Well, it's not too hard to do a search and read the pages I've written on here as of late about what I feel to be the virtues of Predator, and specifically Fall Gray...
Interesting you brought up the 3-D leafy suits, tsoc... I was just reading some thoughts from Marc Barger (the Designer of Predator) and his feelings on 3-D suits....
Again, these are his words, but from someone who's been in the camo business for years and years and studied it as passionately as Marc has, I found it very interesting:
A '3-D' suit makes a camo darker. Think about it this way. Take a white sheet and stretch it out. Looks pretty white huh? Now cut all the 'leaves' into it. It'll be darker as it creates shadows. So take a good light camo pattern like PREDATOR or ASAT and make all these cuts on it and all you're doing is making the camo darker and doing away with the whole design concept. Additionally, the little bit of 'rough edges' the cuts create do not help break up the human form... The ASAT Leafy Wear is darker than a guy in just plain ol' ASAT would be because of all the shadows the cuts create. I know this will ruffle some people's ego as they've purchased these things, but facts are facts.
Now, here's some of his thoughts on what differentiates ASAT and Predator; he was responding to someone who said that the reason they preferred ASAT was that it didn't have the"darkblobs of color"in it...
To each their own of course but the reason for the 'dark blobs of color' is to allow the pattern to break you up when combined with the light background. Breaks the human form up into a bunch of pieces instead of one lighter colored piece...like ASAT.
I really think "favorite" camo patterns comes down to the proverbial Ford vs. Chevy deal, to some extent. Now, I DO think there is no way for anyone who is being intellectually honest with himself who looks at a picture of Mossy Oak or Realtree at a distance of 30 yards or so to lay claim that the pattern does anywhere near as good a job as an open-concept pattern such as ASAT, Predator, or the newly emerging Enigma.
A final quote from Marc on these thoughts:
Interestingly, Bill Jordan called me twice trying to put together a deal to purchase the rights to PREDATOR. Told me, "We both know that PREDATOR is the best hunting camo pattern out there, but also both know that how it works doesn't indicate how it'll sell."
It's not often you get to have insight into an owner's or a designer's thoughts and views; I thought some of you may enjoy reading those comments. Obviously, some may disagree, but it makes for some interesting reading, none the less.