Bivy camping – fun or awful?
Read a lot of good stuff about it, but are there negatives to be aware of?
Also, are insects such as gnats and ants a problem?

Camping everytime.

You save very little if any weight with a bivvy and if the weather is poor you are cold and miserable.

I have spent far too many cold wet nights in a bivvy.

Bivvying everytime.

You save plenty of weight with a bivvy (not that that's the point)and if you plan badly and the weather is poor you are cold and miserable but otherwise it's unsuprisingly okay.

I have spent far too many ace nights in a bivvy.

For balance like.

Hiya dave – please explain how you save weight?

A tent can be easily got for not much more that the weight of a bivvy bag and tarp.

Pick the right spot and insects aren't really an issue, camp near boggy areas and an ants nest and you in for it.

Some tents are almost as light as some bivis.

Tenting is a lot more comfortable, but the main advantage I can see of bivvying is that you don't need to find a neat large ish flat spot. Much easier to just curl up anywhere (in theory).

Whenever a bivy thread comes up I'm reminded of what I heard from outward bounds instructor.

"Any fool can stand to be uncomfortable for one night."

Try it and decide for yourself. I like it and I like camping also.

Insects are not a problem, it can be missable but it can also be great. When you're in a tent you are safe from rain and elements but also a little more dettached.

When you're in a Bivi you fall asleep while looking at the stars, wake up a few times in the night see how the stars have moved and generally wake up and watch the sun rise which is great also. This is something that is brilliant and should be done.

If it rains and it's coudy and you're out for a few days then a tent makes more sense.

With the weather as it is today you don't need a tarp so yes, lighter than camping unless you want to buy a Terra Nova.

Like I say try it, worst thing to do would be to not try it. You may hate it you may love it.

A midge net over your foufou is a life saver though.

Some tents are almost as light as some bivis.

Q: How many tents can you get for £40 that weight 500g?

A: None

My bivvy weighs in at 460g where do you get a tent that light?

but are there negatives to be aware of?

People carping on that a tent is "better"? ;oP

a tarp tent dave.

oh – thats bivving! 😉

cheap hotels come with no view, expensive hotels come with amazing view.

bivi has amazing view, tent has no view. make your own correlation.

bivvied out the wetest night this year

woke up dry and warm – was awesome fun – going again tonight – with a special 'long range' tarp that i made on tuesday. 8)

A sub 500 gramme bivvy that is breathable?

Do you not use a tarp as well? Then you need cords and stuff to pitch the tarp. No weight saved.

Even so – a decent one man tent is only a lb or so heavier that just a bivvy bag.

Its just my experience – but then I go multiday out into the wilds not in a field next to the pub.

So thomthumb – how heavy is your bivvy bag, tarp, and whatever you use to hold the tarp up?

I've slept out in a goretex bivi a few times.
I'm thinking of having a go at ultra lightweight camping on the bike and wondered about getting a hooped bivi as a compromise between a bag and a tent.
Best, or worst, of both worlds ?

Climbing into a small bag in filthy wet clothes in the dark whilst it's pissing down with rain. Then climbing out of the soggy bag into more pissing rain in the morning.
That's bivving. 😉

but when your position has just been bumped and you need to make a hasty withdrawl or attack, tents are no good – bivvy all the way sonny, bivvy all the way!!

So thomthumb – how heavy is your bivvy bag, tarp, and whatever you use to hold the tarp up?

bivi – 390g
tarp – 360g
paracord – 50g
pegs – 50g (1@14g 4@9)

i could probably carry less paracord and lighter pegs.

also TJ i draw your atention that i reccomended the view not the weight. 😉

'I'm thinking of having a go at ultra lightweight camping on the bike and wondered about getting a hooped bivi as a compromise between a bag and a tent.'

yes worst of both worlds

hooped bivi, is not big enough to keep yourself dry then your getting changed/cooking, and the price/weight is the same as a tent + you cant see the stars on a night.

Sui – If your that close to the enemy you should not be thinking about getting your head down. 😉

Decent Poncho, (Australian lightwieght my choice) decent doss bag and no need for a bivvy bag, if its a bit wet, hammock, parachute type and poncho over the top, good enough for Malaya, Brunei, Belieze etc good enough for the UK.

I think we should have a proper test and an article in the mag, which is best, tent or bivvy?

criteria for comparison could be

weight
cost
speed of deployment and recovery
conspicuousness
comfort/warmth
view from your sleeping bag
pack size/ease of transportation on bike

bivi – 390g
tarp – 360g
paracord – 50g
pegs – 50g (1@14g 4@9)

i could probably carry less paracord and lighter pegs.

also TJ i draw your atention that i reccomended the view not the weight.

ah, you may also want to take some lightweight tent poles – the extending type – only two but make that creature comfort all the more better – it works well if you end up in a very sandy place with nowhere to "string up"

Ta Thom – so about the weight of a decent light one man tent then. Nowt wrong with the view from a tent. Just open the door and its there.

