My new $10 boonie hat.
 

So I guess it pays to go window shopping for gear occasionally. lol.

I was in my local surplus store in Fredericton (Family Outfitter on the Hanwell Road for you locals) and found a table full of Boonies and caps for $10 each plus tax. ($11.50 total.)

They had "US GI" boonies (knockoffs I'm sure) in MARPAT woodland and MARPAT desert patterns, as well as the "old school" type camo in woodland, desert and urban. A few caps in OD (no OD boonies, though) --he told me that it's the young girls that come in for the OD caps... must be a fashion trend or something... anyway... can't recall if he had any CADPAT or not... I'm going back tomorrow to get another, I think.

It's most likely not the real deal (I'm pretty sure the owner told me up front that they were all knockoffs) but they seem to be well made from decent material (65% polyester, 35% cotton) - but you can't go wrong for $10 plus tax, eh?

**Sorry for the crappy pic, it's my cell phone camera. I'll try to get a better pic up in a bit.
http://www.jacocomics.com/hat.jpg

**edit: got the pic off my camera:
http://www.jacocomics.com/hat2.jpg

Looks like a Parklands Canada CADPAT boonie. Hey, for $10 cant go wrong exactly!

I think that one is the Parklands CADPAT boonie. Mine is the parklands boonie and looks exactly the same.

I didn't think it looked much like MARPAT, even though the label says specifically "US GI Boonie" - I was in Wheeler's yesterday (they have a sale on some of their gear) and the colors were closer to CADPAT than the MARPAT stuff I have.

But yeah, I can't complain for $10. lol.

Definitely cadpat, but material looks different, like it's almost plastic. AKA: can't see pores or weave. Maybe just needs to be washed a few times. Heard last year that Parklands got a Cease & Desist order from DND to stop making cadpat clothing without a license. Maybe they went with a differnt type of material to make use of a loophole or something.

It's a cotton /poly blend. The pic's kinda crappy, but there's a weave pattern there.

http://www.jacocomics.com/weave.jpg

Hard to see in this pic though. Can't tell if it's a parkland's or not; there's a label inside, just a white piece of material, but no "brand name" or anything. I'll find out from the store owner tomorrow, if he knows. :D

Its the same ones we have at our surplus store. Its cadpat and its not issue. Its parkland or parkland equivelent.

Ya i have the same one, its bombproof (no not really) you can tell its not issue on the inside of the issued ones there are places to put the cloth for the back of your neck.

anyone know what the 2 glow in the dark things on the back on the shell strap on the real boonies is for?

Cat's eyes, they reflect light and IR so the guy behind you can see where you are going

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they have cat's eyes at the same surplus store. (The helmet headbands, I mean.) Can't be that expensive. I might try to sew a pair on.

Here's what you do if you want to make you're Parkland's boonie better;
1) Buy boonie (of course) and a helmet band (with cats eyes).
2) Remove foliage loops from boonie.
3) Sew helmet band straight onto boonie (you'll need to measure the hat and band to make the loops even, but it looks good).
The only downside is that the cats eyes won't roll, but who cares? It looks damn nice!

That's actually a great idea!

I'm not sure if I can get the stitching out of this bitch though... but if I screw it up... $10.

:D

Thanks!

X-Acto knife with a sharp blade, one stitch at a time. Done right........"There were stiches there before?!?"

Issue boonie has the velcro (loop) squares around the rear half of the sweatband to put the 'cape' that Sock monkey mentioned, also has a pocket in the top of it to store the 'cape' and an OD label on the insde top of the hat with the Nato Stock Number and "Wide Brimmed Hat" or something along those lines. Drives me nuts when guys refer to it as a "Tilley Hat". Have to shat on them, cuz my Tilley hat (TH5, hemp) is made a hell of a lot better than the issue boonie. Guess it's called that because the Navy lads & lasses are issued real Tilley hats.

Better a "tilley hat" than a "Gilligan Hat". ;)

I wore it out tonight, with the rest of my "gear" as much as it is so far... it's comfortable, water beads up on it, and it doesn't feel too hot or itchy. I like it. (Don't worry, I'm not out walking around in the 'burbs, I live out in the woods. My house is surrounded on 3 sides by trees. :D)

I'm thinking I'm either going to get an "Arid" boonie (if they have any in my size-- I have a huge head and he only had a few large sizes for the boonies) or a "cap" in woodland CADPAT. Decisions, decisions.

I'll try and take a better stock of what he has in the store. This guy has some great prices. NEW (knockoff) CADPAT pants are about $44 - I'm not sure what the prices on the shirts are offhand, but he had CADPAT tee-shirts for $10 too. He has a LOT of OD stuff, pretty cheap, too. (But the OD stuff is mostly used surplus stuff.) He had a nice pair of boots in my size, too. (I think they're referred to as "stalkers" or "creepers", something like that) for like $30. They're in fantastic shape, if they're actually "used" boots.

Man, I haven't even played a game yet, and I'm already this horny for gear?? lol... man, my wallet's gonna hate me. :D

Once you put the boonie through the wash once or twice it'll soften up a bit. My advice would be to stay away from Parklands if you have access to stuff like Frontenac...but that's my advice...others may counter.
Parklands, just so you know, is the 'CADPAT' knockoff thats made in the BDU pattern on the thicker cotton fabric.

Well, I went back today and asked about the brand name, specifically if it was a Parklands brand hat, he said "No, this was made in China."

Anway, I ended up buying the CADPAT cap, too. this one says "Field Cap Hot weather BDU" with "Enhanced Ripstop" on the label. :) Feels quite well made, too.