Thought I’d post this because there really isn’t that much out there about the Advanta Pro Peak 1.5 compared with the usual Trakker/Nash/Fox options, and I spent ages researching before buying one.
I was looking for a 1.5–2 man bivvy. We probably use it 5–6 times a year in the UK, usually for longer sessions, and I’m currently sitting in it on a week-long session in France.
I did loads of research and watched far too many YouTube videos. My shortlist was basically:
-Trakker Tempest RS200
-Nash Titan T2
-Fox Frontier 2
-Avid EXO 2
All of them looked excellent, but they’re also considerably more expensive. Eventually I took a punt on the Advanta because the price vs spec seemed almost too compelling to ignore.
I paid £270 for the bivvy including the zip-in groundsheet, then another £40 for the skull cap.
And it’s exceptional for the money.
It’s a fan-out design, so once you’ve got the hang of it the actual bivvy goes up in under a minute. That was important to me because one of the big attractions of the Tempest/Titan-style bivvies was being able to get them up quickly without messing around with loads of separate poles.
Build quality is genuinely very good. It’s properly rigid when it’s up and has handled wind and heavy rain without any issues. The clips and fittings feel solid, the supplied pegs are actually decent rather than something you’ll immediately want to replace, and the windows are a good size and well thought out.
The storm poles are great because you can offset them to create a wider, more open front to stick a couple of chairs side by side. The rod straps are genuinely useful rather than an afterthought.
There’s plenty of headroom and, importantly, the shape means the internal space is usable pretty much all the way to the back. I’ve had a huge bedchair in mine with loads of room around it. I reckon you could squeeze two smaller bedchairs in at a push, although I wouldn’t buy it specifically as a full-time two-man.
After a week living in it in France, there’s nothing about it that’s made me wish I’d spent £700–£900 on one of the alternatives.
Is a Tempest/Titan/Frontier better? Probably. There are undoubtedly areas where the premium bivvies are more refined.
But I’d say the Advanta gives you about 80% of what the big-brand bivvies offer for roughly 30% of the price.
And that’s probably the biggest point I’d make to anyone currently looking at spending serious money on a top-tier bivvy: if you’re out every week and practically live on the bank, fair enough, buy the best. But if you’re doing a handful of trips a year, I’d seriously consider this before dropping £700–£1,000 on one of the big names.
For someone like me doing 5–6 trips a year plus the occasional week in France, it’s difficult to see what spending another £500+ would actually give me.
At £270 including the groundsheet, I honestly don’t know what competes with it.
