New View Hunting Review: The Fleece-Lined Camo Suit and Rain Jacket, Hands-On

How I got this gear: New View Hunting sent me the suit and the rain jacket free of charge to review when I ran my old site, ArcheryBull.com, and asked for an honest opinion. There are no affiliate links on this page.

Is New View Hunting Gear Any Good for Bowhunting?

Yes for early-season, mostly dry sits; no as a cold or all-day-rain system. The suit's softshell beaded water in my test and handled quietly, but it has no knee or elbow reinforcement and needs layers once it's cold. If you're between sizes, the Suit Fit Check below compares New View's chart with a jacket you already own.

What Did I Actually Test, and What Didn't I?

I handled, wore and photographed both pieces at home, wore the suit outdoors, and wet the shell to see how it shed water. I didn't hunt in either one, didn't measure warmth or noise with instruments, and no longer have the gear, so there are no fresh measurements on this page.

What's the Jacket Like Inside and Out?

It's a softshell with a fleece-backed interior, not an insulated coat. The labels on my suit read 95% polyester and 5% spandex for the shell and 100% polyester for the lining. Across the back and down the arms the inside feels like full fleece, which is the part you notice the moment you zip it up.

Ventilation works through the pockets. The inside of the jacket is lined with that perforated fabric, so opening the side and chest pocket zippers lets heat out. On a hard walk in, that's the difference between arriving at the stand damp or dry. New View's current listing for this suit describes underarm ventilation zippers; mine vented through the pockets instead, so the version on sale today may differ from the one I had.

How Do the Hood and Face Mask Work?

The hood zips off if you don't wear one. The suit also came with a separate two-layer face mask: camo outside, soft fleece inside, with a mesh panel over the mouth so you aren't fighting your own breath on a cold morning. You can wear it as a neck gaiter or pull it up as a full mask.

Does It Work With a Treestand Harness?

Yes. There's a covered slot high on the back for your harness tether, so you can wear the harness under the jacket and still clip in. The flap over it keeps rain from running straight down your back, which is a small detail that a lot of stand hunters only miss once they've sat through a shower without it.

Are the Pockets Set Up for a Bowhunter?

Mostly, yes. Every pocket that holds gear closes with a zipper, and the zippers felt better made than I expected on a suit in this class. The jacket has two deep side pockets, a chest pocket with a fleece-lined hand-warmer pocket behind it, a zippered pocket on the sleeve, and a double-zip pouch across the back. The chest pocket is deep enough that I'd keep a rangefinder there, and the sleeve pocket suits a wind checker or a call.

One thing to watch at full draw: a loaded chest pocket sits close to where the string travels on some setups. Before your first sit, draw your bow with the pocket full and see whether the string touches it. I didn't shoot in this suit, so that's a check for you, not a result from me. The bowhunting-ready checklist has the rest of the pre-season gear checks in one place.

How Do the Pants Fit Over Boots?

Easily. Each lower leg has a zipper that runs nearly to the knee, so you can open the leg and pull it over a boot instead of tucking it in, and a snap tab at the ankle snugs the cuff around the boot. That tab is a fixed snap, not hook-and-loop, so you can't fine-tune it.

The waist is elastic with a button and belt loops, which forgives a size that isn't perfect. There are four large zippered pockets, two at the front and two cargo pockets at knee height, and none at the back. I didn't miss back pockets, but if you always carry a wallet there, you will.

Did the Shell Actually Shed Water?

Yes. When I wet the jacket, water beaded up and rolled off instead of soaking in, and no patch of fabric darkened. A dark, wet-looking patch would mean the face fabric is absorbing water, which is called wetting out, and that's the failure you'd see first in the field.

Beading tells you about the surface, not about a long soak. It comes from a water-repellent finish, and that finish wears down with dirt, body oils and abrasion until the fabric starts to wet out. New View doesn't name a repellent treatment, and its own page calls the shell water-resistant for light moisture, not waterproof. My result fits that: good for drizzle and wet brush, not a rain suit. The usual way to revive a repellent finish is low heat after washing, but the care tag on my New View rain jacket says no tumble drying and no ironing, so a spray-on repellent is the safer route once the beading fades.

How Quiet Is It for Bowhunting?

Quieter than I expected for a water-resistant shell. It's soft to the touch and doesn't have the crinkle of a hard rain jacket, though it isn't as silent as a brushed fleece face. That's my ear, not a meter.

New View's page says the fabric and zippers are low-noise but gives no measurement, so the claim can't be checked against anything. What I do trust is the pattern bowhunters report: in the owner posts I coded for Sitka vs Kuiu, brushed fleece faces get called quiet and smooth shells and rain gear get called noisy. A smooth softshell like this one sits between the two. There's a trade-off built in: a fabric that sheds water has a tighter, smoother face, and that face makes more noise when it rubs than a fleece that soaks up water like a sponge.

How Warm Is It, and When Do You Need Layers?

It's a light suit for mild weather, and New View says as much: its page calls it built for early-season and cool-weather hunts with moderate warmth, not heavy late-season insulation. It felt wind-resistant when I wore it outside. The cut is loose enough to layer under, and that's how I'd run it for a late-season sit: a real insulating layer inside, the suit on top.

