Tents

Nemo Dagger OSMO 2P Tent (2025) | Review

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

The Nemo Dagger OSMO is the 2025 update to one of the U.S. company’s most popular backpacking tents. The main changes? Its vestibule now has 22% more usable space – and, remarkably, with no extra weight penalty. What’s really caught our attention, however, is the OSMO fabric, which is 100% recycled, PFAS-free, and bluesign approved. For these reasons, coupled with Nemo’s overall efforts towards lowering their footprint as a business, we’ve decided the Nemo Dagger OSMO is worthy of a spot in our Greener Gear Guide.

The Top Line

I liked the 2022 version of this but this new model for 2025 is even better, mainly due to its new solution dyed fabrics and the extra space inside it that they’ve managed to create – without any extra weight. It’s space-to-weight ratio is quite remarkable. We’re big fans of the efforts Nemo have taken to lower the overall environmental footprint too.

Buy the Nemo Dagger OSMP 2P: Alpinetrek.co.uk

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 easily 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.

OM editor Will testing the Nemo Dagger OSMO in the Lake District. Photos: Dave Macfarlane.

Design

An updated pole structure, which adds 4 inches to the door height and 2 inches to the peak height, makes the interior feel spacious and comfortable, especially when sitting upright. This is complemented by a generous 30.6 square feet of floor space from its 88 by 50-inch dimensions. To further enhance comfort and utility, the Dagger’s vestibules have been expanded to 12.1 square feet each, representing a 22% increase in usable space for gear storage.

The way this is designed gives plenty of space for two people to comfortably lie down side by side on rectangular sized sleeping mats. There’s plenty of room to sit up too, and to stow and organise kit. Masses of space, actually. I’ve found it to be a very liveable tent. The two porches on either side are both large enough to stow kit and to cook from and the hubbed pole structure, which involves a top cross pole and main pole that forks at each end, creates a high ceiling and steep-sided walls.

All of these features combine to create a remarkably roomy and functional shelter without adding any extra weight compared to the previous model – which is pretty remarkable.

Speaking of the previous model, here’s our video review from 2022.

Just like the first edition, this 2025 one is 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 features Nemo’s impressive 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.

In the field, you can really see this working because every time I’ve pitched this I’ve had no problem getting a nice taut fly. Also, if it’s rained in the night, I find that the tent doesn’t end up with that sorry-for-itself look the next day.

This fabric is also solution-dyed. This means that the dye pigments are added to the material before it’s made into fibre; a method that drastically reduces water and energy use. This contributes to the tent being a bluesign certified product, meaning it meets strict environmental and chemical requirements.

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.

Verdict

I’ve used a few products from Nemo over the 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 1.78kg 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, is very 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, the hubbed pole structure and amount of peg points here – including dual pegging on the doors – makes this one of the more reliable tents I’ve used. I’ve not had any issues with it.