC units and is rumored to still be in consideration by many Army brass.
Its small pattern size and active blending of browns to light greens throughout the fabric allow it to blend in with the broadest range of enviroments of any camo I have seen. It works effectively year round in seasonal fields and is quite effective in urban CQB as well.
DPM (Disruptive Pattern Material) is the pattern used by Brittish Armed Forces. An early version was used by Brittish paratroopers in WWII. Though similar in color palette to US camo, DPM's paint brush shapes better blend in with folliage. Desert DPM is also exceptionally good for concealment. Unforuntanately DPM is is not widely available in US surplus stores.
Flecktarn is the camo of the German Army (Bundeswehr). Its small colored dots work in the same way as digital camo's in breaking up a silhouette through visual texture. Tropentarn is the desert variant. It is fairly easy to find Flectarn uniforms in US surplus retailers. Flecktarn is an exceptionally good camo pattern for woods year round.
Type03 is the Chinese Army ripped-off version of Flecktarn. Exact same pattern but with a brown/grey color scheme, used by PLA troops in Tibet. Difficult to get, it is insanely good for blending in with winter/fall foliage.