Which Camo Pattern Does the Suit Come In?

Mine had the tree print: brown bark and branches with green leaves scattered through it, which suits wooded cover early in the season while there's still green on the trees. As of October 28, 2026, New View sells this suit in NV Tree, NV Leaf and NV Reeds on its fleece-lined suit page. I've only seen the tree version in person. Pick by the cover behind your stand, not by the photo: green leaves on a bare November oak stand out, and so does a bark pattern in cattails.

Does the New View Suit Have Scent Control?

No. New View doesn't claim any scent treatment, and nothing on my suit's labels mentions one. What helps a little is the venting: opening the pocket zippers on the walk in means you sweat less, and less sweat is less odor once you sit. That's a side effect, not a feature. The wind still decides whether a deer smells you, so hunt the wind and treat any scent layer as an add-on you'd wear under this suit.

What About the Gray Rain Jacket?

Its best feature is a pit zip that opens from close to the armpit almost to the elbow. On a light shell that doesn't breathe much, that zip is how you dump the moisture you build up walking. The tag calls it a waterproof shell, and the label lists 100% 75D×75D recycled polyester. I didn't wear it in real rain, so I can't confirm the waterproof claim.

The weak spot is inside. The tape over the interior seams looked crudely applied, closer to packing tape than to the clean seam tape on technical rain gear. Taped seams are what keep water from wicking through the needle holes, so on a rain jacket this is the part I'd watch first. As of October 28, 2026, I couldn't find this gray jacket on New View's US store, so it may be discontinued.

Is It Visible Enough for Safety?

No. There's no reflective trim and no blaze panel; the only bright element is the orange New View logo on the chest. To a deer, that logo is also less of a problem than it looks to you: in my deer-vision model, fluorescent orange keeps only about 42% of its color signal against green woods for a deer.

If you hunt where a firearm season overlaps archery season, check the orange rule. Some states exempt bowhunters only during archery-only seasons; Nebraska, for example, requires bowhunters to wear 400 square inches of blaze orange during certain firearm seasons. Your state wildlife agency has the current rule.

How Does New View Hunting Sizing Run?

Roomy for me. I'm 5′10″ and 155 lb and normally wear a US medium, so I ordered M. Over a T-shirt it felt a bit loose; with the layers I'd actually hunt in, it fit right. In my old review I suggested going a size up if you're used to US sizing. Looking at the chart again, I'd narrow that: size up only if you're between sizes or plan on bulky layers, which is also what New View's fit notes say.

The chart lists garment measurements, not body measurements. That's why the M is 48.5 in around the chest: the extra room is the layering space. The best way to use it is the one New View suggests, comparing against a jacket you already own.

Two things in that chart are worth knowing before you order. The inseam barely changes, 29.5 in on S and M and 31 in at the top, so a tall hunter who wears a 32 or longer will be short in every size; the lower-leg zip and ankle tab help a little over boots, but they don't add length. And the waist jumps 8 in from XL to 2XL, the biggest step on the chart, so XL and 2XL hunters should check the pants as carefully as the jacket.

How Does It Compare With Technical Stand-Hunting Gear?

It covers the basics and skips the extras that cold, wet or rough hunts reward. The table sets it against the technical brands I've already compared, using what each maker publishes.

For a deeper look at how the technical brands split by hunting style, the Sitka vs Kuiu breakdown has listed weights and 80 coded owner posts. If you're putting together waders and wet-weather gear, what 27 TideWe wader owners reported covers the other end of the kit.

How Do You Check a Hunting Suit Before Your First Sit?

Run these six checks at home with the suit and the bow you'll hunt with. Each one takes a minute or two, and together they catch most of what goes wrong on the first cold morning.

1. Draw your bow in it. Zip the jacket, load the chest pocket the way you'll carry it, come to full draw and see whether the string touches the sleeve or the pocket.
2. Do a rub test by your ear. Rub the sleeve against the jacket body and the pant legs together, then work every zipper slowly. Whatever you hear indoors, a deer hears better.
3. Wet a sleeve. Pour or run water over it and watch: round beads that roll off are good; flat, spreading water or a darkening patch means it'll wet out in rain.
4. Try your coldest layers under it. Put on the fleece or puffy you'd wear on a late sit and check the shoulders, the draw arm and the zipper.
5. Clip in your harness. Run the tether through the back port with the harness under the jacket and make sure the flap lies flat.
6. Check boots and cuffs. Sit down, raise your knees like you would in a stand, and make sure the pant cuffs still cover your boot tops.

What Are the Pros and Cons?

Frequently Asked Questions

How I Put This Review Together

The hands-on parts come from the time I had the suit and the rain jacket: wearing them at home and outdoors, wetting the shell, and inspecting and photographing every pocket, seam and label. All photos on this page are mine. I no longer have either piece, so there are no new measurements here. Specs, the size chart and the fit notes come from New View's own product page, checked on October 28, 2026; where my suit differed from today's listing, I've said so. The field reports come from one public ArcheryTalk thread and are paraphrased or quoted only as far as each post goes. Wore this suit on real hunts? Tell me how it held up and I'll add your report.