Rating - 8 out of 10

Website: www.ghilliesuits.com
E-mail Contact: info@ghilliesuits.com

 

That's right people, the ultimate Ghillie suits are here. Those of you who have built Ghillie themselves know the amount of time and energy that goes into a quality suit. Custom built suits usually run well into the $500 to $800 range. So what do you do? Get on the web and give these guys a shout. They have been making quality , mil-spec Ghillie for many years, and the best part is that they are AFFORDABLE!! Snipers, pay attention.......

 

What makes them different from all the rest?
    Where do I begin? The first noticeable difference is that the material is made from Jute burlap. For those of you who did not go to Burlap school, Jute is the same material that they make burlap from.  The only difference is that it is not woven, but instead it is in strands. These strands are HAND TIED to a corded netting. Why is that so great? IT NEVER WEARS OUT!! These things are tough as nails. My hand built suit is only good for about 6 months of hardcore play. After that it resembles a stray dog with mange. We ran my Ghillie through the wringer and back with surprising results. 
    The second biggest difference wasn't noticed until after I ran around in it for a while in the 90 degree Florida heat. The material breathes!! The corded netting base in conjunction with the jute strands makes for a very lightweight and comfortable suit. No longer must you suffer in a Ghillie sauna. Very big plus for those of you in the warmer climates. 
    Third was the fact that the suit was incredibly lightweight. For as bushy as it was, the suit ( I have the mossy oak Ghillie poncho) only weighed in at about 10 pounds. 

I like to build my own suits, so why should I buy one?
    You shouldn't. However they do have Ghillie suit kits for sale. These come with the netting, and 5 to 7 pounds of pre-dyed jute. All for $64.00.  Just attach the netting to your favorite flight suit or BDU's and start tying!!. You control the amount of coverage and color patterns. 

How do they perform in the field?
    The blending of these suits is some of the best I have ever seen. The mossy oak color that I have is the exact color of Spanish moss. Being in Florida, I opted to add more brown to my suit to help break up the gray color. Tying in the extra color was as easy at pie. The netting facilitates the ability to tie in native foliage and other items with ease. I had a few problems with the size of the suit being a bit cumbersome. There was so much jute tied to it  that it was almost too bushy. This was easily remedied by tying the suit to an old flight suit and trimming some of the strands down. This helped keep the more in contact with me and alleviated some of the sliding I was having with the poncho. In all fairness, this is just a personal preference. Players that do a lot of crawling will want to keep it in the poncho format to help mask their movement. I stalk quite a bit and the suit needed to be able to move quickly with me as needed. 
 The sheer volume of the suit itself made it a little difficult to get to my harness. The poncho is slit down the sides to help the user reach into their pockets and such, but with out a side mounted harness, one may find themselves having to contort to get to a new paint pod.

I can see that over time the suit will wear down nicely and lose a little bit of its "new Ghillie" bushy-ness. I am going to continue to play in mine and update the site with its long term progress.

 

Rundown

Pro's:
    Lightweight, heavy duty, breathes, inexpensive.

Con's
    Super bushy, needs to be trimmed before using.  May be too cumbersome for more active snipers.

Cost
       $180.00 for a full ghillie poncho ( full suit with sleeves and hood), $64.00 for a DIYS 7 pound kit, $39.00 for a 5 pound DIYS kit.