The bivi not showing up in time for my birthday camp pissed me off somewhat but in retrospect, a better night was had by all thanks to me heading out with my tent for a chilly damp night with pouring rain.
Trying the new bivi outdoors for the first time in December last-minute with the potential to leave myself no opportunity to return it if I were disappointed was not a good plan so, I was saved from myself. Now that the bivi has finally arrived, I have put off off pitching it outside until I've got a clear head to check out all the things it's supposed to address about the old bivi.
If you're in the market for a new bivi and, like me, are falling short on detailed reviews of the Jupiter Lite from Terra Nova which seems like such a good product but you'd really like to know more before committing £200 to a plastic bag, then read on.
One of my biggest bugbears was people reviewing it without actually seeming to have slept out in it. Guilty as charged for now but I'll update this post after it's first tough outing - which I hope won't be too far away.
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"The Unbagging"
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First out of the bag impressions were good. It was a little weightier than my Z-packs solplex tent but smaller in dimension - which was the point of a bivi bag. The components are the bag, it's pole (with a pole bag) and 6 aluminium pegs which, after touring with 8 titanium pins, felt like the heaviest part of the pack.
I initially "pitched" the bivi in my loft with a plush carpet to hold pole ends and (obviously) no pegs.
The pole was easy to thread through, even though my hands were a little chilly from the cold loft. There's a hole where the storm flap is which had me threading the pole into the wrong space until I realised there's a continuous sleeve for it in a slightly different location. Now I've learned that though, I don't think I'll make the same mistake again. However, it is possible to use the storm flap as an easy quick thread if your hands are really fooked and you're struggling and desperate for shelter. So whether that was their intention or not, I've tested it and it's an option. Subsequent performance not guaranteed!
I threw my Rab Neutrino 400 sleeping bag in it and Thermarest Neo Air standard size mat and shook everything down and laid it out. My first impression is that without any pegs, the hoop does a pretty good job of standing upon its own. I added a Thermarest inflatable pillow for extra comfort.
It's also handy not to have the hoop pegged up because you can flap it forwards around your waist to scoot further into the bag - more wriggle room to get in and out. Without the guys out though, the storm flap would be floppy leading drips to fall into the open bivi or onto your lap or back of your neck instead of rolling away, so I imagine on a rainy camp those guys will get pegged.
Talking of wet, another advantage I noticed when I got in it first time - even without thinking about it - I managed to keep my feet and bottom on the goretex skirt that forms the head end of the bag. I only needed to put my hands on the carpet ("muddy ground") so in terms of staying dry, this is a bonus.
The first test was the toe test. The problem with the old bivi bag (Terra Nova Discovery Lite aka "The Disco") is insufficient loft for my feet in the space available. I tend to sleep either on my front or on my back. On my front I lie with my feet off the end of the thermarest so I toss my sit mat to the foot of the bag to rest my feet on. I've done the same on the test for the Jupiter.
I also tested it lying on my back with my toes pointing up. The issue I have with the old bag is with my head undercover, my feet are pressed to the base where my size 9s squeeze all the loft and warm air out of the sleeping bag. I have to say, with my toes right at the bottom of the Jupiter bag I have the same issue - but shuffle up the bag 200mm and yay! there's still loads of space for my feet to loft and stay warm.
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Toes at the end
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Moved back a bit
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I guess I can use the feet end to store something - though I'm not sure what I'd want to stash that far out of reach! The point is, with my Thermarest scooshed up to give me very cosy feet, my pillow is still on the goretex floor of my bivi and there's more space to go. At this point it's worth saying I'm not a normal sized woman. I'm 5'11". If you're a much taller person though, do some thorough research on sizing.
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There doesn't look like much space here, but at this point I had the bag rucked up underneath me!
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The hood test
I needed to stop thinking of this as a tent. I know if I want a tent-like shelter, I'll need to carry a tarp too so this is never going to replace my Cuban fibre tent which is lighter than the bivi by 1 ounce (28 g), not in any way breathable, a bit drafty and needs good pegging ground. It's good for wild moorland locations where there's peggable ground and no-one to notice me or legal camping rights.
Before I bought the bivi, I knew how small the hoop height was because I measured it on me. I knew I wouldn't be able to sit in it but it was a bit taller than me lying on my side or upon elbows.
Here we are with the glory glow of the Loft window behind. I have so far been overjoyed at the ease with which I can fidget around in the bag without getting tangled. Even without pegs it's like someone holding the covers up so you can turn over. There's enough space either side of the neo-air mattress that I can move it into place by supporting myself on my elbows and toes.This is great for those awkward moments when you're finally inside it and realise you've pitched on an uncomfortable rock.
For a moment, I was wondering what had happened to the cavernous space I had been promised and realised the bag was rucked up underneath me. It was easy to straighten out. So pegging it out might have prevented the issue all together - or made discomfort more difficult to resolve.*
* That's something to be answered in a field test.
