Adventure Shelters IBNS (Improved BedNet System) 64581F & 64583F

The media could not be loaded. Tanzania doesn’t have a high incidence rate of malaria compare to other sub-Saharan countries, but I was taking my parents (65+) on safari and wanted to be cautious. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if anything happened to them! Enter this bug bivy.I had been to Tanzania before and knew that not all locations provided mosquito nets, and those that did, sometimes had holes in them. Not just for the mosquitos, but random bugs. Don’t freak out, Tanzania is beautiful. But you ARE probably staying in the middle of wilderness and a remote location. Bugs are to be expected!We used carry-on only for our trip and the bivy took up ~ 1/4 to 1/3 our carry-on. It was well worth it though.We were staying at mid-end places and in the middle of Tarangire, Ndutu, Ngronogoro (Karatu), and Serengeti.Some of the places we stayed at had a “turn-down” service where they spray the room with permethrin and let down the mosquito nets. Almost always there were still mosquitos inside the nets that would have bitten me if not for the bivy.This bivy was a little complicated to put away at first. For me, 5’4 and 120lbs, I needed to use my knees to hold the spring of the bivy while putting it away (see video for my technique). After the second time, it became second nature. Remember that you need to make bunny loops and fold in each ear, then make a figure 8 and fold over so that you get a single loop. Use your knees at this point. Again, see video.I have had several wrist surgeries and the spring of the bivy was concerning, both for putting it away and opening it up. For opening, it’s like a champagne bottle. Kind of throw it away from you and let it pop open on its own. If you open this once, you’ll know what I mean!One note — I read some reviews about a small opening of the zippers. Never saw that. See photos. Perhaps they received a defective version or didn’t know how to zip???Tip 1: Before you get out of the bivy, hit the top a few times to make sure there are no bugs that might drop in when you open it. Quickly zip it behind you, even when going to the bathroom at night. I had an unfortunate issue of trapping a mosquito inside with me. . . User error lolTip 2: Before we left, I screen recorded the video of how to put it away. It came in handy and I suggest you do the same!! Especially because internet and streaming might be spotty. But like I said, do it a few times and it’ll be easy.Tip 3: One side is slightly taller than the other. This taller side is where your head goes. Look for a black tag / flap on the inside of the tent and that’s where your pillow goes.In addition to a pillow or two, I would read with a giant book every night and had more than enough room. Inside the bivy I usually had my phone, a book, my glasses, and a tiny but very loud 1” speaker (White Noise Machine Babelio). My dad is 6’ and 185lbs and he fit comfortably in it, but says it will start feeling tight quickly if you’re much more than those dimensions.Sometimes it got hot inside the bivy at night. For blankets, I used a large bathroom towel or robe, since the bed blankets were far too thick and you just gotta make what you have work.I will take this with me on safari again and will require my companions to do the same. My parents were very glad we brought them. That and our own fly swatters for the drives. And flip flops for the showers. And foaming wipes for face wash. But I digress. . .I HIGHLY recommend this bug bivy for any travel where bugs might be an issue.I suppose that’s it for now. Happy travels!!