People try to claim its lighter when it simply is not significant. you can have a one man tent for under 700 grammes.

A sub 500 gramme bivvy that is breathable?

Yes

Do you not use a tarp as well?

No.

anokdale – Member
Sui – If your that close to the enemy you should not be thinking about getting your head down.

Decent Poncho, (Australian lightwieght my choice) decent doss bag and no need for a bivvy bag, if its a bit wet, hammock, parachute type and poncho over the top, good enough for Malaya, Brunei, Belieze etc good enough for the UK.

😆 wishful thinking

Nick – so long as it is more than 5 miles from a road and more than one night.

Dave – I meant to say that cost £40? sub 500 g breathable and under £40

Its really a horses for courses thing – I have done both for hundreds of nights in all parts of the world. Nowadays I would never go without my tent. I have had too many wet uncomfortable nights.

Nick – so long as it is more than 5 miles from a road and more than one night.

Yes I agree

I meant to say that cost £40?

When did cost come into the equation? Is that the cost of a lightweight one man tent? I think the Terra Nova is a bit more than that….

In his Ace little book, 'The book of the Bivvy' Ronald Turnbull is totally honest about multi-daying in a bivvy.

He says you have to 'enjoy some discomfort'. Seems fair enough if you ask me.

There is great emphasis in mixing overnighting choices, especially when its wet – i.e. bivvy one night, bothy the next. If out for multiple nights, he recommends making sure there's a B&B, Hotel or youth Hostel in order to dry out all your clothes and gear, since moisture is the biggest problem.

I think for a night out as something to do, Bivvying is fine.

Chew, that's kind of what I thought.
My biggest problem is that I always roll off the mat in the night, I thought a hoop at each end might hold me in place. 🙂
I've always slept with just the bivi and no basha when I've been on my own. I just zip it up if it rains.
Is everyone else using a basha ? Can you use the bike as a prop somehow to cut down on the number of poles needed ?

you can have a one man tent for under 700 grammes.

can you point me to a supplier for that?

Quite like my Quechua lightweight tent I got from Decathlon, 1.6kg double skin (that's on my scales, they claim 1.8kg on the website 😯 ), but it's not as flexible as a bivvy bag, can't pitch it in a bus shelter, or a barn, or on a sheltered ledge, or a cave. For some reason it seems more important to find flat ground with a tent, whereas you can just curle up in between rocks in a bivvy bag.

Dave – nick claimed that a bivvy could be had for £40

Nick
http://www.tiso.com/shop/terra-nova/laser_photon_elite/

that is a very light tent mind you but under a kilo is easy. I used to use a two man tent that weighed a kilo. I now use a very robust and large two man tent that weighs more like 3 kilos – but I have slept in it for weeks on end and even in serious gales and storms up in the mountains. two persons bivvy kit would a kilo and a half or 2 kilos.

Who wants to sleep in a bus shelter or a barn FFS

Can you use the bike as a prop somehow to cut down on the number of poles needed ?

yes. but i don't take poles i just use fallen branches or tie it to a tree.

spot the two tents bottom left – there is a bothy a couple of miles away but no other shelter for many miles.

Note the helpful trees to hang your tarp from

I reall really would not want to be somewhere like this in a bivvy if the weather broke

I once bivied just by a glacier in the alps, ready for an ascent the next day. We were almost 3000m up, and as I lay there the stars were utterly incredible. Never seen anything like it before or since. The stars went all the way to the horizon without thinning out.. more stars than you ever thought there could be. Amazing.

So I lay there.. and laid there some more, and some more.. what time is it? Only 11.30.. bugger… right what time is it now? 12am.. shit… this is going to take all night..

I reall really would not want to be somewhere like this in a bivvy if the weather broke
Or if the river flooded 🙂

Btw I've slept in a Laser, and whilst a tent, it isn't exactly palatial unless you have the 2 man one and you are on your own. In which case it still stacks up fairly well in weight terms against a bivi but is lovely. It's pretty cramped for two tho. Having said that, when there's two of you you need two bivis which definitely weigh more than the laser 2 man.

Firstly you've "camped up" in a valley giving away all the high ground around you – perfect ambush alley,

Second – right next to water -as has been said, flash flood and you're a gonna!

there's some half decent dead ground to the right further up the hill – get into it! job jobbed…

Sui – I'm a civilian. 🙂 We don't need to thik about things like that. The only thing we were under attack by was midges and clegs

No flash floods – its in Scotland. You would have plenty of warning of a river rise