Urban Bushcraft

Weather can make or break a camping trip, I was camping with the Scouts and with it being June I packed my summer sleeping bag. I arrived on site and the Sun was out so I was confident I had made the right selection, then as the afternoon turned to evening the rain came and the temperature dropped. A few hours later I climbed into my sleeping bag and settled down for the night, I woke in the early hours of the morning feeling very cold and after answering the call of nature I started shivering a little. I had already layered up before going to bed so I grabbed the Heatsheets Emergency Bivvy from my pack, I unwrapped it and climbed into it and then got back into my sleeping bag.

It only took a few minutes to feel the benefit of its heat-reflective polyethylene construction and I drifted back off to sleep, as it is not breathable I expected to wake in the morning saturated. I found that I only felt clammy, which I would be more than happy with if I was using this in an actual survival situation. I liked the feeling of space inside, its small size and weight when packed, the seams being fully sealed and weatherproof.

This product did everything I expected it and needed it to, so for that I give it 10 out of 10.

“The SOL Escape Bivvy is nothing less than a revolution in backcountry shelters. The complaint with most ultralight emergency shelters is the same: condensation builds up inside as you get warm, leaving your clothes soaking wet. With the Escape Bivvy, condensation is no longer an issue, and you never again have to choose between staying dry and staying warm.” That is quite a claim made on the Adventure Medical Kits website, one I was eager to try for myself as I have been looking at making my kit more lightweight.

In its pack the Escape Bivvy is much larger than the Heatsheets Emergency Bivvy, the weight is not too much. I do not do lightweight to the extreme where every possible ounce is trimmed from my kit so I will not be providing a breakdown here. I carry the Heatsheets Emergency Bivvy with me at all times due to its small size, the Escape will only be carried on hiking and camping trips. It will also be added to the kit I keep on hand at home in case of an emergency.

Being skeptical about being able to stay warm and dry I decided to try it out on a Camping trip the other weekend. So as I hunkered down inside my tent for the night I climbed into the Escape Bivvy, I found it was very snug. I prefer my sleeping bags to be on the large side so I can move about and add extra insulation in the way of a wool blanket inside the bag. Once I got used to the restrictive feeling, I realized my bag was toasty warm which is something I do not feel that often as my last few camping trips had mainly been sleeping solo with temperatures dipping to below -5°c on a few of them. This then lead me to think about the possible uses I would have for this product; hiking, camping, fishing, preparedness at home and Scouting. I then thought that if the Escape bivvy came in a larger size (L 215 / W 100cm) I would use it as a standalone sleeping bag in the height of summer and use it as a liner to my current sleeping bags on the colder trips.

I awoke in the morning for the final test, the bag is indeed breathable and the clothing I had on remained dry as a bone. I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who ventures out into the wilderness where staying the night in an emergency would be a real possibility, I would also recommend it to anyone doing their DofE award as this one product could replace your sleeping bag and your emergency survival bag. Overall it was restrictive feeling that stopped this bag getting full marks from myself and I am giving it an 8.5/1o, it would have scored a perfect 10 if I could have wiggled around and spread out when using the Escape Bivvy.