Looks like a good deal:

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=343512&pn=1

Hi kharrell

I would actually caution anyone buying this bivi shelter. I think it could be potentially dangerous. The reason I say this is because of the design and the materials it is made from. The spec on the website do not give any value for the materials breathability but only the hydrostatic head value. As the design appears to be able to be fully sealed up, there could be an issue of dying from suffocation during the night. It would also be a rather uncomfortable nights sleep even it wasn't sealed up being wet and clammy and therefore being eventually cold. The material used in very important in the design of bivi's. I would only really recommend a MVP material such as Goretex or Event in the design of a bivi bag. The most cost effective bivi I have come across is the British Army MVP (Goretex) bivi available in OG and DPM but yet is still 4 times the cost of this bivi.

Thanks!

This is the type of feedback I am look for.

Uhm... It breaths through the zipper, just like a "waterproofed" tent?

Mine is the same design as this, and as much you might wish it, I've never run out of air in the night. If people were dieing in them, the hiking community would have abandoned this kind of design years ago.

With a no see um mesh at the hood, I am guessing ventilation is probably not a concern. I don't think you'd want to open the no see um all the way in a heavy rain, and it would pretty much cancel the insular effects, but it should work. Might not be bad at all to include with the bedroll/swag.

There was one occasion long ago when camping with the family and we had one of those cheap nylon cabin tents. It happened to be a steady rain for a full day at camp, and when we called it a night we zipped it up and stayed nice and dry inside. Meanwhile, the soaked thru fabric of the tent became airtight, and I awoke about 1:00 am struggling for air, as were the rest of the family. I unzipped the door flap and let fresh air and the rain come in. We recovered, although we did get a bit wet.

It can happen.

i would suggest that you think of this or any kind of bivy
as just one layer in a shelter..after sleeping under a canoe
with a tarp over it for a few trips i could see i needed
something bug and mouse proof..i got a tiny tent that was
more of a bivy and used it under the boat and tarp and
got got total shelter..in a longer term sitution your $19
bivy would just be the inside layer of some sort of plastic
and brush shelter..

For $5 more, this might be a better choice from the same catalog:

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=329275

I would agree with what bentirran said. Cold and clammy and possibly dangerous. There has been at least one fatality from
asphyxiation in a zippered up bivy. Condensation would be bad
in a close fitting unbreathable fabric tent or bivy. For that
kind of money, choose a tarp and a headnet.

Would you be able to provide any details on that incident? Even an approximate date and location?

I've heard a lot of silly things involving camping gear, like a story about someone who tossed and turned and eventually garotted themselves on the draw cord for his mummy bag- but none of those who have told that story around me has ever been able to document it. There are a lot of urban, suburban and rural legends out there.

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm saying it is improbably. If it happened, there must have been something more going on. I don't doubt benjammin's experience, but there was a combination of factors at play.

That's true, we were in a very wet, exposed environment. We had the tent all closed up, and there were 4 people in there sucking air. Everyone was affected; when I got up, I tried rousting the girls, and they were just as brainfogged as I was.

After that little stunt, I used a tarp suspended over that tent to keep it from getting so saturated, and never had another problem like that.

I always put a fly/tarp over my tent/bivy when it's raining. I've never experinced this, but I'd had enough wonderful little drippy spots in the middle of the night that I know I'll break in about 20 minutes of Chinese water torture.

I'm also going to guess that you had a half decent wind at the long axis of your tent? Bernoulli, Venturi, whichever effect that makes airplanes airplanes- IIRC, it should form a vacuum at the short ends if there was. That might have had something to do in your case. But in all honest, Ben, you're the first person I've ever heard of having this happen- Murphy in action.

Yeah, it caught me by surprise too. It had been raining pretty much all day, and that tent was wholly unprotected.

Live and Learn I guess. I no longer have that tent, having gone to the packable variety that are easily vented yet fairly weatherproof. Either that or my big canvas wall tent, which only comes out for elk season.

I actually have the exact bivy shelter that Frank referenced and it works good. small, compact and lightweight. I used is couple of times hiking the OHT in AR. The only problem I saw is if it were raining and you needed to get in and out...you are basically opening up the entire contents of your bivy to the elements.

