Swag VS the Bivi

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sasha

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Feb 28, 2006
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looking on craigslist I found an Australian swag XL bluey.. They have them for $100 each.. looking at them and reading about them they seem like heavy duty bivi bags. that come ready to sleep. Reading about them on the net some swags look like small tents. Are there any reasons why they are popular down under so much and no where else??? I understand that they are heavy and mostly used for car camping. But why not use a tent then???
Anyone ever used them and have any pro and cons for the swag and compare to what we use here ??
 
sasha said:
I understand that they are heavy and mostly used for car camping. But why not use a tent then???
Anyone ever used them and have any pro and cons for the swag and compare to what we use here ??
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I do not have one, but my understanding about the answer to this question has to do with tradition. Swags were originally used as heavy material (like canvas), with a horse blanket in the middle, rolled up and carried behind the saddle on the horse. Roll it out and sleep. Then, it started getting thrown in the back of the truck and is still used because of its simplicity and durability.

Pros
Heavy Duty
Durable
Cool
Traditional
Lots of options

Cons
Heavy
Pretty much camping from a vehicle (which opens up pretty much any option you can imagine)
Good ones can be pricey

As far as comparing it to a bivy, bivy's are generally much lighter, pack smaller and can be used for backpacking. At the same time, the thinner materials are not likely to be as bulletproof as a swag. Everything is a trade-off, right? :)

Just my thoughts.

B
 
and you can find 'traditional' materials and styles for camping in America as well as in Australia. Heck, growing up in Central Florida back in the early fifties, we regularly used canvas, wool blankets, cast iron camp cookware and so on.
I find the advances in materials to my liking, and to my advantage, but I know many folks that prefer the traditional style and materials as well.
 
Tourist mindset without leaving home:

I'm not convinced they are very popular in Australia. Of all the outdoor gear you see in Australia that stuff is way down the list. We get a lot of Australians over here too, and of all the gear I've seen them bring not once have I ever witnessed anyone bring anything like that. I'm sure of that which does still exist almost all of it is designed to tap the tourist mindset.

I strongly suspect they are a leftover from the days when packing stuff on a horse was the way, but are now pretty much only a lifestyle product. I think you could probably look at a lot of the old American cowboy stuff the same way. Go somewhere else and I bet you can get traditional seal fur blankets for the "authentic experience", while the staff are all wrapped up in down sleeping bags. I'm sure there are still little pockets holding out against the tide but overwhelmingly as tools that stuff is dead. It mostly lives only as set dressing to engineer a stage to play out games on.

Unfortunately, I don't have any figures to back me up but I do believe it is one of those instances in which one can look at one niche and get a totally distorted view of the whole. I see that happening here in the UK on bushcraft forums. Some kid rolls up and gets a totally distorted view of what good gear is. What they miss is that for all the people that do outdoor stuff here from military and other professionals, through epic expeditions, right down to the casual rambler and even carp fishermen that often literally use barrows to get all their kit a few yards from the car, almost nobody is using that crap. From within the niche though the vista is extremely limited. Those aren't lifestyle products marketed to fit an extraordinarily contrived agenda, they are genuinely great tools for the outdoors. Bit like when you were small and the bottom of your garden was a wild bit of Africa.
 
Swags are commonly used in Australia. Here in the Northern Territory they are probably the preferred camping shelter. They are still the mainstay of men who work in the bush and are commonly used by recreational campers. As a previous poster indicated they started out as simple canvas sheets but have evolved somewhat and some of them are a bit on the complex side and more like small tents. I still use a relatively basic one with a few press studs to hold it closed.
 
the swag an old time swaggie or swagman wore is a different beast to the things sold nowdays as swags
It used to be a canvas sheet ( if they were lucky ) to serve as ground sheet / wrap over if the weather got wet or snowy .. a couple blankets and whatever else could be stuffed into it for safety and easy(ish) carry
now days there is a tailored , zippered canvas ground sheet / cover with a matress of sorts , and a couple blankets or more usualy a sleeping bag
it is used a lot in stock camps , by people working outback and traveling by vehicle , they are very common sights on backs of trucks in the more rural parts

the why of using a swag vs tent is simple

you roll out your swag , climb in go to sleep , wake up roll it up , move on .. no setting up tents then organising gear inside it .
they last .
they really do , they are used as daily sleeping gear for a hell of a lot of station hands , ringers , jack / jillaroos , and even more Aboriginal folk who live out of them .

I have used a swag for 6 years or so , gifting it when I was done , it had a lot of life left in it . my girls dont like camping "that rough" , it doesnt allow for privacy to get dressed , it is sleeping gear , lay it down closeish to the campfire , use it to sleep in , roll it up when you wake , kick it outa way and go about the day , inside it tho is your gear that you want to keep safe too , i have seen rifles , hand guns , stickbooks , knives , computers and cameras , all sorts of gear come out of a swag over the years :)

I dont have one at the moment , havent for a while , but Id choose one any day over a lot of other sleeping gear . Especially the modern swags , yes they are car camping gear , but for the ease of unstrapping and kicking it to roll it out and presto , bed WITH mattress .. and usually a waterproof sheet to pull over face if needed .

this is my take on them tho , and very largely based on my own opinions and experience .
YMMV , i know they are not common in urban areas , they have no real use for people who go out once a year or so , they are just too bulky . It takes being used daily , for extended period of time to apeciate them , at least it was my experience anyway
 
In the US we use bedrolls (our vernacular) which now is adapted and used by steel horse men/women. There is one that rolls up with a thick Thermarest pad that is the bomb. Spendy but something I've consider for my backwoods vehicle.
 
