 I bought a Trekmates bivvy bag in TK Maxx to use as a sleeping bag cover if I use my tent as a single skin. It's not really a bivvy bag, more a bag cover but packs down very small and weighs 311g but based on the way it traps air when rolling it up it doesn't seem very breathable. I'm going to hopefully try it out Monday night with either an ME Xero 250 or PHD Minim 500 but in the meantime does anyone have any experience of it? I looked at the Alpkit Hunka but it's currently out of stock and the mvp figure is the same as the trekmates one (10,000 g/m2-24hr)
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Breathable is relative - breathable doesnt mean porous, so it will never be able to keep up with you rolling it up and trapping air.
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I take your point Simon, I just judged it compared to a stuff sack with an Event base and also a Goretex bivvy. If it works even reasonably well I'll be happy but it only cost £19 anyway.
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Aand...you pays your money and takes your choice! I got one too...as, it is lighter than and unlikely to be less breathable than the old orange bivvy bag
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Indeed, the money question. What I would have liked is this. MLD Superlight
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But is it £130 more effective than what you have?
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For what I want maybe not. I could make some kind of mozzie hood, elasticated to go over the top half of the bag. I only really need something to protect my sleeping bag from drips or in case rain gets blown in under the fly, for stand-alone use I'd use a proper enclosed bivvy bag. I still need to keep the weight under the weight of the inner tent though. I've got the flysheet pitched up with the footprint attached, I'll let it stay up over the weekend and try it on Monday night. I need to test the flysheet as it's a pretty worn one and looks like the seams need resealed and redone with fabsil.
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HI RAB Storm bivi £45 in theoutdoorshop.com if you enter BMC as a promo code
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I can't seem to find it, is it an old model as it isn't on the RAB website either. Sorry, checked again and it is listed on the RAB site  A bit more than I need TBH, I only want a water resistant cover really as I already have a proper GTX bivi bag but thanks anyway 
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| Edited: 28/11/09 21:15 |
I tried the bivvy bag last night and it worked pretty well. The temperature was below freezing and the inside of the tent/fly was iced up. There was no condensation inside the bivvy except where my breath had condensed due to pulling both sleeping bag and bivvy over my face. I'm not really surprised, I didn't expect it to be as breathable as my goretex bivvy and shouldn't have pulled it around my face although I'm curious about the weight of the basic MOD mummy shaped bivvy bags. If anyone has one they could weigh I'd appreciate it. I wanted to make sure there was a big difference between the outside temperature and the temperature inside the bivvy so used 2 sleeping mats, a POE Peak Oyl Lite full length self inflate with a Millets dual layer (4 season?) CCF mat on top which was a really warm combination, I used my PHD Minim 500 and wore a full 'Serious' synthetic baselayer. I imagine that should have been enough to encourage condensation inside the bivvy bag. All in all it's was worth £20, it's light at 311g inc stuffsack and packs down to about the size of a 500ml bike bottle.
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 I have one as well and think it's terrific value from TKMaxx - perfect sleeping bag cover under a tarp I would have thought
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I have one as well and think it's terrific value from TKMaxx - perfect sleeping bag cover under a tarp I would have thought That was my reason for buying, not under a tarp as such but to allow me to use the fly sheet only of my tent.
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have one also and found it to be great value for money.
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.jpg) I'm curious about the weight of the basic MOD mummy shaped bivvy bags. If anyone has one they could weigh I'd appreciate it. If you mean the goretex bag, there are several reviews on OM and the are mentioned in numerous threads. I don't have one but sem to recall people saying they were around 1kg?
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Cheers, too heavy then, my Mountain Range goretex one is only 596g and is the type that closes with zip & velcro.
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.JPG) I'm curious about the weight of the basic MOD mummy shaped bivvy bags. If anyone has one they could weigh I'd appreciate it.
If you mean the goretex bag, there are several reviews on OM and the are mentioned in numerous threads. I don't have one but sem to recall people saying they were around 1kg?
mine is just under 800g much bigger/tougher/and more breathable than my Rab SZ. (I don't actually use it v. often though!)
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Thanks Mole. People seem to like them, relatively heavy though they are. Good price for basic kit.
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