USGI Industries Military Style Poncho Multi Use Rip Stop Camouflage Rain Poncho

I read some of the negative reviews and concede that these ponchos may be a little thinner and less rugged than genuine military issue, but they're also lighter, more compact and a fraction of the cost. Which for occasional backpacking, make them work better for me.I like that they are rip-stop and wider than most ponchos, (a full 62 inches), so in addition to keeping you dry while you're hiking, you can stretch a bit of para-cord between 2 trees and make a tent , or snap the two sides together to create a rainproof bivy over your sleeping bag. I bought 2 and they snap together beautifully to create a 2-person emergency bivy for my wife and I. My only disappointment is that there are no snaps at the bottom to close the bivy. If I can find 4 to 6 of the 2-sided snaps I'll add them myself. Or in an emergency, duct tape the bottoms together.Living in Colorado, I keep a small day-pack in my car at all times for those spontaneous hikes when we're driving through the mountains. 2 of these ponchos fit easily in my bag, along with packable down coats, thermolite underwear and a few other survival essentials. No one plans to get lost of have an emergency in the wilderness, but if you do, you'll be very glad you invested in these ponchos. If they ever offer them in Survival orange, I'll buy them again.

Let me preface this review by saying I have seen some negative reviews from people comparing this to a US Army issue poncho. I would say it compares favorably to the real deal, aside from IR signature......and if you're worried about your IR signature you've got bigger issues than what poncho you're wearing. For the record, I own this poncho from USGI Industries, along with two Helikon-Tex ponchos, a stasher poncho from EMS, two different actual ORC Industries US Army issue ponchos, an Angolan military poncho, and a PSSLE from Wilderness Innovation (yes, I like ponchos). When it comes to the best of the bunch, the Wilderness Innovation kinda stands above the others. That being said, it's a hand made poncho from a small shop in Utah, so that's not surprising. What IS surprising, however, is how good this particular poncho from USGI industries is.This poncho is well made. The stitching is done well. The material is high quality. ALL of the seams are taped, and taped well. The grommets and snaps are all very high quality, and have been very robust. I tend to use this poncho a lot as it is roughly the same dimensions as an actual US Army issue poncho (same basic size, shape, etc), but substantially lighter. The US issue woobie ties right up no problem (the MARPAT woobie you see in one of the pictures is a USMC issue woobie made by Winston Salem Industries for the Blind). I have used it as a shelter more times than I can count, with zero failures. I have worn it in the rain and been completely dry. Out of every poncho I own, this is the one I grab the most believe it or not. Even the woobies they make are really nice (and substantially softer than the actual issue ones). All in all, for the price, I wouldn't hesitate to buy this poncho again.

Exactly what we needed. Bought two: one green, one orange. Good quality, kept us dry in rain, and repacks easily into stuff bag.

First, I will say I was initially impressed for various relative-based reasons that might not apply to another buyer. And although I'm not military, even I'm pretty sure (or at least I hope) this is NOT milspec. What it is instead is a _potentially_ very good and lightweight low-cost highly versatile poncho. The snaps are both a great feature and the biggest potential problem I see so far--without extended use--yet. They are stackable--I don't know if this is a standard for military that they are using to claim milspec, but it seems very useful for improving versitility. The problem is the snaps come off. Meaning they come off, possibly from normal use, and not much of it at that. I think if we asked the seller, they'd say, "well, that's very atypical and they're actually not supposed to come off. and we shouldn't have people thinking these tarp ponchos are unsafe..." Nonetheless, this is a case of, "the front fell off." for me. The funny part is I'm still giving it 4 stars for a couple reasons. FIrst, I think the rest of the poncho is pretty good quality for the price. It feels to me at least--and I know nothing of the seller-- but it feels like they made a genuine effort to produce a decent product at a good price, but failed at one (well two) critical things--but the customer may be able to fix the one thing. And the second thing is, they should probably tell you that you'll need to fix this one thing. BUT, let me also be clear, although the snaps (two of them from two separate positions to be precise) did separate from the fabric and rips developed that WERE stopped by the ripstop fabric, and this happened on the first day of testing the product, it happened only when I tried to use the poncho as a hammock. Yet, before you say, well, the poncho is only for an emergency hammock--or I weigh to much (I weigh 175 lbs so on the light side for americans in my opinion)--as the directions clearly state--the problem really is, I think, that the snaps are apparently just fitted into holes and not permanently fixed. I could see where they maybe do this instead of attaching the snaps the way I did when I added snaps from the craft store to my last poncho--in a way the puts little punctures into the fabric that create more places to rip from...but the bottom line is, I believe these snaps will come out over time from normal snapping and unsnapping only--if they don't rip the fabric when they come out, you can put them back in without issue, but in my case, the fabric being slightly ripped, they won't stay in even as well as they did at first--which was not great. SO--the solution I believe will work--and what I'm going to do instead of returning the poncho(s)--I got two of them--is I'm going to get some 5 minute epoxy in the self mixing syringe at the big box depot, and with the snaps all back in place, I'm going to inject the epoxy into the space between the metal where it interfaces the fabric, and spin the snaps in place to spread the epoxy, and I'm going to do this on both sides of the fabric. I will report back after having done this and used the result to see how well it holds up. I probably won't try using it as a hammock again, and will figure that it would work as an emergency hammock if you wanted to say, get yourself off the ground in a lightning storm.

Terrific. Was exactly what I was hoping for. Shall work out great for it's intended purpose. Like the weight and compactness, unlike the ones I was issued in the late 70's and early 80's.Hopefully it'll last for a few years. Seems lower maintenance than the one's back then. And highly doubt it'll crack and peel, like they did.