Hype is powerful tool. At one time or another we all find ourselves in its grasp. Once a paradigm has been accepted, obvious truth found in logic, common sense, and yes, at times, even experience can be blurred.

Years ago one would read about the merits of wearing rubber boots for scent control (come to think of it we still do). It became standard practice to wear them and believe that for the most part deer couldn't smell where you walked as long as the boots were free from obvious issues like petroleum products and such. It seemed to make sense so I added rubber boots to my "can't live without" list. However, as Straightarrow has very eloquently pointed out, I noticed my dogs had no problem finding me or my trail even when I wore them. Further, I witnessed first hand deer go on full alert upon discovering my rubber booted trail. Though scoffed at by some of the guys in bowhunting circles I tried leather boots and found that there was no noticeable difference in the deers reaction as long as the boots were free from "foreign" material. Even though my experience showed otherwise it was hard not to put those rubber boots back on until cold weather came.

Fast forward to the invention and now "improved and refined" carbon suits. Not only do we have pages upon pages of ads declaring their effectiveness, we have videos of some of the most successful and well known hunters in the country saying things like, "We couldn't have killed this monster if it hadn't been for our carbon suit!" That is powerful marketing. How is the average "lunch bucket" hunter going to be able to deny the power of the "suit" when seemingly all of the known experts have said "they wouldn't hunt without one"!

I'll bet only a modest percentage of hunters even know there is some scientific doubts as to their effectiveness and longevity. Like the medieval knights of old, we can see by the numbers of carbon clothing being sold that our hunting brethren have accepted the carbon suit as their protective armor. I don't see this paradigm changing anytime soon.