• Lightweight - compared to a traditional tent, a bivy is often much lighter for the price and protection you get. Ultralight tents and tarps can offer solutions with similar or even less weight, but they will not come close to a bivy on price when they get to a comparable weight.
• Size - smaller pack sizes allow you to take smaller backpacks then normal which is ideal when moving fast and light in the hills and mountains. The space needed to use your bivy is hard to beat when compared with a tent footprint, plus guy lines. Essentially, if there's enough space to lie down, there's enough to sleep in your bivy.
• Ease of Use - most bivy bags take seconds to set up. Compared to the time and effort in pitching most tents and tarps this is a huge bonus. Forget fiddling with pole, guy lines, pegs and just roll it out and throw your sleeping mat and bag inside and you're good to go.
• Warmth - a bivy can significantly increase the temperature range of any sleeping bag so using a bivy can allow you to take a lighter sleeping bag, shaving off more weight. Emergency, foil bivy bags are excellent examples for this and I have slept in my summer bag in unseasonably cold conditions and it was more then warm enough for me.
• Protection - depending on the type of bivy you choose, they can offer anything from emergency shelter through to rugged, four season use. For the low weight in the worst conditions they certainly out perform the vast majority of lightweight tents and provide a lot of value for money against other four season tents.

A number of our staff have bivy bags and use them regularly. We are big fans of this style of camping. You certainly feel a lot more connected with the environment and your surroundings. Being able to look up at the stars from the comfort of your sleeping bag is a pretty unique experience and it is one that everyone should try at least once. Going when the weather is good is the best way to start but, admittedly it isn't going to be for everyone.

Before buying a piece of kit like a Bivy Bag you really need to ask yourself a few questions to decide firstly, if a bivy is the right piece of kit for you, and secondly, which bivy best suits your needs. You should consider some of the following questions;

• What do you want to use it for? Emergencies, fast and light overnight outings, extended multi-day trips, climbing, solo trips?
• How frequently will you use it? Occasional, fair weather trips? Regular three or four season use? Rare, emergency situations?
• What kind of conditions are you most likely to encounter when using it? Is it for use on exposed mountain summits or sheltered glens or forests? Do you need insect protection?

There are ways to make a bivy trip more enjoyable so it's important you give some thought to your set up.

Consider your choice of sleeping mat and sleeping bag. Using a pad that matches your trip and the bivy you have decided to take. The lighter model bivys are best coupled with lighter pads, while four-season and winter bivys are best combined with a warm and durable model but in either case it needs to be able to cope in the terrain and conditions you're likely to encounter.

As you would normally, pair your sleeping bag with the conditions forecast but also bear in mind the size of your bivy. A huge warm sleeping bag with loads of loft may not fit in some of the more streamline, snug bivy bags. Another area for consideration is the down vs synthetic, especially with the condensation and potential precipitation you're like to encounter.

Finally, think about a tarp with your bivy set up. The use of a tarp can create more of a shelter from the elements where you can cook, sit around and generally be more comfortable. I find that it is worth the weight penalty when rain is forecast or I'm going with others on a trip as it makes for a good communal space.