Starting with the outer mine is much more roomy,better materials(obviously a poncho is mass produced for US troops still good bit of kit though) Jerven also has the body heat reflective inner, the full length zips as opposed to the ponchos metal eyelets so much more useful for keeping out foul weather as I said the poncho liner just ties into these loops with a lace, so no real draft protection,the jerven also does have eyelets so it can be used as a basic shelter,both can be used as a ground sheet or blanket/cover no real difference there,but then we come to the insulation, jerven use primaloft with a silky outer material very warm even when wet, the poncho uses a very thin I mean very thin type of nylon quilt material not really warm in anything but mild condition, but it does beat my jerven in that being removable it would dry faster if wet, they both can be used as poncho's
Both can be used as hide's but Jerven again would excel in the sit up type hide/shelter it has arm slits which are zipped and storm flapped, and has a suppied set of sleeves provided,a basic safety marker/reflective flag provided and a compression sack/carry bag/pillow provided I think this is a very usefull well thought out bit of kit. All round the Jerven beats the Poncho/liner in everything and so it should except the quick drying ability unless you get the zip in liner model, but there again your less likely to get wet in the first place, some people say they get condensation though I never have in mine I just adjust the ventilation either by the side bottom top zip or the arm slits. there is a company that makes something called a woobie?? its a large quilted jacket/liner/bag that combined with a good light weight poncho maybe a very good slightly cheaper alternative, sure twodogs or Martin can give you much more info as they have used there's way more times in various conditons than I have. hope this helps.
