Tents

Nemo Dagger OSMO 2P Tent | Review

A new 1.86kg tent with an impressive new sustainably-made fabric and loads of quirky little design features

Why We Chose the Nemo Dagger OSMO: Good space-to-weight, sustainably made, innovative design

The Nemo Dagger OSMO is the 2022 update to one of the U.S. company’s most popular backpacking tents, with new design details added along with a brand new fabric that, from what we’ve seen, is super impressive.

Who Is The Nemo Dagger OSMO For?

This is a tent that’s designed for backpackers who want something that’s light to carry, that can be split between backpacks, that has the space and comfort for liveability and the durability and protection for peace of mind on any wild nights out on the trail.

The model pictured here is the two-person version but there’s also a three-person version available too.

Design

The way this is designed gives plenty of space for two people to lie down, sit up, stow kit and organise kit. Masses of space, actually. It’s a very liveable tent. The two porches on either side are both large enough to stow kit and to cook from and the single hubbed pole structure, which forks at each end, creates a high ceiling and steep-sided walls.

It’s inner-pitched first. You simply plug the ends of the main tent pole into each grommet and do the same for the top crossing pole, then you can hang up the mesh using the series of little hooks/clips. The corners of the flysheet are then clipped onto the corners of the inner – colour-coding makes this an absolute breeze, by the way – then you peg out the porches and the other stake points.

Materials and Construction

This is one of the first tents to feature Nemo’s new OSMO fabric, a PFC-free and 100% recycled yarn that mixes both polyester and nylon. According to the brand it took more than 100 different prototypes to get this fabric right and the finished product now brings 4x more water repellency than standard tent fabrics and 3x less stretch – that means it can keep its structure when it gets wet and doesn’t end up sagging.

Another nice touch on the eco front is the addition of a dye-free pole bag that’s made from a fabric produced using 1.6 plastic bottles.

Features

Nemo are a great brand for innovation and there’s certainly plenty of cool stuff going on here. You’ve got two internal pockets – one on either side of the tent – that will diffuse the light of a headtorch stowed inside them, creating a warm glow. There’s a removable ‘Landing Zone’ to keep your porch kit from coming into contact with the ground when it’s wet and there are handy little one-handed tabs that hold the doors when they’re rolled back.

Tester’s Verdict

Will Renwick, editor of Outdoors Magic

“I’ve used a few products from Nemo over the last couple of years, including the Nemo Hornet 2P and the Nemo Quasar 3D sleeping mat and I’ve really liked what I’ve seen. There are little aspects of their kit that I’d never thought I’d needed before but that end up being super handy. It’s all just such good kit for backpacking with.

“And this is no exception. I’ve really enjoyed using this tent, mainly because they’ve absolutely nailed the whole space-to-weight thing. There’s bucket loads of space here but at 1.86g it’s still pretty light – not the lightest 2P tent by any means but it’s still light.

“It’s so easy to put up too. The first time I pitched this, I went in blind without reading the instructions. Still, I had a nicely pitched tent with a taut flysheet within about five minutes.

“The OSMO fabric has been impressive too. It’s quick drying, seems pretty durable (but light) and I haven’t had any issues with the fabric sagging in wet weather. I like the way the base of the fly sheet is cut quite high in places – it creates a nice bit of ventilation but you don’t feel that it leaves you vulnerable to the elements either.

“And as for sturdiness, I haven’t used this in any super strong wind just yet (I’ll have to come back and update this when I have) but I’d assume that with the hubbed pole structure and amount of peg points here – including dual pegging on the doors – this would be very reliable.”