Michael Wagenseil
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2025
I like that it keeps bag clean, cuts on drafts and protects from wind. Little tough getting into but the top zipper helps. It will turn with you some may not like that. Not a big fan of the white but as it soils it is not as stark. Nice addition to winter sleep system
Karlee Foley
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2024
Weighs 7 ounces on my scale without stuff sack. Fits me and I’m 6’1”. Durable thick shock cord and large plastic cinches. Also the red part is pretty thick fabric. Large zipper. I plan to tape the seams inside with cuben tape just like how zpacks waterproofs their bags. Should be good after that. Also with this bivy, my theory is you don’t need a ground sheet since people use tyvek as a ground sheet anyway. So instead of buying a lightweight silnylon bivy with a ground sheet to protect it, I just use this for cheaper and possibly lighter. Less stuff. A tyvek ground sheet weighs 3.8 oz and a bora bivy weighs around 5 oz. So this would be lighter and cheaper than that setup.
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2024
Type (B). It is exactly as described. Add some seam seal tape and it will be great for skinny people with narrow shoulders and small chest if 6’ or shorter with room for a sleeping bag (no room to include a inflatable sleeping pad). If the zipper is left open, it will likely work for a 6’ tall average sized man with sleeping bag to keep their sleeping bag dry from condensation inside a single wall tent. If they would add 6” in length and 8-12” width with sealed seems, this would easily be a great lightweight stand alone bivy.
Tom Track
Reviewed in Germany on November 6, 2024
(3/5) Größe passt grob, könnte am Fußende jedoch ruhig etwas breiter sein; nicht geeignet um größere Isomatte mit reinzunehmen.(3/5) Trocknet langsamer als erwartet.(5/5) Sehr leicht und klein verpackbar.
outdoors folk
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2024
overpriced and not waterproof
NJ
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2023
I used this as an external bivy around my 40 degree down bag. I was hiking in the White Mountains, and the temperatures can quickly drop and the weather can change every 15 minutes. I used this inside my tent as a way to keep condensation from the rain off my bag and it worked wonderfully. I was cozy all night, and even had to open up the top a bit to vent some heat at one point. Very pleased with this purchase.
Mountain Rachel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2023
Not the weight advertised. The seems are also not taped, rhey are stitched woth very obvious holes. It is large though. Returned.
Customer
Reviewed in Canada on June 28, 2023
3 nights in single wall tent with this over a down bag. Probably added 5 degrees warmth. Minimal condensation inside bivy sack, less than i thought. After the third night toe box of my sleeping bag was damp, (my tent dripping on me) the bivy sack maybe leaking slightly but tough to tell....it held out long enough and happy with purchase. Very light.
Rob B.
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2022
It seems there are two different models sold here: "Type A" and "Type B". Type A appears to have an open back and no zipper, such that you just tuck it around a sleeping bag. Type B has the opening on the top, with a zipper, and draw-cord inside a bit of red nylon around the face opening. My purchase & review are for "Type B" only.For context, I'm into alpine climbing, and am often willing to sacrifice comfort in order to have the lightest possible gear. I have spent a lot of nights outdoors sleeping in various other models of bivy bags, ranging from quite-expensive to one of my own attempts to home-make my own bivy bag out of tyvek. I'm reviewing this one immediately after unboxing it, so I haven't slept in it outside yet, but given my experience with other bivies, here's how I think this one compares.I think this one is close to ideal, but not quite. My only complaint with it is the width. I've measured it as 34" wide at the shoulders, and I wish it was more like 36" or 37" wide there. (But no more, because the biggest selling point of this is how light-weight it is.) I'm 5'8", and weigh 175lbs. If I put an inflated thermarest inside of it and get in there with it, it's just barely the right amount of space for me. There's just barely enough room for a sleeping bag to loft a few inches around me. It wouldn't take much movement though before I'm pushing an elbow against the tension of the tyvek due to moving an arm or rolling over. If you're my size or smaller, this is okay, I could definitely spend a night sleeping in this, it's just got no margin for being any larger than me. You could create more space by putting your pad outside your bivy, but for me personally the pad must be inside because (1) I prefer quilts (like