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Silver vs. Activated Carbon Clothing

D

DwadeCham

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
529
So I am kind of at a point where I am either going to buy Sitka Gear Clothing, First Lite, or Scentlok. If I'm not mistaken Sitka and First Lite use some form of silver technology and Scentlok uses Activated Carbon. What are your experiences and do you know of scientific evidence of one over the other?

Thanks,
Wade
 
Scientifically silver simply doesn't hold a torch to activated carbon in terms of raw adsorptive capability. It's not even an apples to apples comparison.

Silver, however, is quite effective as an antimicrobial and does target specific human scent particles quite well. But activated carbon is far less discriminatory in what it will adsorb.

Most of my gear locker consists of scentlok gear. The newer stuff (2015-2016) is, in my opinion, starting to catch up with trends in hunting garment design set forth by Sitka, First Lite, etc. in terms of fit, construction, materials, and features. Their covert deluxe suit - even if it didn't have any activated carbon in it - is one of the best hunting garments I have ever owned. Because i'm one of the scent-routine crazies I will probably always stick with scentlok gear - at least for the forseeable future.

That being said if you are a 'play the wind' kind of hunter and don't care to go through a scent routine, then those other brands will bring you many hours of comfort in the stand as well.

My cousin just upgraded his entire hunting wardrobe with Plythal gear and I actually mistook it for Sitka because the patterns are really similar. The fit and finish seemed excellent, and he had nothing but high praise for their garments. So they may be worth looking at as well.
 
g2outdoors said:
I'm sold on Scentlok. You can sweat through it, throw it in a container, come back in 2 days and it won't smell. Other garments would absolutely reek. It's pretty incredible.
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I will have to give it a shot. I wish they had more open pattern stuff like predator, ASAT, or the first lite. I ordered some gloves the other day and they do have some predator stuff on Amazon but it's pretty hit or miss with my sizes.
 
d_rek gave a good overview on the differences. I've been using scentlok for almost 10 years now. I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I've been winded, and on those occassions I can point to a breakdown in my system, my fault not the gear.
 
Following, I sweat like a beast, so I'm always looking to reduce odor. I stay as clean as possible, use scent free detergent, line dry my clothes and store in bags or plastic bins with greenery or earth scent.
 
As an aside, d_rek, what from scent lock do you use for late season?

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I know that on long hunts that I wear the same clothes for several days the silver impregnated base layers last significantly longer before getting a detectable scent.
 
boone0 said:
As an aside, d_rek, what from scent lock do you use for late season?

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I purchased the covert deluxe suit last year and love it. I went 2xl in jacket and XL in pants. With a light base layer I can wear it comfortably in the 40s. With heavier layering I can wear it down into teens without issue. It's also virtually dead quiet and fits like a dream for me(I'm 6'4", 230lbs). Outside of fit the finish is great and there are a lot of well thought out features. You can find it in eBay for a little cheaper than retail and I know I saw someone getting rid of it in archery talk classifieds for an absolute steal.


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You may also consider a lightweight suit like the Savannah Coveralls. I wear them on every single hunt. They're my outwear for the early season and go on top of my baselayer in the late season. Then I layer heavier stuff (freshly cleaned and stored in an airtight container with a ScentLok Web Adsorber pad) that I already own on top. The system worked very well in upstate NY with temps in the single digits. Plus it saved me some serious money by only having to buy one setup.
 
g2outdoors said:
You may also consider a lightweight suit like the Savannah Coveralls. I wear them on every single hunt. They're my outwear for the early season and go on top of my baselayer in the late season. Then I layer heavier stuff (freshly cleaned and stored in an airtight container with a ScentLok Web Adsorber pad) that I already own on top. The system worked very well in upstate NY with temps in the single digits. Plus it saved me some serious money by only having to buy one setup.
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Very similar to my system. I don't like the coveralls much, but I stock up on the lightweight shirts, pants, gloves, headcovers and hats when they go on sale. I replace them at longest every 2 years. By the end of 2 years they are pretty beat up looking anyways. The stuff I put on overtop stays very clean in scent free containers and gets washed very often.
 
redsquirrel said:
Very similar to my system. I don't like the coveralls much, but I stock up on the lightweight shirts, pants, gloves, headcovers and hats when they go on sale. I replace them at longest every 2 years. By the end of 2 years they are pretty beat up looking anyways. The stuff I put on overtop stays very clean in scent free containers and gets washed very often.
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That is what I'm thinking. I still wish they had some more open patterns in their tall sizing but based off of yesterday wearing my cheap Cabela's mossy oak stuff, the height in the tree seems to do the trick. I get my gloves today from Amazon. Unless this weather changes I won't need them anytime soon.
 
Is scent blocker still around?


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g2outdoors said:
You may also consider a lightweight suit like the Savannah Coveralls. I wear them on every single hunt. They're my outwear for the early season and go on top of my baselayer in the late season. Then I layer heavier stuff (freshly cleaned and stored in an airtight container with a ScentLok Web Adsorber pad) that I already own on top. The system worked very well in upstate NY with temps in the single digits. Plus it saved me some serious money by only having to buy one setup.
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Do you just wear the scent lok over other prewashed hunting
Clothes and just use the scent lok as a barrier?


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noxninja said:
Do you just wear the scent lok over other prewashed hunting
Clothes and just use the scent lok as a barrier?


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Personally, I always wear either silver or merino wool against the skin - both have odor killing capabilities. Then scentlok outerwear.



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drew13 said:
Personally, I always wear either silver or merino wool against the skin - both have odor killing capabilities. Then scentlok outerwear.



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That is the best way to leverage them all. I have been wearing a lot of Alpaca wool against my skin since late last season. I have worn the socks on a hunt, then I dry them in the air, and wear them around camp for 1-3 days, letting them air dry while I wear a new pair to hunt. But then come back and wear the dirtiest pair again. I still have yet to get them to contain a level of odor detectable to humans after they are dry.

It was explained to me that because the wool fibers are not smooth or dense it is difficult for bacteria to colonize. I don't know - I am just trying to prove it wrong and can't so that makes me feel better about it. Silver work anywhere but against the skin is really doing very little to prevent scent. Against, the skin the science sure makes sense to me.

At the end of the day you can pretty much wear anything you want under a full carbon suit and should be fine. Same cannot be said for anything else that I'm aware of.
 
g2outdoors said:
You may also consider a lightweight suit like the Savannah Coveralls. I wear them on every single hunt. They're my outwear for the early season and go on top of my baselayer in the late season. Then I layer heavier stuff (freshly cleaned and stored in an airtight container with a ScentLok Web Adsorber pad) that I already own on top. The system worked very well in upstate NY with temps in the single digits. Plus it saved me some serious money by only having to buy one setup.
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I checked out the coveralls and that's an awesome system especially with the built in storage bag. The smallest they have is a medium. I guess I will order it and send it back if it's too big but I guess I would need the room for layering and the room I would have would not make it as hot? The scent lok pants in small seem to fit me best.


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The built in storage is convenient but.....it makes me sweat and can not be removed!

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There is a large zippered pocket on the inside for storing the coveralls in.

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