In her review of the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Splash Bivy, Hailey Moore writes about why she prefers bivies over tents and offers her assessment of this featherweight dyneema bikepacking, or backpacking, sleeping kit companion.
I’ve spent a lot of nights in a bivy sack, more nights than in a tent by far. Using a bivy—a fully zippered cocoon-like sleeping bag sheath that provide a little extra warmth and protection from the elements—is how I started bikepacking. For my first couple of trips, I used one of those inexpensive and light aluminum foil-looking emergency bivys, but soon upgraded to Ultimate Direction’s FKT bivy.
I got lucky with this piece of gear. It proved to check almost all of the boxes: it’s light, breathable, compressible and quick-drying, and it came with one bendy pole (easy for putting in a frame bag) that threads through the mosquito mesh upper to keep the fabric off of your face while sleeping. (The hooped design only works ok and for most trips I have left the pole at home.) It is not waterproof—or even really water-resistant—but having done most of my bike touring in the Mountain West, this has never been much of an issue.
Ultimate Direction also came out with a nifty tarp to pair with the FKT bivy that can be tented using either a bike or trekking poles and a handful of tent stakes, and I’ve taken this on summer trips where overnight precipitation has been a concern (for cooler weather tours with questionable conditions, I have invested in a Nemo Hornet OSMO 2P tent that I highly recommend). I still use the FKT bivy, though selectively; Ultimate Direction stopped making them a few years ago and, with nearly six years of pretty heavy use, mine has started to show some wear. It is one of those pieces of gear that I will patch as many times as I can though to make it last, but knowing that its remaining trips are finite, I’ve been in the market for a replacement.
Hyperlite Mountain Gear Splash Bivy
Before finding Hyperlite Mountain Gear’s Splash Bivy, I was a bit frustrated with the options on the market. I couldn’t seem to find a design as light and compact as the FKT (8 oz), as most of the options boasted being waterproof and/or water resistant; those fabrics inherently add weight and bulk. Last spring, leading up to the Rapha Yomp Rally, I conceded my ideal bivy parameters and, out of necessity, purchased an Outdoor Research Helium Bivy ($225; 15.8 oz). Though we planned to ride together, my partner and I opted not to bring the tent for the 380+ mile ride from Santa Barbara to Santa Monica in an effort to try to keep the weight of our bikes down and to minimize morning and evening setup and breakdown time.
The Yomp course seemed plenty demanding and we wanted to keep these transitions efficient. As a quick aside, I think that tents provide a very pleasant alternative to bivies: even if it’s mostly psychological, I do feel more secure and safe enclosed in an actual shelter for the night and, of course, any surprise weather is less of a concern in a tent. Alternately, tents are much most conspicuous and don’t lend themselves to stealth camping. And, although I’ve toured solo a couple times with a compact, top-of-the-line one-person tent, I still tend to prefer the bivy-and-tarp combo because tents just take up so much of the scant real estate on my touring setup. For my mostly medium-sized bikes, I can’t bring tent without having either a front rack/panniers or a rear rack and the extra weight of this hardware is something I like to avoid if at all possible.
My sleeping situation during the Yomp was pretty miserable. Heavy fog shrouded the Los Padres National Forest every night and we woke each morning to a dense maritime mist. Maybe the Helium is waterproof, but the paradox of close-fitting waterproof gear—either bivies or apparel—is that if you spend too much time in them, whatever protective quality the product offers from external moisture is negated by the condensation that collects from trapped body heat on the inside. Consequently, I started each day of the Yomp in a soggy mood, with a soaked sleeping bag and wet bivy sack that I’d find time to dry later in the day. While I know, intellectually, that the Outdoor Research Helium bivy would likely perform much better in the more arid environs of Colorado, I’ve yet to take another chance on it.
Soured by my initial replacement bivy purchase, I was extremely intrigued when Hyperlite Mountain Gear released their Splash Bivy earlier this year. Hyperlite is known for making some the most featherweight gear in the backpacking biz—daypacks, lightweight tents, and tarps mostly, so the introduction of the Splash was a natural extension of the product line.
Quick Hits:
- Regular 5.55 oz / Long 6.29 oz
- Bathtub floor with 9″ tall side walls made with DCF8
- NoSeeUm mesh for maximum bug protection and airflow
- Designed for use with the 8.5′ x 8.5′ or 8 x 10 Flat Tarp, or Mid 1 Tarp
- 7D DWR micro ripstop nylon exterior shell
- $250
The Splash Bivy features a two-part construction: a bath-tub shaped footprint made from dyneema and a ripstop nylon and mosquito-mesh upper. The Splash Bivy is very tent-like; the four corners of the bivy’s tapered footprint are designed to be staked down while the upper features two hard plastic hooks (head and foot) and one central D-ring that combine to make the headroom chamber of the Splash three-dimensional when each point is attached to a guy line. Once the guy line is stretched and the bivy is strung, Hyperlite’s website shows their Flat Tarp folded over the bivy and staked to add weather protection.
