mat inside or outside bivvy?

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Location
London
?

Have used mine until now outside but starting to think may be a neater package inside.

Views, experiences?

Ps - i always use a tarp as the bottom layer directly on the ground.

@ one edit for typo
 
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There's no universally correct answer to this one. It depends on terrain (level or not), surface (how lumpy / made of what), etc.That said, I personally much prefer the 'mat inside bivvy' option when it's viable as everything stays in place better. It will also depend how big your bivvy bag is and how thick the mat is. I used a Thermarest Neoair Xtherm (about 6cm thick, but mummy shaped, inside a mummy shaped bivvy with a mummy shaped sleeping bag, which is great if you like the feeling of being very enclosed and with not a lot of room to move (well, none really!).

The big upside is neatness and speed: you can keep everything in the bivvy bag all the time and just unroll it, which is excellent and avoids any risk of anything being wet other than the outside of the bivvy. Stops you rolling off the mat, or sliding off it down a hill, too :-)
 
OP
OP
Blue Hills
Location
London
Thanks for the reply Sea of Vapours.

I use an "old fashioned" oblong thermarest.

The bivvy is an army goretex thing - plenty of room to stuff everything inside if I want to.

I must say the mat inside does seem attractive - less like making a mult-layer bed as I kip in the woods.
 
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