West Coast Bivy

Excellent product .. better if the designer included a roll down rain sheet for the rear panel, to supplement a tarp overhead.

This shelter goes up in two minutes if you take your time and nap in between staking it down and inserting the single pole. The stakes are the wire style but thick and pre-pointed for easy insertion. If you bend one of these stakes then you need to leave your sledgehammer at home. It has plenty of room for one person and gear and you can sit up with plenty of room for elbows and getting dressed. The entry door is easy to get in and out of. I'm six feet 170 pounds so not much of a challenge for space. If you are a Leviathan, you might want something bigger but at 87 inches in length, tall people should not be fearful of this shelter. The three sided bug net offers lots of ventilation. This tent will not offer protection for rain, snow, and cold. It is best in hot arid climates. If you need protection from rain, snow, and wind you will need to buy a tarp. The recommended tarp was 10 feet by 13 feet. When you add a footprint, large tarp, and the shelter - it all will fit in the stuff sack the tent comes with - the weight will go to 4.5 pounds or more depending on the material used for the footprint and tarp. The bath tub is nice and deep to keep out moisture and sand or dirt. The workmanship was very good on seems. I found it easiest to set the pole by inserting one end in the pole keeper, stabilizing the pole on the other side with one hand and setting the free end in the keeper by holding it at the very end.

Not a bad purchase if you are comfortable with setting up a tarp as opposed to a tightly fitting rain fly. It is light, easily adjustable, very breathable, and effective at keeping bugs out. The floor is also quite durable. However, if you are not used to setting up a tarp for water or wind protection, you may find this product more inconvenient than a single one man tent.Another added bonus to this product, in my opinion, is that the bivy is quite large when set up. You can fit two people in a bivy like this no problem. So for how light and affordable it is, I'll give it 4 stars. This would be a 5 star purchase if it came with a more tightly fitting fly.Also, I would only recommend use of this product in good summer or early fall conditions. I do not think this would be an ideal product to use in the winter or early spring.

Awesome! Light weight and great coverage. We used this on a recent hike of the west coast trail on Vacouver island.

Better than traditional tent set up and excellent for backpacking. My girlfriend and I used this set up for the first time last weekend for an overnight hike/camping trip and it was great. Of course it started raining before we got to the camp site but the tarp was easy to set up, and huge! There is plenty of room under this thing to navigate and cook outside of the tent but out of the rain. It was big enough for the two of us to snuggle and sleep as well without discomfort. Set up is super easy and is very light compared to other tents in this price range is a definite must. Can't wait to take it on longer hiking/camping trips.