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ScentBlocker’s Mathews Solo XLT Camouflage Review

By John MuellerOctober 26, 2011

LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015

Whether or not you believe in the ability of carbon to conceal human odors, I believe you need to check out the Mathews XLT (Extreme Lightweight Technology) lineup of clothing from ScentBlocker. It is some of the best built camouflage I have ever worn. By the way, I do believe Carbon Clothing is part of a system of scent elimination. But I don’t forget the wind and just hunt. I have a scent reduction routine I follow religiously. I shower with scent free soaps, wash my carbon clothes in scent free detergents, store them in scent free containers and spray down with scent eliminating sprays before heading to the woods to hunt. But that isn’t what this review is about. So I’ll get to the meat of my review.

The Lost Camo blends in well with tree stand hunting.

The XLT line of clothing is designed to be worn in the warm weather of early bow season, but you can also just as easily use it as your outer layer in the colder temps. The fabric breathes extremely well during those warm September days of Missouri’s bow season. But it is a sturdy material that hasn’t shown any signs of wear or fading after over a month of heavy hunting and weekly laundering. The Lost Camo Pattern looks as crisp today as it did when I purchased it.

Closeup of the detailed pattern.

The XLT jacket and pants are loaded with features to make hunting easier and more effective.

Tech Specs
ScentBlocker® SPF 50 activated carbon with increased carbon loading
S3® antimicrobial technology to aid in odor control
XLT™ Xtreme Lightweight Technology fabric
4 Direction Stretch™ comfort
BodyLock™ collar, wrist cuffs and waist
“Hybrid” BodyLock™ Waist (front elastic, back drawcord) for maximum comfort, weather protection and adjustability
Silent Wrist Ratchet™ BodyLock™ adjustable cuff system
Innovative safety harness slit in back for easy attachment and concealment
Adjustable/removable arm guard to fit RH or LH
4 front chest zippered slash pockets
2 front waist zippered hidden pockets
2 back waist zippered slash pockets
2 sleeve zippered slash pockets
Rear grommet license loop
Die-cut rubberized shield patches on shoulders to prevent slippage
Is compatible with the Mathews® S3 Fleece Solo Vest or the Mathews® S3 Wool Solo Jacket
Sizes: M-2XL
Color: Lost Camo™

A few of my favorites are:

Totally Silent: The material used in the construction of the XLT line is some of the quietest fabric outside of fleece I have. But the advantage it has over fleece is burrs just brush right off with your fingers. Try that with fleece.

Lots of pockets with zippers: The jacket and pant combo has enough pockets that I usually don’t even need to carry a backpack or fanny pack. And the pockets are strategically positioned so the items inside them don’t stack on top of one another, like a lot of hunting clothing I have, making big bulges in your jacket or pants.

Lots of pockets on the jacket.

More storage in the pants.

Slit in back for harness tether: I hate having the tether for my safety harness running up along my neck scratching me with every move. The XLT Jacket has a weatherproof slit allowing the tether to exit the jacket between the shoulders.

Stretch Material: With the material having a bit of stretch to it, I don’t feel the tension I do with a lot of other jackets drawing my bow or climbing into my stands.

Lost Camo: The pattern does a good job of blending in when tree stand hunting. And when hunting out of my ground blind, I wear it inside out and have the black showing to conceal me in the blind.

Rubber Shoulder Patches: The built in rubber shields on the jacket’s shoulders are a big help when carrying multiple items with straps hanging on my shoulders. It keeps the straps from sliding off of my shoulders. I really appreciate this when carrying all of my hunting as well as filming gear to the stand.

Is this the perfect hunting apparel? Well if I were the engineers there are a few things I would have done differently. But some of this is just personal preference.

Cuffs: I’m not a big fan of the cuffs on the jacket. Especially when worn with the lightweight ScentBlocker Gloves. It tends to leave a gap of exposed skin on my wrist. Which isn’t a big deal in warm weather, but I’d like to wear the jacket as an outer layer in colder temps also.

My main gripe is the combination of the gloves and cuffs not covering my wrists and the use of velcro on the gloves.

Gloves: While I mentioned the gloves in the cuffs section, I’ll go into detail here. My main gripe with the lightweight gloves is the short length. There is no way to tuck the gloves into the sleeves of the jacket to keep my wrist covered. And then there is the use of VELCRO. In my opinion Velcro has no place in the bowhunting woods. It is too noisy if you ever have to adjust it or open it up.

Boot entry zippers: They are on the inside of the pant legs. When I walk in mud I tend to rub my boot against the opposite pant leg. This gets mud and debris stuck in the zipper. I think it would be much better if the zippers were on the outside of the pant leg.

Sizing: From my experience ScentBlocker clothing runs big. I would recommend buying one size down from what you normally wear in most cases. I’m 6’ 3” and 185 lbs and normally wear XL just for length in the arms and legs. The large in this line allows me more than enough room to layer after the weather turns cold.

Suited up and ready for action.

The XLT line of clothing is designed for warm weather hunting, but with some layering in can be your outer layer for most of the season with no problem. Even if you’re not a believer in carbon technology the quality of this clothing is reason enough to give them a look. It should last for many hunting seasons to come and the Lost Camo blends well in most hunting situations.

John Mueller
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