With the 2 hoods up (there's a mesh one and a goretex one), I instantly loved it even more. The hooped bivi touts the benefits of getting rid of the feel of claustrophobia. Claustrophbia has not been an issue for me win the flat bivi, I find it cosy but I'm more concerned about being cold and getting a bit clammy.
With the bug net only the cold air in the room (outdoors) permeates through easily. Although this is a loft test, it's the coldest room in the house, the heating had been off for some time and the temperature outside was -1degreeC. With the gore-tex hood up, the temperature instantly increased from breath and body heat.
There's the mandatory notice sewn into the doorway about not having fires inside tents and always keeping vents open so you don't die of CO2 / CO poisoning or setting fire to yourself. There's some weight to be saved from cutting that out. (Keeping it for 200 years and wondering what the hell it came off).
The gore-tex hood has a small mesh panel at the top which means, effectively a mandatory vent. How much ventilation it gives if you snag the storm flap down over the top isn't clear yet.
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Showing the mesh flap that's a part of the Goretex door which allows some ventilation, even with the door fully closed.
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What it does mean is, if you have the goretex door half open. it's the softer mesh that rests on your face, not cold shiny goretex. Pull the goretex door zips down far enough and it's stashed out of the way in the floor pan - just hope you wake up when it starts raining to prevent moisture falling inside the bivi. I usually find the sensation of a wet face is enough to wake me up.
On the subject of claustrophobia, some people prefer a white goretex liner to get rid of that coffin-feeling. The interior of this bivi is dark green. Fine by me, I prefer my nights dark.
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Loads of shoulder space with the saggy storm flap hanging down - should be pegged out.
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With the hood up the size really does come into its own. In the pic above, I have my A5 tablet at the head of the bivi making notes. I could fit my 20 litre rucsac here.
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Clear space above my head and shoulders
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When I lie on my side there's a full 4.5inch hand width between my shoulder and the "roof". I can run my arm over my hip without straining the goretex fabric or compressing the down.
I also managed to scrunch the sleeping bag to the bottom, negotiate removing and replacing a pair of leggings (OK, PJ bottoms, it's 2020 - don't judge me!) and got back into the bag with much more ease than I expected. I've got long thigh bones so that was a surprise. It allows me to add or remove (yeah right!) an extra layer at night without getting wet if it is raining. I can't guarantee I'd be able to do it without getting cramp after riding or hiking all day though!
When lying on my back, the bag is cavernous allowing full down loft around where my hands usually live - on my belly or by my sides. Even my ever-cold feet warmed up in this cold loft trial.
• • •
Other things the reviews don't say (because they're too busy going on about not suffocating). The hood zips are two-way which is great. The one way zip on the disco had me committing my back to the wind which wasn't always aligned with the slope of the land or the scenery I wanted to wake up to. Also, wind changes direction.
One person recommended getting reflective tags for the zips and different coloured ones might be an idea to differentiate the mesh zipper from the goretex zipper as I constantly got hold of the wrong one. They're quite jingly though so I'd say not too difficult to locate in the dark.
In the hooped bivi the two way zip gives the sleeper the choice of ventilation where it 's wanted: at the top because hot air rises; or at the side away from the breeze - or into the breeze if you need to ventilate heavily.
• • •
Tarp Theory
Tarpiture
with this bivi would be useful in the current climate where
self-provision of brews and porridge has been more of an essential than
an indulgence. I've been trying to come up with an excuse to take this
out and play in the snow instead of taking the tent. That would mean a
night in its current form - sprawled on the floor of a building
somewhere, or under a cliff somewhere sheltered - un pegged but also,
possibly, bloody cold.
Speaking of which I'll disturb the cat off the four-season bag and do a proper full winter (indoor) test.
I have been considering a tarp
pitch with this bivi for that all-round tenting comfort. Anything at the head end to keep the rain off
would need to be big enough to sit up in to enable access and egress
through the opening of the bivi. It would detract somewhat from the ability to star-gaze and wildlife-watch.
Because the head end already has a built-in shelter, a
foot-end shelter could be nice for gear storage and extra wind protection
for the areas pressed closest to the goretex fabric.
Should
one be feeling really soft, a tunnel bivi would give extra rain or snow
protection. I'd be considering this for bad weather forecasts where I
know I need to brew up too and I want to sit somewhere dry to do it.
For
lightweight, stove-free, sleep-when-you-drop style travel, I considered a
tarp-only, no pole, flat sheet (Ugly tarp) to peg out taught over my bike, boots, lid rucsac, coat and
anything else that's so disgusting I don't want it in my bivi bag but I
don't want it to get any wetter overnight either.
I
have also considered a Porch tarp, using the hoop off the Bivi as a
support on one edge and my tall tent pole on the other edge to give me
an open view and a seamless transition from lying down to sitting up.