Thanks guys That's answers my question about the swag. I would guess the best way to describe a swag would be a sleeping system that is used in the outdoors when you move every day, Set up camp and break camp every day and need something that is very durable.
It might be a good thing to carry in the car when I just want to drive somewhere and spend the night outside, To clear the head from everyday life in the city...
A question for the guys from Australia have you heard about the Bluey XL swag??? http://www.swag.com.au/index.php/swags/product/13-true-blue-traditional-bluey
Are they any good??? Or are most of them about the same really??
 
freight will be enormous , really . they are not light .

I havent used one of that brand , I used one that had no brand and was sold by a traveling salesman who was doing rounds of the more remote stations , it had enough canvas to pull over my head to keep the rain off no mini tent pole tho , but it would have been handy .

tent pole looks like itll mean tent pegs at the foot end too , but thats no biggie .

I like the idea of having the top half the canvas as a mini tent , its actually a big improvement on the basic one I had .

bear in mind , by time you have one freighted to you , you could probably have located a local upholsterer and had one made too , you are really only buying a tailored canvas sheet with a flymesh incorporated , and a foam pad inside it to be mattress for you .

just a thought .

Good luck with it !
 
Myal said:
the swag an old time swaggie or swagman wore is a different beast to the things sold nowdays as swags
It used to be a canvas sheet ( if they were lucky ) to serve as ground sheet / wrap over if the weather got wet or snowy .. a couple blankets and whatever else could be stuffed into it .................
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Funny how names for the same thing change over time, or the same names can come to mean a completely different contraption. What you were calling an old time swaggie is exactly the sort of thing I know to be a swag.

I was just looking at this Jolly Swag Dome and the design is almost identical to something I bought back in the 1980's as a hooped bivvy. Seems there's a moving the goalposts situation.

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Mine was synthetic rather than canvas and had Easton poles. You had to provide your own mat too, but other that it was a ringer for it.

Just for information purposes I'll say that I hated it and it didn't last many trips before getting the boot. I could envisage it being useful if one wanted a creepy crawly proof shelter to sleep in but for me despite being superior for the midges they get up north it was pants for the terrible weather that comes with them. I soon went back to a separate tarp and Gore-Tex sack. More flexible and way better for sitting out rain or cooking under. I cut it up and made something else from it. Still have the poles somewhere awaiting inspiration.
 
Thanks Myal, The reason I asked about it, Is that a guy not far from where I live posted two of them for sale at $100 each. I don't like tents and would only use them if it rains. I remembered seeing a thread about about them a very long time ago. So I were wondering if It might be a good idea to pick one up For when I just want to go for an over night.
Seems it might be something that I could use going out to the desert or the mountains. And still get a good night sleep with out setting up camp. For me a good night sleep is more important then food.
The Bivi I have for backpacking is under one pound and not much room to move.
BaldTaco, The way I see that jolly swag is as one person tent. For the weight you could carry a modern four person tent instead.
 
Sasha, hey

At 22lbs damn right you could.

Or one man could really Princess and the Pea it by chucking a silnylon tarp over the below and bunging in a big stack of mats for the same weight. I think if you did that you could have way more mat comfort, fend off the bugs at least as well, and gain a whole bunch of headroom. Plus you could dump the tarp on splendid nights and enjoy a breeze and a view and still be bug proof.
msiq1.jpg
 
a 4 person tent and sleeping bags would be about as much space taken up and maybe less weight than one swag

probably a lot less weight actually

If you like carcamping sleeping in your bedding wrapped in a tarp as your weatherproofing , under stars next to campfire , then a swag is probably for you .

if you prefer to fit gear for more people into the same space , then more modern gear is better then .

a swag comes into its own when youve worked hard all day and you want to relax your aching bones on a real mattress and feel real blankets on you keeping you warm , its really like rolling into bed

there is also that feeling of comfort knowing your bed is right there ready for you but all wrapped up safe and bug proof as you kick it under truck and head out to start work next day .

I wont lie , they suck to have to carry for more than a few yards . they are not light weight sleeping gear my experience only , others may differ .
 
Much of Australia is very dry, & covered in sharp stones &/or burrs. The swags are not about weatherproofing, they are about physical protection (from the ground) & having everything in one bundle. They are heavy. They suck in the rain. Not for backpacking.
 
The Bluey is made by The Jolly Swagman, I've got one of their Jolly Drover models and its very well made.

http://www.swag.com.au/

When I was working in Queensland I saw them being used extensively. The company I was working for issued them to employees that didn't have their own, and they were what everyone slept in while in camp. I would never take mine backpacking but they are great for car-camping and while working in the bush for longer term setups (like the gold standard Woods Five Star sleeping bag used in the Arctic).
 
mtangent said:
Much of Australia is very dry, & covered in sharp stones &/or burrs. The swags are not about weatherproofing, they are about physical protection (from the ground) & having everything in one bundle. They are heavy. They suck in the rain. Not for backpacking.
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Oz is also full of stuff that can kill you, or at least make you sick.

Deadly spiders, snakes, all sorts of irritating bugs, mosquitos, ticks etc.

The Swag is easy to set up, and keeps the kreepiekrawlies out

They are big and heavy though (we have two at work, they would easily be 16"x40" when rolled up, and weigh 10-15kg)
 
I left a message to the guy who put two of them up for sale. But havent heard back from him yet. They been up for sale for about 2 months now and still listed up for sale. If I get my hands on both of them they would work great for me for when I just want to get out of the city for a night or two. Would be great to have an extra one for a friend to join me.
 
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