Seriously, What The Heck

I've been playing planetside2 for the past week, which I know doesn't make me very experienced. But I noticed that the cloak for the Infiltrator says makes you "near invisible" and I understand this.... at close range..... but today there was an infiltrator that was completely invisible with an smg taking out 10's of people at a time. I would see him uncloak right next to whole groups of people and even right in front of me and we would lose him instantly.... Is there an unlock that does this? Like seriously wtf.

Most people are totally oblivious to what's going on around them. Plus in the midst of battle, it's hard to hear the decloak over all the gunfire. Also, they are more like predator. If they aren't moving they are hard to see.

There is a certain way to use infiltrators effectively. It usually involves weaving around people

Moving in a straight line will get you killed
Moving rapidly while changing directions constantly will make you a really hard target

Odd that he's taking out tens of people with smg, if you'd said mines then I'd be less surprised. But people can be pretty damn unobservant. The cloak can't make you fully invisible, but your harder to see stood still & in my experience the background the cloaks working against can make them near impossible to see.

Sometimes I have to problem spotting and tracking a cloaked infil, other times they I lose them. Mostly that's the skill of the infiltrator.

Another question.... Why am I spoted so quickly while im cloaked? I'll be 10 meters away, not moving and they'll see but I was cloaked the whole time... this is a constant frustration. I'm actually playing right now and I was taking out another infiltrator when a heavy came along, ran past me while I was running away cloaked, and he followed me for the whole 14sec cloak and killed me. -_-

Cloaked infiltrator is low on the immediate threat assesment, that is why they can hoon around during a battle and pick off preoccupied players. But not in a battle, if I spot one I'm going to hunt him down.

Graphics settings, or hacks... take your pick.

You answered your own question in the OP. Cloaks make infs near invisible, not completely invisible. Also keep in mind that radar still sees you and so does that probe that you carry.

10m away is strange. Remember that shooting makes you a red dot on the map

Infiltrators are practically invisible on low settings now since infiltrators complained a lot. On higher settings they are very visible if you know what you are looking for.