This isn't really a recommendation - more of a reminder to self to try it sometime.*
Extra Features
While I'm in the bag though, I
should also say how well put together the zip space is. So far I
haven't snagged the fabric at all except for that annoying floppy
fire-warning ticket that's definitely coming off.
I
had it in my head that there was supposed to be a pocket in this bag
but, having investigated, I think that must be the Rab eVent Ridge-raider bag - a self-confessed "almost a tent" which I discounted because I already have a tent and I like being able to look up at the sky. Weight-wise, I
can't really mourn the loss of a pocket for my glasses as they usually
live in my helmet. Apart from the head-space for a book (according to the hiking clan) or a Rucsac, (for those of us rehydrating from a camelbak!), there's not a LOT of extra space for kit. The Rab Ridgeraider is 5cm longer and taller (and heavier) and one reviewer claims to have got dressed and packed away his kit inside whilst a storm raged outside. I can't say this would happen in the Terra Nova, unless you want to do a lot of lying on cold goretex pressed against wet ground outside.
To prove how visible the world is through the mesh, the cat has obliged and moved so time for the 4 season bag test. As its built by Terra Nova I have no concerns that this mesh will keep out midges as well as larger beasties.
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A (thankfully) disinterested editor in chief
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I
bought this winter sleeping bag in 1997. Down was fairly new to mainstream
outdoors world or maybe just new-to-me as I scrimped together the cash
on the basis I was being paid £35 per right expenses for a "hotel" and
was spending £10 per night for a campsite in Kircaldy in November. Ah,
those were the best and worst of times. In trying to ID the sleeping
bag's origins or it's temperature rating, I have noticed that the care
label still has the phone number for the shop where I'm supposed to get
it dry cleared in Sheffield, even though I bought the bag in the sale at
an outdoor shop in Dunfermline.
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Some very specific care instructions. I did wash this bag once, in the bath at home. It was like trying to drown a sealion.
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What
I can tell you is it's the only bag that makes me grin like an idiot
when I get in it and it requires an entire handlebar bag all to itself
to transport it.
Since I've moved enough to fetch my 4-season bag I've realised it is lunchtime and my sandwich has given me more reason to admire and critique.
I had wondered about the guy lines as they are clearly oriented to cross right in front of the bivi entrance - one of the few negatives cited by one other reviewer. The guy loops are simply tied but robust and fitted with linelocks for easy tensioning.
There's a toggle to sinch down the storm flap but it's only on one side which seemed a bit weird.
Whilst I appreciate this for weight saving, it only really applies the tension on that side of the storm flap. The cord runs all the way over the hood and is elasticated so for a while it just stretches instead of applying any real tension all the way along. Some substantial messing about outside the bivi pulled some of the tension through to the other side but by then the tight side was scarily tight, the goretex started to snag in the toggle and 18 inches of floppy elastic was sticking out of the bivi.
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Rucked on the left, still saggy on the right.
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If I find the storm flap tension to be an issue I'd contemplate re-working with a toggle at each end or some less stretchy cord so the tension is evenly distributed. Were I to tighten this from inside a) it would take a while b) I'd be warm by the time I'd finished c) I'd need to undo it again to get out as it really does close off the opening. If driving rain is the issue then I guess this is a good thing.
• • •
Lunch is over, but before I get in the four season bag I have to mention the bivi's colour.
A big regret of mine with my Cuban fibre tent was not buying the brown colour. The bright silver doesn't half stand out in the open landscape of the Peak District. The target market of the bivi has always been stealth green and the technically-not-camping because it's not a tent argument. Do bear with me. This is an internal argument that could take decades of therapy to get over so accept me for who I am.
Not only is this bivi a wonderful dark yew tree green, it has a sheen that is the colour of Christmas. Given its arrival on 27th December, it is the messiah of bivi's.
The four season bag clearly fills more if not all of the space available
Getting into the four season Rab I am really pleased. Whether I go out for any more than one winter bivi remains to be seen but just look at the loft.
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The Jupiter
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The Disco with the same sleeping bag inside.
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Sitting upright with my feet fully flexed my toes are compressing the loft into the fabric of the bag but there's still plenty of sag in the fabric so I'm only losing loft to the compressive weight of the material in the bivi bag.
Lying on my back, there's still plenty of loft above my torso and hips. If I lie on my side the shoulders of my sleeping bag just touch the roof of the bag. There's no loft around my hips which possibly says more about the baffling in my old sleeping bag than it does about the bivi bag as there's still plenty of slack fabric at my waistline.
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Just enough and this sleeping bag is pretty epic.
