We were 4 miles up the mountain and 5 hours into the freezing rain hike when my co-leader broke her leg. We self-evacuated for as long as she could stand but then it was clear we needed to get her warmer, drier, and rested. Enter SOL Emergency Bivvy! I sent two hikers ahead to "set up camp" and by the time we got there they had a huge fire burning, the sleeping bag and insulated pad tucked in the bivvy and waiting for our hobbling leader. We got her inside the bivvy with her splint, the sleeping bag, pad, and the 3 coats we had on her. It was perfect, she was toasty in minutes. And even as the splint hiking pole tips were straining against the edges, it didn't rip. If anything we had to watch condensation buildup. Now every single hiker with us is buying one too. It's just too small to not have on you at all times. I'll add the video of the event later but I can't give a higher rating for any product. Only reason I have to buy another is the SAR team sliced her out to save time.
I have a regular bivy but rarely use it as my tent is only 24 ozs. I picked this up as a light weight way to crank up warmth of a lighter bag and to carry on extreme day hikes (just in case). I am 6-1 188 lbs and I fit in this bivy in street clothes. I also found that I could use my Mountain Hardwear Lamina 45 inside. Not constricted, but not much extra room. Also at 40 degrees it was way too hot inside. The draw cords allow the hood and shoulder openings to be closed to the "nose only" position.
This was designed for emergency use, but with care I believe multiple uses are not out of it's abilities. Breathable; we hear that a lot and basicly it means something breathes better than Saran Wrap or shrink wrap. If you zip and cinch this bivy up there will probably be moisture inside. Depends on temps and humidity. I like the zipper, although I would prefer it 1/2 length instead of 24 inches. It gives easy venting possibilities to help control inside temp and moisture biuldup. Also much easier to enter/exit.
Actual weight bivy 8.4 oz 239g stuff sack 0.2 oz 7g
I like this bivy and would recommend it. Will try to post some pictures.
If you don't care about the zipper and want lighter weight see SOL Escape Lite(tm) Bivvy weighs in at only 5.5 oz.
I took this bivvy as my primary shelter on a 4-day survival backpacking trip in the alpine wilderness of South-central Montana. I slept through snowstorms and freezing temperatures, and survived with little to no additional shelter. This bag will not be your favorite thing when you are done with it, but it will have saved your life. The main problem with this, and any other survival shelter, is condensation. I, and many other members of our group, quickly disco vered that after just several hours in this bag, condensation begins to build up. Not just a light skim of condensation, but like your body is leaking condensation. One guy estimated he had approximately a cup of condensation after the first night that he poured out of his bag. This is obviously a problem for prolonged use, like we were using, but I found simply turning the bag inside out and drying it carefully by the fire made a big difference. I also found not covering your entire body with the bag, as is your instinct, resulted in a great deal less moisture building up, than pulling it over my arms and shoulders and head. I found pulling it up to my chest and then covering the rest of me with a mylar space blanket to be a better option than just the bag alone. I had three nights to experiment with the bag. The first night saw temperatures ranging from 45-38 degrees f. Our second and third nights dropped below 30 degrees, and we got snowed on the 2nd night. This bivvy will keep you dry from external moisture, does pretty well at blocking the wind, and keeping in heat. You should not expect the comfort of a warm sleeping bag, but you should expect it to keep you alive, and to survive outdoors longer. It performed exactly as I needed it to, and allowed me to get a couple hours sleep on a freezing night, without the use of a fire. I lasted about 6-hours in the snow and rain before I succumbed and crawled over by the fire to dry out my body condensation from the bag and start over. It should also be noted that this material is much more durable than mylar. The two mylar space blankets that I used as a ground cover and upper body cover were shredded by the end of the third night, whereas this mylar is still in my bug out bag, ready for more action. It did not rip, and only has one or two "stretch" marks where the material was stressed. Overall I was highly impressed with this material, and found it was well worth the price increase to get this over the mylar. Some of our group said the sound reduction in this material as compared to mylar was worth the price difference alone. I would buy this again, and would trust it to keep me alive through a rough night.
