Which MLD Bivy?!!

It really depends on what you are looking for but here are the reasons for my choice

Size zip. I used to have a BPL bivy without the side-zip was somewhat annoying getting in and out of. I would also get the 70d floor as I feel the additional water resistance and durability is worth it making your bivy placement not as important. I tend to be hard on gear and am a lightweight not an UL backpacker so I tend to carry some of the more durable gear items.

David,

I have been using the Soul Side Zip with eVent top over the past year.

I know that you are not interested in the eVent fabric, but I can comment on the workmanship and the Super light, which my friend has.

The overall workmanship on Ron's stuff is fantastic with a clear attention to detail.

I noticed this when I spent from 4 hours seam sealing my bivy.

The stitching was tight, neat, and straight.

After researching the bivies, I chose MLD because of Ron's stellar reputation, the light weight of his products, and the number of thoughtful features that were incorporated in his designs.

The only negative is that they can be pricey, but we are talking about custom work with the lightest and best materials here. (That said, the Superlight really is a fantastic value).

The Soul Side Zip has a much larger bug screen window than the Superlight and I like the fact that the Soul Side Zip has a wire built into the hood to give it more shape and to help keep the bug netting off my face.

Note: both of these bivies has a tie out loop at the top of the hood so that the wire is not necessary. In fact, I use my wire and the tie out point to pull the hood portion of the bivy further away from my face to give me more interior head room. I can tie off to the underside of my MLD Poncho Tarp or some sort of branch or bush above me.

This being my 1st bivy, I would have a hard time going to a bivy that did not have a side zip, which makes getting out in the middle of the night for a restroom break fast and easy.

If you have a sleeping pad that is more than 1 inch thick or have a really puffy sleeping bag (I have a Marmot Helium EQ 15 degree F bag for reference), I would highly recommend getting your bivy in wide.

I have the wide and my friend has the regular Superlight and he has a Marmot Helium and it was a snug fit in there.

The hood area has double sets of zippers….one set for the bug netting and another set for narrowing the opening of the bivy to protect against rain. (It is not recommended to completely close off the bivy).

I went with the eVent fabric to have a bomber setup, as this is my 1st bivy. (and I expect it to be my last one that I get because I think that it is that good).

That said, I have found that my friend's momentum fabric is fine for most anything that the Sierras has to throw at us.

The fabric's DRW is quite good….knowing what I know now about how good it is, if I had to do it over again, I might opt for momentum over eVent.

My friend, Jeremy, sleep one night on a patch of dirt that was saturated with horse urine and dunked it in a stream to wash off the smell.

The water beaded right up and dried quickly by laying it out in the morning sun.

Zippers are good with a ribbon attached to the side zip to allow you to easily pull the zipper close when going to bed.

The only issue that I have is that the zippers for the bug netting are very small and should have some ribbon tied to them….very hard to work if you have gloves on. That said, the problem is easily solved by cutting a little bit of ribbon off the side zip and attaching it to the bug netting zippers.

If I am not careful while closing the side zip, it can catch some of the bivy fabric and get stuck.

Bottom line, both are great bivies, but the Soul Side Zip has a more generous amount of bug netting and the overall dimensions seem bigger.

If you want to see photos of both bivies in the field, go to the Photo Gallery and look up Emigrant Wilderness.

I have photos of both bivies setup under MLD Poncho Tarps.

Hope that this helps.

I encourage to you to email or call Ron….he is great about getting back to people.

-Tony

One questions for you Tony:

You say that it is not recommended to completely close off the bivy. If this is the case, what is the point of the bug netting? When the bivy is open, wouldn't the bugs just come in through the opening?

The bug screen may be closed but one should never completely close a bivy "door". You need air to breathe and so…

I have and Integral Designs Unishelter XP eVENT bivy. It has a tunnel vent behind your head, but I still leave the door unzipped a little. The generous eyebrow on the Unishelter keeps out rain very well.

Peter,

Denis is right.

Sorry that I was not clear.

Yes, the bug netting can be completely zipped up….it allows the air to still circulate in and out of the bag just fine.

I would not want to seal the 2nd set of zippers to close up the eVent or Momentum fabric….I'd suffocate then.

If I did that then my bivy would become a body bag.

-Tony

David,

Hey, you are welcome…happy to share what little I have learned so far.

In hind sight, I too think that the eVent would be overkill in most situations where I was using a tarp.

Me being paraniod about water, I opted for all the bomber options on mine: eVent and the discontinued silnylon 2.0 bottom.

I remember when I first started researching bivies, I posted a question about how does someone completely close up the bivy safely to keep the rain out.

In hindsight, it really was a silly question, but I was completely clueless on bivies. :)

To everyone's credit here, my fellow BPLers took my question seriously and helped educate me.

We are start from ignorance and this community is just fantastic about freely sharing their knowledge for the benefit of other.

I am proud to be part of this and to contribute what I can.

P.S. Horse Urine, yeah….it doesn't penetrate the silnylon bottom of the Superlight Bivy, but it sure smells.

-Tony

Tony and Denis –

Oh, I get it. Thanks for the clarification.

David, I recently purchased a superlight bivy. I switched from Montbell Dry-Tech bivy. The montbell bivy performed extremely well but had no side zip which made it harder to get into and vent. I have only had the MLD superlight for a few months and used it on two trips, but it is the answer to my bivy needs. I use it under a 5 by 8 ft tarp and it is perfect. On my last trip I spent the second night on a ridge top with ten hours of rain and strong winds. I zipped up the bivy all the way and stayed completely dry dispite rain coming from the sides and back. I hung the shock cord off the tip of my front pole which kept the bivy off my face. As for space I find it great for me, I have a regular width. I use it with thin gg pad and golite ultra quilt. If you need to put a larger bag and pad then yes you might want a wide. Lastly the workmanship is surperb. I'd say the best I've seen in a piece of gear. I give MLD my highest recommendation.

Jamie

Thanks for the insight about not zipping up completely. That's what I suspected most do. (Feed dumb for just posting a new thread to ask that very question. Timing is everything I guess!!!)

To clarify the last post, did you zip up completely closed on the ridge (under the tarp)? Did you get condensation inside the bivy? What was temp? Do you think the wind helped to vent your breath/condensation through the bivy wall?

To clarify re: MLD soul and light soul. I think the new lightsoul has no mesh option (Ron says to use bug head net). Is your friend's lightsoul last year's version? Likewise no side zip on your friend's lightsoul, right? (not available, at least stock now)

Gary, Yes I did zip it up completely on the ridge top hanging the shock cord from the top of my tarp. The low temp that night was 45 degrees. I slept on my side and stomach. I noticed a little bit of moisture right by my face when it was zipped completely shut. Other then right by my mouth I did not find any moisture. I don't think the wind did much to alter the moisture inside. The previous night I spent down in the gorge with little wind and found almost no moisture (also a 45 degree night) that night either.

On my previous trip the low was 20 degrees. I did not zip up all the way but came close. I didnt experience much in the way of moisture once again.

I want to use the MLD Superlight on a few more trips hitting a broader range of temps, but my initial impressions are real positive. I can not describe how secure I felt inside this bivy with such a crazy storm just beyond my tiny tarp.

Jamie