Alpkit Hunka or not?

Thinking of pulling the trigger on an Alpkit Hunka bivvy XL bag.

Can anyone think of a reason not to (other than it being only 450g lighter than my tent)?  Is there a better alternative I should be considering? 🙂

What usage are you wanting it for? Sounds a daft question but not all bivy bag designs are the same.

I’ve a Hunka XL as it’s the only reasonably priced bivy bag that will take an inflatable mat, my winter sleeping bag AND me.

The Hunka (and XL) aren’t completely waterproof as they just use a draw cord arrangement around the head so if you want it as a standalone bivy bag then you aren’t going to keep dry in a downpour.

Interesting @whitestone. Yep, I’d want something with a modicum of waterproofing.  Generally I’d be taking my tent (got a nordisk telemark lw2 (which I can highly recommend)) but a bivvy for places I wouldn’t pitch a tent (e.g. top of snowdon as it’s cheeky, but nobody could complain if a sad old bloke was taking a warm lie-down waiting for the dawn)…

No tarps for me.  If I had to carry a tarp too I’d take my tent…

Given how rocky the summit area of Snowdon is I doubt you’d be able to pitch a tent 🙂

The material that the Hunka’s made of is waterproof but you’d need something extra for the head end. I use a very light bivy along with a tarp (bear with me), the combo’s good when it’s raining as the tarp deals with the majority of the dampness and the bivy bag deals with the remaining spray/splashing or condensation. If the weather’s fine then the bivy will do on its own, it’s mainly to keep the wind and bugs off.

That latter point is mainly why I don’t use the Hunka in summer as there’s no mesh to cover the head area. Our bivy bags are from Borah Gear in the States, even with postage, duty and VAT they were roughly the same price as the Hunka XL. They won’t handle anything more than light rain though but for our usage they are fine.

Don’t know if there’s a readily available bivy bag with bug net here in the UK as I haven’t looked. There’s a blog post on Alpkit’s site about why they can’t make the Hunka completely sealed – build up of CO2 basically.

@whitestone – I’ve camped up there in a 1-man tent a couple of times. The best place is not on the summit but over near the big stone that marks the junction of the paths, it is much flatter there and almost the same views.

Hunkas seem good value, but then there is the waterproofing/midge net issue highlighted above. I’ve got a Terra Nova Jupiter which covers both those bases and is great for low impact/subtle stopovers. Plenty of room with the single hoop to shuffle about and keep some extra things dry, but low profile enough to go a bit more unnoticed. It is expensive and no idea how it compares to the weight of the tent. Basically if you want more protection then it’s take a tarp or pay more for a bivvy tent.

To be fair, if I want to bivvy I can look at the weather report..

Sleep on your side, with the mouth hole pointing sideways. It will keep most of the rain out.

If it was completely sealed, you could get loads of condensation inside. Best to have a hole for breathing out of.