Outdoor Research Alpine Bivy

I picked up one of these from an REI garage sale to complete my trail running overnight setup. It packs down extremely tiny and is truly waterproof (weathered a couple downpours). If you have a warm sleeping bag then this is the perfect shell. My only qualm is the same as the other guy said; it's difficult to hold open both the netting and/or the waterproof flap that goes over the head when you want open air... I had to modify mine with some velcro so it would stay put as I moved around at night.

Travelled through the French Pyrenees for 23 days with it, absolutely great, it held fast through thunderstorms and extreme winds. Takes 2 minutes to put up and to pack away. Also, because it doesn't matter how lousy you put it up, you can put it on any piece of stony cramped swampy more-or-less flat two-square-meter piece of land, which is fantastic when bivouacing. One drawback is the moisture, some wetness forms on the inside but it's very managable if you sleep with your head as close to the opening as possible. Second slight drawback is that rain forms puddles on your fabric if you don't lie with your legs stretched, though probably the gore-tex won't leak anyway. Two suggestions: first one is to use tape and some rope to make a system that keeps the closed netting standing up by tying it to the little loop on top of the pole. Otherwise the head cover keeps falling down. Second suggestion is to keep some air-space open by putting your shoes (if they are water-proof) with the toes out of the tent and with the tent cover over the opening of the shoes. Otherwise the air space is difficult to keep open and you get moisture inside. If the next version could have an easier way to fasten the netting and to keep an air-space open, it would be perfect!

Light and compact, I also like the straps that hold a sleeping pad in place. be sure you have the opening pointing away from the wind or your heat will just be sucked out!