I'm a humanitarian and disaster photographer and I recently bought this for a trip to Haiti. I usually carry compact mosquito nets and rig them up on walls, but I thought there might be a better solution for what I do. I wanted to give some random thoughts, in no particular order. If you want the short answer and save yourself some reading, then know I would recommend this 100%. It was a great investment, and I expect it will stand up to much travel over the years. Buy with confidence. If you're 6'3" or above, though, that changes my recommendation a tiny bit. Read below for my comments.-Tent setup takes literally seconds. Really nice to have such a quick setup.-Tent breakdown takes about fifteen to twenty seconds. The first couple times I had to carefully read the instructions to make sure I was doing it correctly. When in compact form, the tent is very light and compact. It was easy to pack it in my large duffel bag. Watch a few videos on Youtube and practice tent setup and breakdown before you travel so you get the hang of it. I figured it out on my own, but the added confidence of watching a few instructional videos would have helped.-I'm 6'5" and 225lbs. I fit in this thing, but barely in length. My head rests up against one end, and the ends of my toes touch the other end. If you sleep a little curled up (and I do), this thing will be long enough. If you sleep straight like a board and like to really stretch out all night long and not have anything touching you, and you're 6'3" or above, this may be a deal breaker. Again, I'm 6'5" and it didn't bother me. But if you don't like things touching your toes, and you're a huge person, this may be bothersome. Also, the idea of this isn't to be a huge tent around you. It's more like a casket, meant to be snug.-I was able to put my sleeping pad, sleep sack, and Thermarest pillow inside the tent. There was plenty of width in the tent, and I'm a pretty wide person. When I got back home my small dog crawled in it and I think we could almost sleep in there together if we got real snuggly.-The tent also goes on top of things, like crappy bug infested third world mattresses. I did this in Haiti too. I was worried I would wake up others around me if I moved a lot, but the floor of the tent isn't too crinkly or loud on top of mattresses. I didn't test the waterproofness of the floor but trust that it would hold up to a little water if it needed to.-This is not a true tent. If you're outside and it rains, you'll get wet. If you add a ground floor or tarp underneath and rig up a rain fly, you could get by with it as a summer tent. While the bottom does appear to be waterproof, the fabric is relatively thin. If I used this outside on rocky ground or gravel, I'd definitely want a tarp underneath it!-The zippers allow you to get in on either side of this, which was really nice depending on how my sleep setup was arranged. The zippers grabs themselves are a little loud, especially in a quiet room at night. The zipper grabs meet on a certain point of the zipper line, and when you move they bang against each other a little. They make some noise as you move around. It never bothered anyone else that slept around me, but if a roommate was a super light sleeper, it might wake them up. This was really the only negative I could find at all. And it wasn't really that bad at all. If you're mostly sleeping by yourself, or with some space between you and roommates, this isn't a concern.-The mosquito netting is really effective. I don't know technical specs, but the netting is fine mesh, and it kept out literally everything, including no-see-ums or whatever those tiny little bugs are. Not sure about fleas, but I didn't have any bites overnight of any kind when I was in this thing. I'm confident it'll keep out anything that poses a threat to me while sleeping.-It was hot in Haiti, and this tent really didn't retain heat at all. It did knock down a little bit of the fan speed overhead, but I didn't feel like it affected the warmth around me. This was really important for me as I mostly travel to developing countries closer to the equator. I did NOT want to add heat to my sleeping arrangement and was thrilled this tent did not.-This traveled well in my checked bag. It has some flexibility, even in it's most compact size. If this even makes it through a year of my travels, I'll keep replacing it. (I hate taking anti-malarial tablets). I'm headed to Sri Lanka, Togo, and Peru in the coming months, and if this tent breaks or poles snap expect me to write an update and change my review!-When I store this, I think I'll not fold it up into the most compact size. I'll probably store this in the larger, circular size. I'm worried in the most compact form long-term storage might bend the poles over time. Just a hunch.My overall recommendation is to purchase this. I travel to countries with zika, chikungunya, malaria, and other mosquito-borne illnesses. This takes up little room in my checked bag (I think it would fit in a carry on too), sets up quick, and lets me sleep with confidence. No more setting up mosquito nets at midnight in dark rooms. Or getting tore up with bites when I sleep in large rooms on concrete. When I hit purchase on Amazon I was a little concerned about price. But honestly, after using in Haiti during Hurricane Matthew response, boy am I glad I had this with me. Great piece of kit that I'll keep traveling with for a long time. Buy with confidence.

My product arrived with the primary frame pole broken. However, I noticed that a pole splice connector was provided in the repair kit. But when I called the distributor, MMI Outdoor Inc., and spoke to Bryan Murphy, he insisted that he send me a replacement tent. I had called to just ask for another connector. Within a week I received a non-defective tent at no charge. I was really impressed with the kindness and outstanding customer service of Mr. Murphy. Due to insect problems, I have been sleeping in this tent for a couple of weeks now. Although I am 6’-2”, I really like this tent! Be informed that either my head or foot makes contact with the tent wall. This does not bother me, though, since the contact area is minimal. In conclusion, I am very pleased with this purchase and customer service.