I'm a big guy..so to get in this thing you basically set it up..step in at the front, sit down and then scoot yourself down. Not a quick entry or exit, but it serves the purpose. A nice tarp hung up over the head area would cure this problem, but would also add to the weight of the system.

I like multi-tasking equipment. In my car I have, rolled up tightly together and stored in one of those nylon bags that comes with folding lawn chairs:
- two (2) military-style ponchos, with grommets and snaps
- one (1) poncho liner
- one "sportsman's blanket" which is poly on one side and metallic "space blanket" material on the other, also with grommeted corners.
With these (and a few feet of paracord) I find I can improvise a pretty snug and waterproof shelter/bivvy/sleeping system just about anywhere. I also have the flexibility of using the components of the system as rain gear, equipment covers, for signalling, etc. If I find myself with a couple of other people, we can split up the components so everyone can at least stay fairly dry.
I don't recommend this system as your primary shelter on a planned camping trip. It's also a little bulky, though not terribly heavy. But in an emergency I know I can sling that bag over one shoulder, and my medium-sized emergency kit (also in the vehicle) over the other, and be reasonably prepared for a few days and nights in most conditions.

Having never used a bivy, what do you all do with gear? Surely it doesn't all fit inside. Do you just put it in a large garbage bag?

I usually hang my pack upright on a tree, with the rain cover on it.

I really can't imagine suffocating in a bivy, even when zipped tight, they are nowhere near airtight. About the only danger I can imagine is sleeping in one during a snowstorm, if covered in snow it can become a serious problem, but the same danger exist in a snow covered tent.

I have one of the goretex bivies, which is basically the same concept, and I have to say my limited experience with them isn't exactly favorable. I admit that I was influenced by the romanticized notion of having a high tech, self contained piece of equipment, that I could just climb into and ride out any weather, but the reality of it is pretty different. I think they might be great for their intended use, which was emergency shelters for mountaineers who get caught in a storm, but as a primary or even backup shelter I don't find them very practical. It offers no protection for your gear, it feels very claustrophobic, and if you get wet everything inside will be wet also. You can alleviate some of the problems by rigging up a tarp to shelter you from the rain, a mosquito net to protect you from bugs, and a ground cloth to isolate you from the ground, but by the time you carry all that plus the bivy, you might as well be using a lightweight tent. This is an opinion from someone that really wanted to like the bivy, but just couldn't overcome it's limitations.

For a stricly emergency shelter, I prefer to carry a large garbage bag or lightweight silnylon tarp. It's smaller, lighter, and more versatile than a bivy. A cheap, rectangular piece of plastic just isn't a cool as a goretex cocoon, but sometimes simpler is better. I can never find a good reason to carry a bivy, it's too heavy to carry just for emergencies, and if there is a very strong chance that I would need to spend the night out in the kind of weather that would require something as heavy duty as a bivy, I should be carrying a tent.

Hi Ducktapeguy,

I would have to agree with most of your comments, a lightweight tent is definitely a better choice.

For a review of the who and why anyone would use a bivi bag

http://www.planetfear.com/article_detail.asp?a_id=425

The difference between the ubiquitous orange emergency survival bag and a Goretex bivi can make the difference between life and death. There has been a case where two mountaineers in the Scottish Cairngorms during winter found themselves over night on the plateau. Each were equipped individually with an orange polybag and a Goretex bivi; the one with the orange polybag died from exposure whilst the one with Goretex bivi lost a few toes.


Orange Survival polybag ; 400 grams


Goretex Bivi ; 650 grams

Single wall survival tent (Vaude Refuge); 980 grams


Proper Single Man Tent (Hilleberg Akto); 1600 grams

Hi kharrell

For some useful advice/tips on Bivvy Bags the following podcast may be heard at,

http://backpackinglight.hipcast.com/deluge/7861d1e0-fb3b-0047-a126-8cabf5d425b2.mp3

There is also a book available on Bivvy Bags By Ronald Turnbull available at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Bivvy-Cicerone-Guide/dp/185284342X

For lots of other info on lightweight trekking there are lots of other podcasts available at
http://www.podcastingnews.com/details/backpackinglight.audioblog.com/rss/podcasts.xml/view.htm