Just got mine recently, getting ready for backpack trip and wanted to see if I could leave my sleeping bag home, and just use the Bivvy, I can. I used the Bivvy in the desert for a long weekend. It kept me as warm as using my sleeping bag rated for temps down to 20 degrees. I slept in thermal underwear with long sleeve top, you might also want to consider something with a hood if your head gets cold. The temp at night was in the 40-50 degrees and closer to 90 during the day. A couple of things before you buy: 1.) You must stay inside the Bivvy surface completely, if a shoulder or arm comes off the aluminum barrier, you begin to loose body heat rapidly. 2.) If you want to use the Bivvy in colder weather you should layer up inside the Bivvy. Using a layering strategy, I believe you can get down to 10 to 20 degrees and be comfortable. I used a Thermal pad between the ground and the Bivvy. Finally, I recommend the longer breathable version and longer length verses the non-breathable versions, I tried both this versions and this version is the best by far. I would buy again and recommend this product and the vendor when doing so. {onces verses pounds with a sleeping bag, easily packed into a backpack with room to spare}
Backpacked the Zion Narrows and packed the SOL escape bivvy instead of my usual sleeping bag. At 8oz, my friends were jealous of the light weight. We arrived at the campsite along the Virgin river with rain. I set up my Big Agnes fly creek UL1 tent, thermarest trekker pad, and unrolled the bivvy. I changed my wet clothes for a light fleece jacket and Smartwool long johns. After dinner I crawled into my tent and bivvy for well-deserved sleep.
I awoke later to more rain and cold, so slid further into the bivvy, zipped it all the way up and tightened the hood cord... ahhhh, nice and warm again. At 5'7", I fit perfectly in this bivvy with some room to spare. If I had expected less than 55-60 degree temps, I would have worn socks and a fleece hat or balaclava, which could take this down to a comfortable 45 degrees. The bivvy stayed dry, no condensation build up. As I moved around in my sleep, it was quiet and held in my body heat. As I warmed up and cooled down, I would zip or unzip as necessary.
I am careful with all my equipment, so I expect this bivvy to last a long time. It will be my go to on all 3-season backpacking trips. I have to wear warm clothes in camp anyway, so I might as well use them as a shell for sleeping in the bivvy. This is great for ultralight backpackers!
I also take it in my first-aid kit during day hikes.
Feature Product
- EMERGENCY SLEEPING BAG OR BLANKET: Get inside the bivvy like a sleeping bag for the unexpected night out or turn the bivvy inside out to use as an emergency blanket if you're not ready to lay down.
- 90% HEAT REFLECTIVITY: Stay warm in the fiercest conditions with a bivvy that reflects 90% of your body heat back to you to prevent heat loss and trap warm air. By sharing the bivvy bag with a friend, you can build up additional heat.
- LIGHTEST BIVVY ON THE MARKET: This bivvy bag can be used for camping, hiking, or biking for an emergency shelter you can rely on and is the size of a 12 oz. soda can when packed up
- DURABLE, REUSABLE, & QUIET: Have confidence your shelter won't let you down or cause undue stress. Unlike mylar or polyester, this bivvy features a quiet, tear-resistant material that won't shred to pieces if punctured or fray your nerves by rattling loudly in the wind.
- PROTECTION FROM WIND, RAIN, & SNOW: Protect yourself from the elements. This waterproof bivvy has sealed seams and waterproof, windproof material to keep you dry and warm no matter what nature throws at you.
Description
Turn to the Survive Outdoors Longer Emergency Bivvy XL for an unexpected night outdoors. Hop in this emergency shelter and improve your odds of survival when you and a partner are forced to spend an unexpected night outdoors. Made from tear-resistant polyethylene, this bivvy reflects 90% of body heat back to you, keeping you warm. Stay dry with sealed seam edges, with full protection from rain, wind, and snow. Pack up the bivvy in the included stuff sack for compact storage in a pocket or backpack. Each pack includes a 4.9-ounce emergency bivvy.
So, as with other ultralight gear, I was deciding whether to just cram this bivy into the corner of my pack all alone, or fold it up super small and perfectly and try to get it back into the stuffsack. I chose the middle path and crammed it into the stuffsack like I was packing up my sleeping bag. Lo and behold the middle path was incorrect and the stuffsack hella ripped!
So my decision was made for me and I shoved it into the pack, which works fine. Saves me 0.8oz too!
One issue I do have with some ultralight gear is the tight bags they give you so when you do manage to stuff it in, it's the size of a softball but super hard and doesn't mold to other gear while in your pack. I'd rather have slightly loose packing that compresses into each other than smaller bundles of stuff that don't fill in the spaces.
Haven't tested the bivy itself yet though! hopefully soon with a gossamer gear tarp for sub 20oz shelter system.
