I’ve never been a huge fan of mylar blankets for survival use. Although I have a few in our vehicles and one or two in our bug out bags because, well, I had plenty, they’ve never been my go-to option. After all, they’re just a thin sheet of mylar (layered plastic) that are, like the video below says, almost impossible to fold or unfold.
More importantly, if you’re truly in need of warmth when your life depends on it, mylar survival blankets aren’t the best option, though they’re certainly better than nothing because they keep the wind off your back and do reflect some body heat. (If fact, the tests in the video below using heat probes indicated mylar was better than I expected, which was surprising.)
One option he recommends, the Go Time Gear Life Bivy is something I recommend in my book on bug out bags, and is a much better option as an emergency blanket. Yes, they’re more expensive than the flimsy mylar survival blankets, but they’re also more durable, visible, larger, and re-packable.
Again, the Go Time Bivy isn’t a sleeping bag; it’s an emergency survival tool. That said, he’s apparently found a better option in the Esky Emergency Sleeping Bag, which as of this writing, is about half the price of the Go Time Gear Bivy, but you get two bags. So, it’s like one-quarter the price of the bivy!
I have no experience with the Esky sleeping bags, so I can’t say if they’re as good as the Go Time bivy or not, but at about $4.50 each, they’re almost surely better than mylar if you’re on a budget. I say buy a pack or two, add them to your bags and vehicles, and call it a day. Enjoy!
(On a related note, you might also be interested in watching the video below this one, where the use absolutely tears apart an emergency bivy for survival use.)
I didn’t watch the entire video as it’s over 45 minutes long, but from what I gathered, the guy in the video below absolutely despised the SOL emergency bivy (I assume it’s very similar to the emergency blankets discussed above) so much so that he felt warmer, believe it or not, when he was out of it! He actually prefers a lightweight tarp for survival purposes. Personally, I recommend including both in your bug out bags, something I discuss in my books on the topic. But, as with all things, you’ll never know what works for you without testing it for yourself.
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