Not durable Pro's. 1. Light 2. Compact. 3. Nice material.

Con's. 1. Fragile (may be stitching quality or a problem with the design. Mine had one of the corner support rods poke through the stiching.) 2.Hard to get in and out esp. When under a tarp. 3. The mesh would lay on my face eliminating the mosquito protection. I had to secure both ends of the elastic cord to my tarp to get enough tension to keep the m.h mesh off my face. 4. Set up is much harder than a tent.

Note: I have only used this once

Great Bivy I bought this bivy for use in the shelters along the AT. being lite weight and with the bug netting would be great to keep the mice off. this will add an additional layer of warmth to my bag in the cold months.

Brought My Whole Setup Together I recently grabbed the Recon Bivy to replace a piece of polycro from Gossamer Gear that I'd been using as a ground sheet. I have a one man tarp and this bivy is a great complement. I spent an especially cold night in the woods recently and the bivy helped keep everything in place - which was essential on a cold night. I honestly believe I might have frozen a little without the Recon. Additionally, I was sleeping on ground that had been rained on throughout the day, and I stayed dry in this thing. Super light, easy to set up, and now an essential part of my shelter set up.



The other thing I loved about my experience with Enlightened Equipment was the customer service. When I ordered this bivy, I needed it pretty quickly for my trip. After ordering, I was worried it might not get shipped in time, and I reached out EE to see if they could change my order to expedited shipping. After talking to customer service, the girl assured me that it would arrive in time without the expedited shipping (which it did). This saved me $50 in expedited shipping costs, and I'm super grateful for that.



I now have a quilt, wind shirt, and bivy from EE, and they're all essential parts of my ultralight setup. Great company! Great gear!

An excellent bivy that could use more loft I am a slight 5"10/150lbs and found the (Regular) width and length to be perfect. The packed size & weight of this are incredible, and breathability over traditional bivy's is outstanding thanks to the mesh top. That said, I do have concerns that the overall girth of the regular and the potential to block quilt/bag loft. I prefer a thick pad (3-inches) and feel that this is subtracting from my quilt's ability to fully loft. I agonized over the long/wide, but in the end went with the regular. For cold weather I would strongly recommend going with a long/wide to allow maximum layer loft.

Fantastic backcountry bivvy I've used the Recon for almost a dozen nights in ID, chasing elkin the high country. Fantastic gear. Couldn't be happier.

Recon Bivy I bought this to use with my tarp/poncho to reduce weight. It is 8 oz lighter than my current bivy and works well. I like the center zipper the bag utilizes which allows me to get in and out easier. I have not had it in the wetter weather yet so do not know the water ressistant durability yet. The only negative I have is I would like to see a tab at the head and foot so that I could us an 18” carbon pole or stick to create the peak rather than the trekking poles. With the poncho system, the shock cord attachment does not allow me to put the bivy into the lean to formation completely.

Recon Bivy (regular) Used this bivy for a week long trip in the Wind Rive Range in July. Weather was generally good, I experienced no heavy rain storms. It was generally windy though.



This was my first experience with a bivy, and I liked this one. It seems a good balance between a bug net and a bivy with full coverage.



I used it under a 9X10 DCF HMG tarp. The bivy fit nicely in the middle of the tarp, with a good distance from the front and end openings. I switched from attaching the bivy’s guy lines from the hooks in the ridge line of the tarp and my hiking poles. If I had a good tight ridge line, the hooks worked well. If the ridge line was less than tight, the guy lines pulled down the ridge somewhat.



I did get lazy a couple of times and didn’t use the foot guy line, and once I didn’t use either guy line. The foot guy line is sort of optional. It does help with circulation and gives the bivy more of a tent like feel, pulling the fabric away from the bag. Using it without the head guy line was OK, if you don’t mind netting in your face. Using the head guy line is otherwise a good idea as it lifts the netting from your face nicely, and agains gives the bivy a more tent like feel.



One note on the netting, even if you use the head guy line, the netting will touch your shoulder when sleeping on your side. I always had a bag pulled up over my shoulder, so this was not an issue. But if the weather was hot, and the netting lay on your shoulder, bug could bite through.



I used a Thermarest Neo Air large. I fit just fine. As noted above, my shoulder touched the netting, but it you used a thinner mat, this may not be such an issue.



For a bag I used the EE Revelation. My feet and lower legs were nicely enclosed and I never suffered from cold feet or legs.



Set up was easy. I did end up pegging the four corners. This kept the bag in place on less the level camping spots. Also, it gave some additional structure to the bivy. I’m no so sure about the pixie sticks in the corners. I don’t know if they do much and kept sticking out when I tried to roll up the bivy.



As noted above, the weather was good and I did not experience any rain blowin in my tarp. I am curious how well the head sheet would keep out rain spray in a down pour. I do think it does a good job with wind. My foot box did get wet one night from heavy condensation inside the tarp. Heavy winds made me put the tarp in storm mode, so there wasn’t much air circulation. The foot box did wet through and my bag got very damp. I was able to dry both out fairly quickly in the morning while making breakfast.



I know I could use the bivy with a ground cloth but I used one anyways. Used a piece of 2mil painters drop cloth. I am still not sure if I needed it. I know that floor is tough, but it just seemed too risky. Another consideration was pine tree sap in one camping spot. Getting that off the bivy may have been difficult.



Per Henry Stiles suggestion at TarpTent, I did paint lines on the floor of the bivy with a silicone/mineral spirits mix. These seemed to keep my mattress in place. I still did slip around on the ground cloth on slightly uneven spots.



I like this bivy and will use it again from summer camping. I think I’ll use a more full coverage bivy, like the Katabatic Bristlecone, for the shoulder seasons, when bugs aren’t an issue and I may need a bit more coverage.