Katabatic or Enlightened Equipment) which must attach to the pad, and (2) I want a bivy to act somewhat as footprint guarding my inflated thermarest from direct contact from the ground, which is sometimes a rocky bivy site, and I'm certainly not going to carry a second & separate ground cloth when I'm trying to cut every ounce I can. So for me the pad has to go inside, and that makes things almost-tight with the bivy being 34" wide at the shoulders.If you are my size or smaller, for the price ($49,) I do think this bivy is a great deal. IMHO, the purpose of a bivy bag should be as light as possible (if a bivy bag weighs a pound or more, then don't bother, just bring an ultralight tent instead.) By that measure, this bivy does a superb job, weighing in at a hair over 7 ounces. I've had trouble finding other bivies in this weight-range, with the closest competitor being the "Katabatic Bristlecone Bivy", but that costs almost three times the price, and likely has a less water-resistant material. And to be so light-weight, you shouldn't really be expecting "perfect" weather-protection from it anyway; no sufficiently lightweight bivy is meant to keep you perfectly dry during a heavy rain. Instead, the purpose of a lightweight bivy is to help you fend off a light sprinkle, or stop the wind, in case you went on an overnight climb when the weather was supposed to be good, but was slightly worse than expected. I think the construction of this bag is likely to do so admirably. Based on the feel of the fabric, I'm guessing this is made out of Tyvek 1443R, which is lighter & softer than the more ubiquitous Tyvek Home Wrap. This bivy should turn out to be reasonably water repellent enough. In this bivy's construction, the seams are not taped, so there are tiny pin-prick holes along edges, but I'm not that worried about them, I still think this would be fine at keeping the majority of water off of your sleeping bag during a light sprinkle. I'm impressed a the double-stitching along the zipper to add reinforcement there. I'm also glad to see that the zipper has pull-tabs on both outside and inside, which is rather important for getting to close yourself up once you're already inside. And the elastic draw cord around the red-nylon face opening is a nice touch too. It's pretty well made for a cheap bivy. In addition to planned overnights, this could also be useful to carry as an emergency bivy for any sort of first-aid situation, say on ski tours, in case you want something a little more durable than those shiny mylar emergency bivy-bags.Some specs according to my own rough measurements:- weighs 7.2oz on my kitchen scale, and that's the combination of bivy + stuff sack together- width at shoulders: 34" wide, while laid flat- width where my feet would end up: 25" wide, while laid flat- length: 82" end to end (or 72" from bottom end to the horizontal opening at the top of the zipper)- while packed inside it's stuff sack, it's about the same height as a nalgene. Uncompressed it looks about the same width as a 1L nalgene bottle, but in reality, it's notably skinnier once anything is pressing on it.- my last picture shows it next to a Therarest "Womens NeoAir XLite" pad, for comparison, which 66"x20"
Jewel Sandeen
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2021
To start I'll get the bad out of the way. The difference between "Type A" and "Type B" was a little confusing. Fortunately I was able to figure out which one I needed based on comments left by other people. To be clear, I got the "Type B" which was the one with the drawstring mummy-style hood and the zipper. I highly recommend paying the extra few bucks to get that over the Type A version.Then there's the good. To start, the price was right. Most bivy bags cost far more than this even for the lower quality ones. Tyvek is sturdy material and doesn't rip easily (unfortunately my dog did still tear a hole in it but that was easily fixed by purchasing some Tyvek tape). The bivy is incredibly spacious. I'm not a big guy but I've used other brands that felt much more confining and were more difficult to get in and out of. I used it while camping in my hammock and it did a great job of cutting the wind. It didn't rain so I can't say how well it will hold up. I did test it in my shower. The material got damp on the inside but not really wet and there was no water pooling inside, so I suspect that it would perform similarly in the rain.All in all, this was a good purchase.
Russell Dean Morrison
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2020
This product is so light weight and completely comfortable. My favorite hiking gear item along with my Trekology sleep pad. It is very quality item and worth it. I always have this camping with me and plan to try it out with just a sea to summit sleeping bag liner in the summer. Whoever sewed this together, whoever made this, thank you! I love this with all of my heart.