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Highlander Rip-Stop Bivi Bag
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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1
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6774
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22/10/06
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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None indicated
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9.0
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Description:
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No-nonsense bivi bag by Highlander, ideal for use in mil-sim events where players will sleep in the game area / events where players will have to carry sleeping equipment over considerable distances.
Official Specification:
Fabric: 190T ripstop nylon material for increased durability, 4000mm H.H. polyurethane waterproof coating.
Seams: Waterproof taped seems.
Dimensions LxW: 240x60cm
Pack size: 21x7x7cm
Weight: 310g
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Keywords:
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Bivi Bivvy Bivvi Bag Sleeping Cover Highlander
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Homepage/URL:
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http://www.highlander1.com/military/bivi/BIV04-RIP-STOP-BIVI-BAG.html
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Author
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Marlowe
Latest Marlowed Item: The toilet. :(
Registered: November 2004
Location: South Yorkshire
Posts: 305392
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Review Date: 22/10/06
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Lightweight, Portable, Easy Access
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Cons:
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Non-Breathable Fabric, Elasticated Draw-string would have been preferable.
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This is the first of two bivi bags generously offered for review of Gordon of Highlander. For those who are unfamiliar with the term ‘bivi bag’, this is a lightweight portable alternative to a tent, used for when sleeping in the field to keep your sleeping bag – and you – dry. A bivi bag is a must for any airsofter intending to participate in any milsim event involving sleeping in the gaming area, as well as being a convenient, quick-to-deploy alternative to a tent.
All images for this review, along with the field-testing, have kindly been undertaken by Ubar, an ArniesAirsoft Chatroom Moderator.
First Impressions:
As already mentioned, the primary advantage of bivi bags should be that they are highly portable. I’m pleased to report that here the Rip-Stop bivi bag excels, packing away to a small package little more in size than twenty by five centimetres. Further aiding the portability of the bivvy bag is the fact that its weight is unnoticeable when packed away in a day-pack or bergen, with a weight that I measured at just over 300 grams. In this sense then the bivi is excellent, making it ideal for any events which feature long patrols over which a heavier bivi bag might start to take its toll.
That’s all well and good you may ask, but what about the actual bivi bag’s construction? Is it any good? Will it keep me dry at night? Well, first things first. The bivi is clearly designed for field use, being composed (as its name my suggest) of rip-stop nylon which mean that it won’t tear the moment you rub up against the nearest twig – or any other of your usual vegetation / debris that you’d expect to find in your average woodland. Furthermore, as the photograph shows, the material has been fully waterproofed, and reinforced with well-sown taped seams.
The bivi’s bag drawstring hood further aids the waterproof nature of the bag, allowing the user to fully adjust the bag so that a minimum of the user’s head is exposed to the elements. This also means that it makes it exceptionally easy to fit a sleeping bag inside, and more importantly, to access yourself. After all, the last thing you need after a long tab is to find yourself struggling to access your bivi bag in the middle of a pitch-black forest!
Post-Skirmish Evaluation
As it really isn’t that practical for me to field-test two bivi bags (not to mention it being a little selfish if I had), this bivi bag was tested by fellow Arnies staff member, Ubar. Ubar took the bivi bag for testing at IED, an eight hundred acre milsim skirmish site several hundred feet above sea-level where long patrol games in dense mountainous woodland is the norm. This is the sort of a place where tents are really impractical, making a bivi bag the ideal solution.
In the field, Ubar found that the bivi bag’s portability was invaluable, its weight and practicality making it unnoticeable throughout the day. As the image above shows, Ubar found that he could easy pack the bivi and two-season sleeping bags together to save further space. It should be noted however that it is not advisable to camp in late autumn on the side of a welsh mountain with only a two-season sleeping bag for insulation!
At night the bivi-bag was relatively problem-free to deploy and set up, with Ubar using a folding kip mat to assist with comfort but, more importantly, with some further insulation of body heat against the cold ground.
For any new to using bivi bags, it is advisable that a small bed-roll is used to ensure that no debris on the forest floor damages the bivi bag under the weight of the sleeper. The use of a waterproof shelter overhead (Such as a poncho) is also advised during rainy weather, to keep any unwanted rain off the face. Ubar found the bivi bag reasonably comfortable, although he did state that in place of the standard drawstring cord he would have preferred elasticised cord to guarantee a slightly better fit around the hood (trapping the hot air generated by the body within and cold air and moisture from outside out), as well as making the bivi bag somewhat more versatile.
The next morning, Ubar found that the bivi bag had succeeded in keeping out most dampness from outside, as well as assisting to a minor extent with maintaining the temperature within his sleeping bag (although it should be pointed out that bivi bags are designed primarily as a water proof shelter and are not suitable replacements for insulated sleeping bags. However, Ubar did note some dampness within the bivi…
Stop sniggering at the back, nothing like that. After further examination, it was established that the non-breathable nature of the bivi bag meant that condensation on the inside caused by the moisture in the warmer air had been trapped inside the sleeping bag. As a result one possible area for the improvement could be the use of breathable material – although considering that this bivi retails at a much lower price than most other bivi bags on the market, this is not really too great a criticism.
Conclusion
To conclude then, this bivi bag is a no-nonsense effective method of keeping the user comfortable at night. The bivi-bag is lightweight and extremely compact, making it perfect for skirmish use, and well constructed to fine tolerances with no noticeable manufacturing issues. Any user using this should find it an excellent alternative to a tent, and I would consider this an invaluable piece of kit for any airsofter planning on attending larger milsim events where tents may not be appropriate. For those desiring yet more features however, keep an eye out for my Hawk bivi bag review, coming soon!------------------------------
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