Upon receiving the Hyperlite Splash Bivy, I was a little miffed that the box did not include a guy line or the requisite stakes. I can understand selling the tarp separately, but I did find that the lacking stakes and cord made the product feel incomplete; I mean, it’s $250 after all. Even if Hyperlite felt the need to bump that already premium pricepoint up by, say $10, to account for the cord and stakes (both of which they sell), I think that would feel more palatable then realizing post-purchase that you still aren’t ready to roll.
Set-up & Use
When comes to bivies, the setup is half the use. Unlike flat lying models that simply require you to roll them out on the ground, the Splash Bivy requires a little more consideration. Its tent-like design relies on a guy line and stakes, so the first steps in identifying a bivy spot with the Splash are finding stakeable ground and two adequately-spaced trees, or poles.
Upon initial setup of the Splash Bivy, I overlooked the central D-ring, assuming that it would also be a hook, so I had to undo one end of my strung guy line to thread it through this middle attachment point. This was easy enough to remember for future setups and I think that Hyperlite designed the three attachment points in this fashion to keep the middle (or top-ish third) of the bivy as the high point; both of the hooks on the end have an adjustable stretchy-cord tail to dial in the height and allow some give in the system.
I found that stringing the guy line and attaching the Splash, then staking the corners was the easiest order of operations. Getting the height of the guy line could be a little bit fiddle-y, but I ultimately realized that about hip height for me provided a nice, taut shape without putting too much stress on the staked corners.
Setup complete and once I had my pad and sleeping bag down inside, I found crawling into the 3D space a bit more luxurious feeling than a 2D bivy. The mesh-and-nylon upper kept the interior very breathable, and I found the hardwearing dyneema floor a big improvement from my beloved, but more flimsy, Ultimate Direction FKT Bivy.
Lightweight, inflatable sleeping pads always feel like they are one extra pokey stick, or sharp rock, away from puncturing and the sturdier dyneema floor has given me more peace of mind in protecting my sleeping pad. Dyneema is also touted for it’s disproportionate strength-to-weight ratio and, for the Splash, this certainly contributes to the bivy’s scant 6.29-ounce/178-gram weight (for the Long). The one caveat to dyneema is that it is susceptible to wear through creasing, so upon breakdown, it is advised to stuff the bivy into its stow sack rather than folding. Easy enough!
Design and Notes
While I am impressed by the Splash Bivy’s design, this is not a “no notes” review. Aside from the lacking cord and stakes, I think that some kind of paired tarp is a sensible compliment to the Splash, even if you don’t take the tarp out for every trip. I tried pairing the Splash with a tent fly that I already own and this works ok, though given the height difference of an actual tent versus the Splash, the fly looked a bit droopy (separate stakes for the fly and, possibly, a second guy line would certainly help with this, but then you’re getting close to “I should just bring a tent” territory).
I decided against pairing the Splash with Hyperlite’s own fully dyneema Flat Tarp ($369) here because, morally, I do have a hard time recommending a $619 system, a price point that can buy you a really good tent that would also offer better protection. A third option would be to simply fashion your own cover by cutting down a cheap blue tarp and reinforcing the corners with some fastener loops to thread cord through for staking.
My notes continue with a few observations of the Splash Bivy in use: as anyone who’s ever slept on the ground will know, it is very hard to find a perfectly flat spot. With the Splash, I found that if my spot was a few degrees off of being flat and/or the two ends of my guy line were not exactly level, the Splash tended to droop inward. Even under the best circumstances, I was not able to achieve the perfectly taut studio depiction of the Splash Bivy found on Hyperlite’s product page. This didn’t greatly impact its functionality, it just made the interior feel a little less spacious.
Lastly, on one instance I camped in the Splash on a very windy night, in a location where I couldn’t find much shelter. I found that wind exacerbated the Splash’s droop too and, naturally, put a dent in the interior head room—due to its more rigid structure, dyneema also makes a noticeable crinkling sound when getting hammered by the wind. Ok end of notes.
TL;DR
If you are someone who is very satisfied with your bike camping, or backpacking, tent situation, then I don’t think the Splash Bivy is an essential upgrade as replacement. However, if—like me—your packing priorities place compactibility over weight and you put a lot of mileage on your gear, then I’d highly recommend the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Splash Bivy. Thus far, it is the lightest bivy I have found that promises commensurate durability for the dollar value while offering welcome breathability. Still, it is important to note that it is not a completely weather-proof package, but I’d argue that putting your pennies toward the bivy first, then hacking a tarp companion, will give you the most bang for your buck.
Pros
- Light & space efficient for bikepacking or backpacking
- Durable floor offers more ground protection and longevity
- Breathable; no sleeping in a garbage bag
Cons
- Pricey and does not include stakes or cord
- For full peace of mind, requires a tarp
- Need to have tie-off points for guy line and stackable ground for proper setup
See more at Hyperlite Mountain Gear.