I was hesitant at first to buy this because of the fairly high price. I spend a lot of money on gear and don't care what things cost as long as it's worth it, well made and does what it's supposed to. This hits all those bases. First it's extremely lightweight. Compared to another bivvy option this is a feather and is just as capable. It's not some cheap mylar space blanket. This is a high quality, high tech material that is very durable and considering it's basically a substitute for a $200 five pound sleeping bag it's pretty amazing. I wouldn't take this alone if I was going winter camping but you can easily make it into the fall, mid 40 degree weather, and if you're dressed really well or have a tent, an additional space blanket and/or a fire you can probably go lower. All of that is for a planned scenario in optimal conditions but this is obviously also made as an emergency blanket and I can say that this is definitely a lifesaver. Keep one in your car or get home bag for that unplanned night in the woods, car or elsewhere and it will really come in handy. Now that I have it and have used it a little I feel the $50 price tag is really relative and it's easily worth the investment, for camping or an emergency.
The last time I went camping with a tarp I learned that when the wind shifts and it starts to blow into you just a sleeping bag won't do. The breeze blew through the fabric of my supposedly 45F sleeping bag (30.15oz) and I was extremely cold when the temperature dipped to 55F even sleeping with full pants and a fleece on. I used a Thermarest SOL-Lite sleeping pad, the same as in this latest trip. I knew I needed something windproof to help out and purchased this.
At first I wondered if this was really only meant for temporary use and for only emergencies like their emergency bivy bags. Then again with the price and many reviews from people that used it for longer trips I thought it would be durable enough so gave it a shot. At 8.2oz total it is extremely light. My home was 59F one day so I laid down on the rug in just this bag in a t-shirt and boxers and after over 10 minutes I was still kind of cold. By itself it was OK but not the best. I then decided to try it with a Sea to Summit Reactor Plus (8.65oz http://smile.amazon.com/Sea-Summit-Reactor-Compact-Thermolite/dp/B0045IDL4K/ref=pd_sim_sg_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0EJGX1YJGQHG1HFNGH1Q) inside it. Sure, the bag liner is kind of thin so I didn't think much of it but 10 minutes in and I was nice and toasty! It's not the easiest to get into but overall it worked incredibly well. This last trip I brought along my sleeping bag as well but I slept in just the liner and this bag. When I went to bed it was in the upper 60s and I was a little too warm but I knew it was going to get into the low 40s so I dealt with it. Late at night I woke up because of the cold but then I cinched up on the drawstring which closed off the gap above my shoulders and it sealed off the warmth and I was warm enough to go back to sleep. Now that's low 40s with 16.85oz of weight providing more warmth than my 30oz sleeping bag!!
Just don't jerk the opening too hard or too often and it should last. I am slightly worried that the silver lining inside may get wrinkled over and over and create a lot of cracks which may slowly lose its effectiveness but I'm not sure if that's true or not. However with this bivy you can enjoy protection from the wind and a fair amount of protection from bugs and what not if you use a insect hood. Now, as the description says it is water resistant but not waterproof so be aware of that. It is not wrinkly sounding at all nor does it feel like plastic like mylar does. I am definitely taking this on my next trip out. My only question is is it spelled bivvy or bivy?
This is the smart upgrade to an emergency blanket, and the only choice, really. It weighs nothing and works so much better than those cheap, thin, metallic "emergency blankets". If you've ever actually had to use an emergency blanket as I have, in situation where you were not planning on over-nighting outdoors, then you know they totally suck. So noisy! Every toss and turn during the night is so loud you can't get any rest, even if you're warm. And you're constantly trying to tuck in the edges to keep it wrapped around you and keep the warm air in. So basically you don't sleep. After that experience I said "never again."
Found this product and am glad I did. This is totally different. It's quiet. No crinkling. It's warmer because it keeps the warm air in, but more importantly, it stays quiet while tossing and turning. So you can actually get some sleep.
We are ultra-lightweight climbers, counting grams, and this thing is totally worth it. I'll never leave on an adventure without it. Weighs almost nothing and can save so much agony, maybe even a life.
A little noisy, but is light weight, breathable, and keeps you super warm. I use it with my snugpak poncho liner and kept really warm. I don't think it would last 3-4 months on the PCT though for every night use, it says escape on it for a reason. I think it was 42 degrees F, and I kept warm all night. I have to say though, my body is like a furnace when I am sleeping, lol. This doesn't get wet inside like then normal bivvy's do. Do yourself a favor and buy this one over anything else, it is worth the gamble. Love it, and recommend it to anyone!
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