On this site, we spoke about the importance of having emergency shelter. For many, including us, the go-to items of choice have been tents and thermal blankets. However, there is another lightweight option to be considered – a bivy bag.
What is a Bivy Bag?
A bivy or bivouac bag is a bag made from a lightweight waterproof floor fabric, with a waterproof top. We can almost think of it as a very thin, light, waterproof outer bag that goes around both your sleeping mat and sleeping bag. Some have even said that bivy bags are better than tents due to their weather and water resistance.
Bivy bags or sacks are used by many hikers and adventurers for their lightweight material and versatile use. They can also be used in emergency situations and can fit in go bags without taking up too much space.
A bivy bag offers numerous advantages. Besides being lightweight, versatile, and cost-effective, it provides insulation that will allow for more warmth than a tent. It is also very easy to set up and pack away.
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Should I Get A Bivy Bag?
Because of being lightweight and cos-effective, we recommend taking a closer look at bivy bags. They won’t take up much room in your go bag and provides another alternative. In our research, we’ve seen cases where people have both a tent and bivy bag. However, we have not found pre-assembly emergency kits with bivy bags included.
Here’s what one site had to say about emergency bivy bags: “The emergency bivvy bag serves as your emergency blanket, survival shelter, and emergency bivy sack all-in-one. Use as tent footprint, rain poncho, emergency signal, emergency shelter, ground cover, bivouac sack, wind blocker, water collector, snow melt container and so on. The bright orange color survial bivvy sacks can help rescuers to find your location and get quick rescue.” This seems a win-win!
With that in mind, we have decided to add these to some of our go bags.
Recommended Bivy Bags
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S.O.L Emergency Bivvy Bag
What makes this bag recommendable is that it reflects 90% of body heat to prevent heat loss and is so compact and lightweight. It is an Amazon Choice item and comes highly recommended.
4 Pack Emergency Bivvy Sack
A 4 pack at this price point is not very common. Add the included whistles and the near perfect rating on Amazon makes this a no brainer for a go bag.
Please note: The words, BIVY and BIVVY, are used interchangeably to describe a bivouac sack/bag. We have decided to use BIVY BAG in this article.
