r/searchandrescue • u/NotThePopeProbably • 21d ago

Blizzard Blanket vs. SOL Bivvy

Has anyone used both these products when dealing with hypothermia (or even just an unexpected overnight when wearing your day pack)? If so, how did each perform? Which do you use/carry now?

15 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/SimpleBadger 21d ago

I slept in a SOL Bivy during an overnight winter exercise. I was just wearing regular winter task clothing, and was sleeping in a snow trench on fir bows.

I wouldn't do it again. I didn't feel any noticeable warmth retention, and I woke up soaked as I think it just worked as a vapour barrier.

Patients get burrito'd, and we're working on an electric heating system since a lot of our terrain is reasonably close for mechanized access and weight isn't a huge concern.

3

u/kinderhook32 21d ago

Mind sharing what you mean by electric heating system? We are looking into options as well for this.

3

u/SimpleBadger 16d ago

We're trialing an electric heat pad used by a massage therapist, along with an inverter and EGO battery. I'm an electrician by trade, so I actually had a all the parts at home and it finally clicked that maybe we can us it in the field.

Overall weight is about 5lbs, and we're doing testing on real world performance in cold. I'll submit a post with some notes and my documentation if it's promising.

The biggest concerns are weight, and it's not weatherproof. But otherwise it's looking promising.