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Titanium Goat Kestrel bivvy bag … First look.

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Bivvy (bivy, bivi) bags come in numerous flavours. You can have something fully waterproof or nearly waterproof. Something with a fully enclosed hood or would a simple drawcord suit better? How about arm holes? Midge netting perhaps? Different material top and bottom maybe? … choices, choices.

Once you’ve decided to embrace the ‘way of the bag’ you’ve also (often unwittingly) embraced a certain level of compromise … no bivvy bag can offer everything, there will always be certain trade -offs and it’s down to you to choose where you’re going to make them.

Years of sleeping rough in odd places, led me to discover where my compromises could be made. I usually use a tarp so don’t really need something that’s 100% waterproof. My inner geek demands that weight and pack size be taken into account, while the tiny amount of me that’s sensible requires value for money … and the bit of me which is a big girl, would like something that stops midges biting my nose, keeps ants out of my ears and slugs out of my mouth!

Your window on the world – double zip pulls.

The Kestrel bivvy bag from Titanium Goat fits the criteria perfectly. The base is made from 30d silnylon so is fully waterproof and is mated to a 20d water resistant nylon top. The floor is a bathtub construction which besides keeping any water at bay, also provides some room for bag loft.

Tie loop sewn to zip rather than netting makes things stronger.

There’s a net window to keep the winged terrors at bay, it can be tied off to something overhead to keep the bag off your face and provide a little more room too.

Getting in and out should be simple.

Anyone who’s ever tried to fight their way into a bivvy bag with a simple drawcord hood will appreciate the Kestrels zip arrangement which runs from one shoulder, across the chest and down to the knees. The zip is also double ended so you can decide at which point the zip pullers are … makes them much easier to find in the dark.

185g and will compress to half this size.


The Kestrel keeps my geeky side happy too, tipping the Bear Bones ‘scales of truth’ at 185g inc’ the stuffsack and compressing down to … not very much at all. 

Titanium Goat produce 3 different models of bag (plus a bug bivvy) with the Kestrel being the cheapest at $85 (roughly £55). First outing is later this week … I have high hopes.

2 Comments

  1. Unknown says:
    3rd January 2018 at 2:41 pm

    Hi there,
    Just wanted to know if you had any updates post use! Would you recommend? Also any more photos would be greatly appreciated as there is little online about this bivvy!
    Will

  2. Bearbonesnorm says:
    3rd January 2018 at 4:31 pm

    Sorry Will, for some reason I thought I'd revisited this but obviously not. If you're looking for a bivvy bag to use in conjunction with a tarp, I'd have no hesitation in recommending the Kestrel. It breathes well, keeps the bugs out and acts as a groundsheet. However, that does come with a caveat, that you can't fit a mat inside with you unless you're both small and it is in no way waterproof … it makes no claims to be but even a very light drizzle would be beyond it. It's probably my most used bivvy bag of the last few years and shows no signs of wear, etc. The current exchange rate means the price probably isn't quite the bargain it was but it's still very well priced if it fits your criteria.

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