Outdoor Research Micronight Bivy

Small, light and well made
I'm well known for having tents for all seasons and liking cool kit. My first reaction when the Micronight Bivy arrived on the doorstep was that there had been some sort of mistake. The shipping box was way too small and light. When I opened the box and sure enough the Bivy was in there. I showed the packed Bivy to a friend his reaction was "that's it?". I already own an OR Advanced Bivy and I always had trouble putting it away after use. The Micronight comes in a bag that is not a tight fit for once. That said you can fit the whole thing inside my 1 liter cooking pot. The Micronight has no poles so there is nothing to lose. The Bivy is made out of two fabrics. The coated nylon floor looks waterproof but is shiny so you tend to slide a bit. I added some stick-on Velcro to hold my pad in place. I am six foot tall and the Bivy was a snug fit when inside the sleeping bag on top of a pad. This isn't for sheltering all day, just sleeping. The Bivy is a top loader so you slide in your pad and bag then slide yourself into the bag via the top and close the Bivy from there. I bought it for bug protection since there are all sorts of things that love to feast on me all night long. The bug netting over the opening works fine but I wish the bug netting zipper pulls were larger. I added some string to fix this. In theory you can sleep with the outer lid mostly closed but I tended to feel a little panicky and claustrophobic so I just pulled it up like a jacket hood and left the zipper wide open. The Bivy is supposed to be waterproof and I had no leaks when I used it. Due to my issues with claustrophobia I mainly used a Sil-tarp as a primary shelter and the Bivy to keep the pad and bag dry. One disadvantage with a Bivy is that you need to get out of your clothes to sleep and you can't change inside because of the tight space. In wet weather with nothing but a Bivy this can be a problem as can't get undressed outside because of the rain. The light weight tarp solves this problem and gives you somewhere to cook too. Of course you could just use a tarp alone but around here the bugs would eat you and rain splash would soak your bag. I don't know why I didn't think of this to start with but I realized after the first use that I can leave the pad and bag inside the Bivy and roll it up. With the zipper closed it keeps the bag dry and can be strapped to the outside of my pack. Pros: Light, small and very versatile. Cons: A snug fit for someone my size (6 ft, 200+ pounds). Fiddly zippers on bug net. Slippery interior surface. Tarp a must in wet weather. Conclusion: It does exactly what I wanted it to do. It keeps the bugs off me, keeps bag and pad off damp ground and I can sleep without worrying about the random overnight shower. If I suspect it's going to rain hard I have tents to chose from but who want's to haul a tent just because they're worried about the odd shower?

Small, light and well made
I'm well known for having tents for all seasons and liking cool kit. My first reaction when the Micronight Bivy arrived on the doorstep was that there had been some sort of mistake. The shipping box was way too small and light. When I opened the box and sure enough the Bivy was in there. I showed the packed Bivy to a friend his reaction was "that's it?". I already own an OR Advanced Bivy and I always had trouble putting it away after use. The Micronight comes in a bag that is not a tight fit for once. That said you can fit the whole thing inside my 1 liter cooking pot. The Micronight has no poles so there is nothing to lose. The Bivy is made out of two fabrics. The coated nylon floor looks waterproof but is shiny so you tend to slide a bit. I added some stick-on Velcro to hold my pad in place. I am six foot tall and the Bivy was a snug fit when inside the sleeping bag on top of a pad. This isn't for sheltering all day, just sleeping. The Bivy is a top loader so you slide in your pad and bag then slide yourself into the bag via the top and close the Bivy from there. I bought it for bug protection since there are all sorts of things that love to feast on me all night long. The bug netting over the opening works fine but I wish the bug netting zipper pulls were larger. I added some string to fix this. In theory you can sleep with the outer lid mostly closed but I tended to feel a little panicky and claustrophobic so I just pulled it up like a jacket hood and left the zipper wide open. The Bivy is supposed to be waterproof and I had no leaks when I used it. Due to my issues with claustrophobia I mainly used a Sil-tarp as a primary shelter and the Bivy to keep the pad and bag dry. One disadvantage with a Bivy is that you need to get out of your clothes to sleep and you can't change inside because of the tight space. In wet weather with nothing but a Bivy this can be a problem as can't get undressed outside because of the rain. The light weight tarp solves this problem and gives you somewhere to cook too. Of course you could just use a tarp alone but around here the bugs would eat you and rain splash would soak your bag. I don't know why I didn't think of this to start with but I realized after the first use that I can leave the pad and bag inside the Bivy and roll it up. With the zipper closed it keeps the bag dry and can be strapped to the outside of my pack. Pros: Light, small and very versatile. Cons: A snug fit for someone my size (6 ft, 200+ pounds). Fiddly zippers on bug net. Slippery interior surface. Tarp a must in wet weather. Conclusion: It does exactly what I wanted it to do. It keeps the bugs off me, keeps bag and pad off damp ground and I can sleep without worrying about the random overnight shower. If I suspect it's going to rain hard I have tents to chose from but who want's to haul a tent just because they're worried about the odd shower?