Domestique

I am in the market for my first Bivy and am looking for advice and reviews. I am currently looking at either: Integral Designs' South Col, eVENT version Black Diamonds' "Biblers" Big Wall Bivy Outdoor Researchs' Advanced Bivy I will be using this for three seasons (Fall, Spring, but mostly Winter)on backpacking trips and possibly some mountaineering trips. Thanks in advance.

How do you like your spectre, I was also looking at that and couldn't decide. Do you stil use a bivy with the spectre, and how roomy is the spectre? MH also makes the phantom which is a 800 fill 0 degree W/O the shell. But it isn't that much cheaper. Thanks again.

Thanks a lot guys, Right now I am leaning towards a Mountain Hardwer Banshee SL (0 degree 800 fill down bag). It uses MH's conduit material for a water resistant shell. As I mentioned earlier I will be using this for winter backpacking (2-4 days) with a 4-season tent. For now I am going to try to get away with not using an overbag or bivy and see how I make out. When I decide to ditch the tent for a hut or get into some mountaineering that invoves colder nights I will get a bivy and synthetic overbag.

I thought bivys didn't work as well for overbags as synthetic bags did? I thought the poit of the over bag was to draw the moisutre into the fast drying synthetic instead of the down. Wouldn't a bivy just create more condensation on the outside of the down bag?

Wow, Thanks for all the help. I think for my needs (North-East winter Backpacking and eventually some mountaineering)I will go with an overbag and a 0 or -10 down sleeping bag. Other then MEC's overbags, any other companies to look at? I live in the States and would like to avoid the 18.00+ shipping from Canada. Also, Most of my trips are a week or less long (backpacking), do I need to even worry about bringing an overbag? My concern is the extra space my down and then an overbag will take up.

Hello, I just joined this site (a great wealth of knowledge here). Anyways, I am looking at getting my first down bag for winter backpacking (have been a Synthetic user for years). My question is, should I use a vapor bag like "Integral Design" http://www.integraldesigns.com/product_detail.cfm?id=677&CFID=102569&CFTOKEN=82186501&mainproducttypeid=5 or use an over bag like MEC's http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_listing.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302865705&bmUID=1202356294240 Thanks in advance.

Hello, I just joined this site (a great wealth of knowledge here). Anyways, I am looking at getting my first down bag for winter backpacking (have been a Synthetic user for years). My question is, should I use a vapor bag like "Integral Design" http://www.integraldesigns.com/product_detail.cfm?id=677&CFID=102569&CFTOKEN=82186501&mainproducttypeid=5 or use an over bag like MEC's http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_listing.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302865705&bmUID=1202356294240 Thanks in advance.