SOL Emergency Bivvy REVIEW

Today on Fellwalk we're really pushing the boat out, by reviewing a plastic bag. Not just any old plastic bag though: this is the 'SURVIVE OUTDOORS LONGER' Adventure Medical Kits Heatsheets® Emergency Bivv

For years we've dutifully carried 'space blanket' type survival bags whenever we've gone onto the fells. We've never had occasion to use one, thankfully, and we're doubly pleased about this because, let's face it, space blanket material would be useless in an emergency. The slightest tug and it tears itself to shreds: goodness knows how you'd fare if injured on some rocky hillside in a high wind. So for a while we've been looking for something better. Luckily, with the SOL bivvy, we've found it.

The bivvy is constructed from a tough, slightly stretchy polythene which is a shiny orange on the outside - and potentially highly visible to rescuers - and silver on the inside, which the makers claim reflects back 90% of body heat. We tried it out in a non-emergency situation in one of the state rooms here at Fellwalk Towers, and can vouch for the fact that it keeps you toasty warm. In an emergency, it could be relied on to block out wind and rain, and, if the situation warranted, you could even cut a hole in the bottom, put it over your head and use it as an emergency windproof / warm jacket until you reached safety (although people might stare).

The SOL Bivvy is about, ooh, 213 centimetres long, and perhaps, ummm, 91cm across: easily big enough for just about anyone.

It comes in its own little stuffsack, and whilst very quick to deploy, is somewhat harder to get back into the stuffsack, but as it's only intended for emergency anyway, chances are this won't be something you'd have to do too often, unless you were really unlucky.

The only advantage we can see that our old space blanket bag has over the SOL bivvy is that it weighs a few grams less: the SOL is 107 grams; our space blanket is 83 grams. For the sake of 24g, we're sticking with the SOL, and we're looking for a new use for our old space blankets. Suggestions on an email please.

To sum up:
Highly recommended as a gift for the clumsy, the unlucky or the easily over-excited hill-walker in your life. In fact, EVERY hill walker should ALWAYS carry one of these. We give it a gold star, and 10 out of 10.

The lowest prices we can find for outdoor gear often seem to be on Amazon these days, and this is true for the SOL bivvy: