rgf101 wrote:The weight isn't the point of a bivvy. The point of a bivvy is that in the right conditions ( dry, no midges) you have a wider range of places to sleep and get to watch the stars when you're woken up at 4am by a slug climbing up your nose.
If you're using a tarp, it also makes a grand impromptu shelter for showers and tea breaks.
Agreed - which is why I greatly enjoy bivvying when the conditions and the location are right. Bivvying to me means minimalism, a bivvy bag, light sleeping bag and 3/4 length mat, often no stove but just dry food, and the opportunity to travel fast and light and "pitch" virtually anywhere. However, a hooped bivvy is not really a bivvy but a cramped tent; a tarp complicates things even more. If you want a tent (for forecast rain, or midge season) then go for a tent; if you want to bivvy, go for a proper bivvy bag.
At the end of the day though, it's all down to personal preference, and I've done enough wild camping and bivvying to know what works for me and what doesn't.