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I guess that now my review is done the last thing to talk about is the price and the nit-picking little things. I'm all up for paying for high quality gear. I'm unlikely to buy a cheaper widget if there's a better, more expensive widget out there. As such, I now have a fleet of Terra Nova kit that's rarely let me down. Even when a 10 year old tent pole failed in Canada in a harsh Quebequois storm, the fabric did not tear and the pole limped-on via duct tape splint until it could be replaced a few days later. So I have no reservations about the durability or waterproofness of this kit.
I'm not sure you could achieve the bendiness of the aluminium pole with a carbon one but for the price, it would have been nice to see. However, a quick research of the pole reveals it's some high tech aluminium engineering and the weight is impressively low - just by looking at it, it's hard to tell that it's metal, not fibre. On balance I like the aluminium theory. Having stepped on a bendy C-fibre pole and snapped it in a woodland camp, I like the idea that I could pitch this bivi in a raging storm and have it survive. Whether I'm tough enough is another matter - but I'm certainly stupid enough and it would be nice to see my £200 bag survive - even if I don't.
The cheap, nasty aluminium pegs it came with will be added to the pile of shit we won't use until we're so old we're reverted to car camping again. From my bed I'm actually debating whether the weight of the bivi will match the weight of the Cuban tent if I leave the pegs out. My unpacking experience was one of, "crikey, these pegs are a third of the weight!". They also look like they
were sharpened by a small child using a grinding wheel.
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All different shapes and sizes.
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Finally in the robustness vs weight quality Dept, I'm not sure two chunky eyelets is necessary each side of the pole.
The other peg-out tabs have been reported to have come off by industry reviewers and with a single line of stitching holding them in, I can see why.
Again; they're bulky and as flat loops, they don't seem shaped for pegging out. I guess if you want to leave the bivi. somewhere for the day and do something without it the peg loops will stop it taking off in a breeze. Perhaps they'll also stop the foot end from flapping onto the sleeping bag causing soggy feet - will investigate and report back.*
Oh
yeah, there's the size thing though.
Compared to Cuban which isn't a breathable membrane: smaller, in this
case, is not consistent with lighter.
The Jupiter weighs 548g with 106g of pegs! For a hooped bivi there are only two lighter on the Ultralight website (Oudoor Research Helium (448g and no pegs) and the Lightwave Stormchaser (522g and 36g pegs)). Take out the pesky 106g of pegs and it is the lightest. It's almost half the weight of the Alpkit Elan hooped bivi (900g).
While the cuban tent is 28g
lighter and roomier, it is not as compact as the bivi which,
when packed to something an inch or two shorter, is 2 inches smaller in
diameter.
It's curved pole is a little less convenient but not
insurmountably so. I think the pole came with a little bag - to prevent it
snagging the bivi perhaps? However, when put to use I'm starting to
question whether this bag came with the Jupiter at all or is from
something else I have lying around the gear room? The pole doesn't fit in it and the toggle is completely
different from the one on the bivi bag and the other storage bag.
The
first time I packed the Jupiter away, I packed it quite tight then it
unfurled a little on the scales. I folded it into thirds which was a bit narrow and I had to wrestle it a bit to get it in
the bag with the pole but it went and at least the stuff sack is long
enough for the pole, even if the pole bag is not.
I repacked it folded in half which is good because you can wrap the wet groundsheet against itself with the theoretically dry upper sandwiched inside. We all know this theory doesn't pan out. Wrapping a dry bag inside a wet back and putting it in a bag results in two wet bags. Nothing will get away from that fact.
The bungee cord neck-pull on the bag can do one. It's too heavy,
too fiddly and ineffective at tightening the neck. It's already been replaced with some dynema cord that was kicking about on the floor. Again, the elastic just stretches until there's inches exposed when you finally get some tension. I'm starting to get the feeling bits of this bivi bag were
finished off a few weeks into lockdown when materials and parts were becoming scarce. Thery're no longer available at Terra Nova and Ultralight seem to have sold out (they're not on the website any more so I'm really glad mine finally showed up 24 days later).
The neck closure on the Disco bivi is good old Dynema cord - though this might have more to do with Bearbones Norm than Terra Nova.
So far, I love this bivi but it's a bit annoying when a £200 plastic bag comes with a to do list:
- rework pole bag to be long enough and shave a few grams by making it skinnier.
- clips to peg up the foot end for added loft - simple and I think might work to keep my feet that little bit warmer.
- Considering replacing the storm flap toggle with something smaller, lighter and non elasticated. Bigger project when I'm committed to keeping the bag - ie. have proved its water-proofness in the real world.
- Cut out the fire warning toggle - also a committed task
- make myself feel good about the expense and the extra 1oz of weight by testing to see if I can actually fit the bivi plus my big coat in my handlebar bag. This is bike packing Nirvana for me because I either have to wear my big coat or pack it in my rucsac.
- Test pegging out versus free-roam pitching versus a pegged pitch
- Test out porch tarp
Given that I'm quite excited about it, winter outdoor test coming soon.
