Sat here looking at my new Rab - Survival Zone Bivi Bag, just wondered if using the bag inside a tent had any benefits, or disadvantages. Or are you saying ..WHY carry a tent aswell, thats the point of a Bivi bag. ;-0....

Am saying WHY WHY WHY?

I am going down this path as well - If it's a nice night you can sleep under the stars, if it's a crap night and you have a down bag, then A) It's safe in your rucksack and B) It's safe from spilled drinks etc when you are cooking in your tent and condensation. Nights usually fall into category A or B... and this only ways 500g's (I'm not a light weighter)

Goooaaattt.

If you're going to use a bivi but want extra fxibility why not combine it with a tarp? Darren (weird one) used that combo wild camping in the Lakes last weekend and it worked well.

I can think of other things that weigh 500 grams that I'd prefer to take if I had a tent with me already.

Platypus of Whisky anyone?

Tarp camping is very valid I reckon and will definately make wild camping very 'wild'. I suppose people all have their own ways of doing things - drinking half a litre of whisky, which will dehydrate you to the point of a dried lizard, is not in my opinion a good trade.

Goat

tarp also worked well today Dave as well.
Was watching Farnborough airshow from Ceasars Camp, had tarp up originally to provide shade, but ended up as rain cover for 3 adults and 3 dogs plus picnic stuff!

Turnng out to have been a sound investment this tarp.

But yes I thought the tarp bivvi combo worked well last weekend.

Oh bivvi,tarp and sleeping bag weighed less than 1.5 kilos. By about 200-300 grams IIRC.

Tarp + Bivi + Scotland = Death by Midge at the moment though.

i use a homemade tarp &bivi (rab survival) combination with what i consider to be excellent results. this approach allows for star gazing nights, i always have the good fortune of seeing a shooting star on these clear nights. protection from the very worst weather and is very very lightweight. its also a much cheaper option.

on the negative side as mentioned above is the lack of insect protection. im gonna try insect reppellant on the tarp edges on my next outing. but by pitching in the dark you can avoid this problem as it appears midges are afraid of the dark.

also condensation could be a problem within the bivi espicially on longer trips in humid conditions.

I bought a PHD Minimus sleeping bag a while ago and I use it with a Rab Survival Zone when the weather is too cold for the bag alone to keep me warm. Having started using it for that, I've now found that I really like the extra security of knowing that if I tip my morning coffee all over the sleeping bag then I'm unlikely to soak it. Not that I've actually done that yet, but I'm sure there'll be a first time :)

...it appears midges are afraid of the dark

<fx: rushes out to replace whole walking kit with black stuff...>

hehehe,

I saw a thing in the blacks catelogue that repells midges - some elecronic gizmo that runs on an AAA and has a radius of 2m. it is light as hell, just clip on your belt and off you go. It is ultra-sonic so you will probably have every dog / fox / badger / bird running for their lives as well (which is bad IMO).

Goat

lol@pee,
<images of tight black PVC clad peewiglets roaming the hills>
midges run for cover (or fly)
very nice!

ill have to take a look at that midge repeller. be interested to hear if it really works goat.

I'll have to look for the details and let you know what it is...

<A few Minutes Later>

Can't find it - very wierd, I'll have another look after work. They really aren't that hard to make though dude. Just get a 555 timer chip from and electronics store and a circuit diagram that will turn out a sin wave. Get a peizo electric crystal for the output and use a potentiometer for the resistor that controls the frequency. Go into the mountains, wait for midges, turn it on and fiddle with the Potentiometer until all midges flee like satan himself is after them. Go home, measure resistance of potentiometer and frequency of sin wave and you have yourself a piezo-electric midge chaser that you can produce on mass.

Or I could just look for the one you can by for 5.95 hey ;)

Goat

In my experience of midge repelants and electronic deterants they only keep the midge a few inches away at best.

I have a small torch with integral midge deterant and I hang this from the porch. It does help but not as much as I would like.

The dreaded camakazee black midge is so bloodthirsty it will happily bite into your 100% DEET drenched skin whilst in the throws of it's death bed but at least you get the satisfaction of watching them die!

Deet does seem to work on the larger mosquitos though and is also great for melting the soles of shoes, eyecups of binoculars and probably any other synthetic material it gets on too. Use it wisely!

Even 100% DEET doesn't deter the Kinlochleven midges. There's only one way to stop yourself becoming food for the Scottish midge - keep away from the place until the summer's over.

Spent from 8pm last night to 8am this morning taped inside my tent. Outside it sounded like rain, but was a fleet of midges buzzing around the tent. My black shreddies on the guy-washing-line were almost wholly grey from the wee blighters.

Spent the evening picking out chocolate bits from the GORP bag, and draining the last of the malt from my thumb-sized flask. Oh, the horror.

They were still there in the morning. I put on fleece, Sealkinz gloves and socks, and fashioned a midge-headnet from my spare t-shirt. Wearing this ensemble in the heat, I broke camp.

The 'mozzy off' juice may have made some difference, but I've added a real midge-headnet to my shopping list. The visibility from inside a TNF wicking t-shirt is terrible. Maybe they do a see-though one?

The little b*st*rds were going straight through my mozzie headnet in Glencoe a couple of weekends ago :-(((

I'm sure midges have a use, just not sure what.
I had one of those mozzie headnets bought for me for Xmas. Not had to use it yet (touch wood).

Darren - midges are food for birds and bats - but as birds and bats are in decline - I guess the midge-count goes up.