ACOWAY Survival Blanket – Bivy Sack – Emergency Sleeping Bags for Survival – Sleeping Bag Suit – Versatile Orange Outdoor Gear for Unmatched Protection and Durability – Set of 3.9 x 1.9in

Having recently dealt with the limitations of a regular survival/space blanket (coverage to retain body heat versus block a side wind), I wanted to find a good bivy to use on my adventures. When I saw this bivy available, I wanted to try it out.Let me also say that I’ve spent many nights in a bivy, but those were non-survival bivies that I used with a sleeping bag and sometimes a tarp shelter as needed for wind or rain. This is not one of those and is going to be for an emergency situation. While you could use this bivy for that purpose it lacks some features and the durability of regular backpacking bivies.The bivy comes in a nice, orange, ripstop pouch with a whistle as a pull on the drawstring. While most of my packs have a whistle buckle on them, it’s always good to have another. Like all space blankets, the bivy is folded way down, so it requires some effort to open to the point that you can find the open end and get inside. It’s not nearly as crinkly as the blankets I’ve used, and it feels a little plasticky. Opening it, you can see that the bivy is made of two separate panels that are welded and taped. Depending on where I stand and how I lift it over my head, it seems to be about 6 feet and 4-5 inches long, though it has plenty of space inside to curl up in case you need to eke out a little more room to wrap it over your head. Just standing in it, I could really feel my body heat being reflected back at me. It’s not insulated at all, though, so the wood floor I was standing and then later lying down on definitely sucked some heat out of me. As a continuous tube, obviously it would block wind and by positioning yourself you could get out of the elements. That said, the bottom corners are cut off, which is obviously done to allow the bag to be repacked, but it does mean that it’s not waterproof. If you were in a situation where you needed to be waterproof, you could probably tape the corners or find some way to wrap them up and secure them. Speaking of repacking the bag, in a real survival situation you probably wouldn’t care about having to replace an inexpensive piece of gear that had just saved you if you had to just cram it into your bag. That said, it’s always nice to be able to repack and reuse gear to approximately what it had been for protection and easy transport the next time. I repacked the bivy on my wood floor, noting that when I unrolled it it was folded from the sides to the depth of the stuff sack (to create a really long piece) and then rolled or folded down to fit the sack’s width. Maybe you could stuff it all into the sack, but with the lightweight material I would rather treat it gently. So, with time to think about how to repack it and an ideal surface on which to do so, I started a timer to see how long it would take for me to lay it out, fold it, and put it back into the stuff sack. It was actually quite easy, and though it took me a bit over 4 minutes. It went well, ballooned less than many tents I’ve repacked, and fit easily into the stuff sack.Having something to protect from the elements and retain body heat in case of an emergency isn’t a bad idea. The key things I take from my review are that it is good for retaining body heat and blocking some elements, it’s not waterproof due to the corner cuts (though you could try to cover them), and it’s easily repackable and reusable. As soon in the picture, mine weighed 4.73 ounces in the stuff sack. Overall, I’m pleased with it, and it will be going in my gear for my next adventure.Recommended.