Thread: Lightweight bivy bag

Hi all,

I'm currently using a goretex bivvy bag (that is awesome) but feels overkill for using under a tarp. It weighs around 900g. I'm just wondering if anyone can recommend a lightweight bivvy bag, around 300grams??? I should be able to save half a kg here quite easily.

I've had an OR MicroNight bivvy in the past but it condensated quite badly.

I'm looking at the Terra Nova Moonlight/Survival/Discovery Lite bags but at 2m long I think they'll lack the length for my 6ft frame + allowing sleeping bag to loft etc.

Any opinions appreciated. Cheers in advance.

I'm tempted to flag a bivvy bag & instead make a cheap plastic bath-tub floor & focus on setting my tarp up in a weather-tight way. Bivvy just feels like good insurance & that's the only thing stopping me.

Outdoor Research Helium Bivy - Bivouac Online Store

not 300, but its ok

thought about using a tent? especially if your bivvy bag/groundsheet/fly is combined heavier than 1kg

Thanks for the reply. A colleague has one of those bags & he rates it.

Definitely thought about a 1P tent, but thinking that a lightweight bivy & a polycro tarp would be ~500g all up.

Plastic Pack liner?

Got a vaude bivvy, it's pretty tough and I can fit my pack in aswell

Go for a breathable water resistant number if you want lightweight. Will keep the splash/spray and bugs off but still be fairly breathable. Not the ticket if you want the bivy to be used stand-alone but brilliant if you are always under a tarp. I use a borah gear bivy which weighs 200graks and has been very good

Know the feeling of a heavy bivy, got a army surplus one that weighs as much as my Kathmandu one man tent so following with interest

Yep I'm into this one too. I have the same bag as you feebz it's great but heavy. I've seen the vaude- v light and a good price. How is it for condensation MSL? The borah gear sounds great

Originally Posted by Nick-D

Go for a breathable water resistant number if you want lightweight. Will keep the splash/spray and bugs off but still be fairly breathable. Not the ticket if you want the bivy to be used stand-alone but brilliant if you are always under a tarp. I use a borah gear bivy which weighs 200graks and has been very good

Definitely after a waterproof-breathable number, with a focus on breathable (& 'water resistant') rather than waterproof.

Just looked up the Borah - that looks like what I'm after. Just enough to keep wet misty stuff & spray off. I like how it doesn't bother with a waterproof face part as that's the part that is well covered by a tarp. You've found it to breath a-ok? No wet foot area on your sleeping bag? Is yours the argon or M50? I'm assuming its the Silnylon 30D floor rather than the Dyneema/Cuben?

Thanks.

I have a Bibler hooped bivy it weighs 700g the breathability is impressive and it's well made. You can just bring a big plastic rubbish sac to stick gear and boots in if using it rather than carry a fly. That cuben Bivy on the Borah website looks like it might fit the bill 117g!!! at that weight it would make a handy little emergency shelter to stick in the day pack, I'm pretty sure those big orange survival bags weigh more than that.

Yep I'm into this one too. I have the same bag as you feebz it's great but heavy. I've seen the vaude- v light and a good price. How is it for condensation MSL? The borah gear sounds great

If theres no mossies about I just go with a fly and ground sheet. If theres going to be mossies then i like a tent.
I cant see the point of a bivy bag if you are going to take a fly as well.

Originally Posted by Nick-D

Go for a breathable water resistant number if you want lightweight. Will keep the splash/spray and bugs off but still be fairly breathable. Not the ticket if you want the bivy to be used stand-alone but brilliant if you are always under a tarp. I use a borah gear bivy which weighs 200graks and has been very good

Have a borah gear bivy as well, use it under a fly as one spot is prone for bad condensation,

Originally Posted by WillB

Yep I'm into this one too. I have the same bag as you feebz it's great but heavy. I've seen the vaude- v light and a good price. How is it for condensation MSL? The borah gear sounds great

It's not bad, I always try to tie a peak in it to create a bit of space above my face which allows me to leave it partially unzipped. If it's pissing down I use it upside down and prop it up with my pack or a handy branch. I use it as a standalone shelter.

Originally Posted by Feebz

Definitely after a waterproof-breathable number, with a focus on breathable (& 'water resistant') rather than waterproof.

Just looked up the Borah - that looks like what I'm after. Just enough to keep wet misty stuff & spray off. I like how it doesn't bother with a waterproof face part as that's the part that is well covered by a tarp. You've found it to breath a-ok? No wet foot area on your sleeping bag? Is yours the argon or M50? I'm assuming its the Silnylon 30D floor rather than the Dyneema/Cuben?

Thanks.

I have gotten a little condensation around the head end but none in the footbox that I have noticed, and its never been enough to dampen my bag or anything. It packs down to nothing also. I like it. Mine is the M90 top

I have the sil bottom and that seems to be holding up well.
My only real complaint is that the pad does slip and slide on the sil a bit as it pretty slippery stuff, its not so bad I end up on the ground or anything though.