S.O.L. 90% Reflective Lightweight Emergency Bivvy

I was surprised by how small and light this bivvy roll was when it arrived (I ordered two), and I immediately opened it up and tried it out. It is roomy enough for a 6' tall 200# man, and you could probably fit two in here in a dire pinch. I pack these with me, essentially as emergency sleeping bags/shelters on all outings, since they're so small and light. You would be VERY glad for this if you were SOL without a traditional blanket or had to remain over night in the woods unexpectedly. This does not replace a tent and sleeping bag for sure, but it will probably keep you from dying of exposure in pretty low temperatures, and you may have this when you forget to pack a safari tent when your car breaks down in the snow.In a wilderness setting, I would insulate under this bag with whatever brush I could find and then around the bag with dried leaves and then wrap up in a second bag, which I also bring along, and that would be VERY effective to keep you warm and dry at night. Ideally, you would want to get under cover of shelter and off the ground. Still, this bag would help cut the wind and at least keep the wind from evaporating all of the moisture from your skin and chilling you further. It might even help if trapped on a ski lift for a week with wolves roaming below, just don't take your glove off and freeze your hand to the safety bar. Even in warm weather, this would be helpful for someone going into shock, if their core temperature began falling.This product is far superior to an emergency blanket, because if you've ever had to use one, you know it's like covering yourself with a 4' square of tissue paper in gale force winds. Drafts get under the blanket and it's not nearly as water resistant since you are exposed where your undoubtedly poor wrap job "seals" around you.These would also work wonders to prevent hypothermia on a hiking in the cold, if someone fell into water. You could get into this bag skin to skin with someone to save their life, or just get frisky. You could use this bag to: carry light important items, like food; collect water; signal to rescuers; cut open to create a heat reflector for a fire (why it's good to bring a sucky emergency blanket along also); create a water still or rain collector; reflect heat AWAY from you when you need shade shelter in open sun; line your pack and place clothing for some water proofing when crossing a stream/river; cover an amputation stump to prevent blood loss or seal a sucking chest wound; create a cheesy Halloween costume as the orange ghost; or make a wind sock in your yard.5 stars for value, good strong material for what it is, design/roominess, superiority to an emergency blanket, re-useability, extra space in stuff sack for quick roll job or extra items, and life saving potential for low cost/space/weight.

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.

Finally used this product, purchased as an emergency use item. Caught in the rain during a hiking trip and this combined with a hammock and tarp made for a fairly comfortable night sleep. It made it though the night but did rip when getting out in the morning. Even for a one time use items it exceeded my expectation