An emergency blanket is something that any outdoor enthusiast, hiker, survivalist or even SHTF prepper should already have in my opinion. It’s such a lightweight and physically small package that there is almost no excuse for having one with you. The uses are limitless. From procuring water to cover from the rain and of course their intended use for maintaining core body temperature, these guys offer some of the best bang for buck value of any item in your kit.
Let us get one point out in the open though right from the start. Not all survival blankets are created equally and that’s a fact. I myself have three different varieties of survival blankets/bivvys distributed through my survival kit and backpacks. At the bottom end of the spectrum I have a $2 almost cellophane type of square blanket that folds into a zip lock bag about the size of your palm. At the high end I have a fabric backed square emergency blanket that is robust enough to use as a ground mat that has a heavy-duty silver plastic on the reverse side. At a pinch you could almost use it as a mini tarp if you had reason to.
This brings me to the SOL Emergency Bivvy Bag. If you disregard all of it’s features and the quality construction and focus on the pice alone you wouldn’t be the first person who would think it’s way too much to pay for an emergency blanket. What you need to do though it compare apples with apples. It’s not a cheap silver cellophane product that is going to tear and then keep on tearing if you get a hole in it. It’s a heavy-duty almost garbage bag like material that 100% repels water and if you did manage to get a tear in it (as Craig did in his) it goes no further and is as simple as applying some duct tape to repair. Materials aside, it’s the design that also gets your attention. It’s a bag shaped blanket and not a flat square. It consists of a large continuous tube of plastic material with the end heat-sealed shut. You could literally transport water in it if you had to. It’s that robust. The length of the bag itself is what really impressed me. I’m a tall guy but this bag had enough length to completely cover my body and go completely over my head in a laying position. At the same time it rolls back up into a tiny palm sized cylinder into the draw-string bag provided. Very compact and very convenient.
Craig and I both tested these emergency divvy bags in the field for a period of 4 days as our only form of sleeping gear. We laid down some cut grass on dirt and nothing more. They really, really impressed me to no end. Literally worth every cent. After having seen them used to their full potential in a real situation, I believe they are well priced.
If you’re in the market for a very useful survival blanket/bivvy to stash in your hiking pack, survival kit or bug out bag (B.O.B) then I recommend you take a look at this one and see if it fits your needs.
Check out our SOL Gear Review on our HikeordieTV YouTube channel and see it in action.
Thanks for reading & thanks for watching.
Enjoy.
Tom Griffin.
