Backpacking tents are typically tighter on area to avoid wasting on weight. However generally, some further headspace makes it so much simpler to alter garments, play video games, or usually reside extra comfortably. I’m solely 5’3″, so I discover most tents spacious sufficient. My boyfriend, alternatively, is 6’2″ and at all times appreciates slightly further area. Typically, it’s price the additional weight.
The NEMO Aurora 2 tent is listed on NEMO’s web site as a backpacking tent, although it verges on a automotive tenting tent. By way of weight and bulk, it’s proper on the road.
My boyfriend and I spent final fall utilizing it in Hawaii and Indiana collectively. We’ve used it for the entire summer season, road-tripping all through Michigan. This fall, we’ll proceed to make use of it in Indiana in numerous state parks. We’ve slept in wind, rain, and below oak timber, dropping acorns like hail.
In case you prioritize spaciousness, it’s well worth the weight penalty on the backpacking path — particularly if you happen to can cut up it up between two folks. As somebody who typically backpacks and camps by automotive, having a tent that may double for each is right.
In brief: The NEMO Aurora 2 tent ($300) is a good tent for one or two individuals who like to camp and backpack and need loads of room for further consolation. It has huge doorways, vestibules, and vertical partitions that make it very spacious. It makes use of a PFAS-free and FR-chemical-free waterproof rainfly. A virtually all-mesh physique offers glorious air circulation and air flow. There are many pockets for group and storage, and the footprint is even included. In case you’re on the lookout for consolation, sturdiness, and flexibility inside a funds, the NEMO Aurora 2 tent is a improbable alternative.
In case you’re purchasing for backpacking tents, examine the NEMO Aurora 2 to the others in our information to the Greatest Backpacking Tents.
2-Particular person:
3-Season:
Minimal weight:
4 lbs., 11 oz.
Packed weight:
5 lbs., 10 oz.
Peak top:
44″ / 111.76 cm
Flooring space:
32.4 sq. ft./ 3.0 sq. m
Flooring dimensions:
88″ x 53″ / 223.52 x 135.62 cm
Vestibule:
9.2 sq. ft .+ 9.2 sq. ft. / 0.9 sq. m + 0.9 sq. m
Door and vestibule amount:
2
Cover material:
68 D polyester / no-see-um mesh
Rainfly material:
PU polyester (2,000 mm)
Flooring material:
75 PU recycled polyester (2,000 mm)
Very spacious
Sturdy (a terrific long-term choice)
Footprint included
Straightforward set-up
Heavier than most backpacking tents
Xiaoling Keller
NEMO Aurora 2 Tent Evaluate
This tent has been used for one full fall season and one full summer season season. This fall, we’re getting into its third season of use. We additionally bought the NEMO Roamer 2 sleeping pad, the NEMO Jazz double sleeping bag, and the NEMO Fillo King pillows to construct out a full tenting/sleeping package for 2.
This intent has seen a whole lot of tenting over the past 12 months, and it’s lived as much as NEMO’s fame for high-quality tenting gear. We’ve been more than happy with it and the remainder of our NEMO setup. Nonetheless, even among the many tents NEMO sells for backpacking, this one is on the bulkier and heavier aspect. We even have a NEMO Dagger tent that’s lighter and, for my part, higher for backpacking.
The place the Aurora 2 has an edge over a few of NEMO’s lighter backpacking tents is in its worth. This tent is barely $300, making it an inexpensive alternative for a two-person backpacking tent. The NEMO Aurora 2 backpacking tent additionally is available in a three-person measurement, and there are two colour choices: Frost/Silt and Mango/Fog.
(Picture/Xiaoling Keller)
Aurora 2 Set-Up
Assembling this tent is simple and intuitive. It will get even quicker while you do it typically and change into environment friendly.
The primary pole is symmetrical, so you may simply connect it to no matter aspect you’re on. It’s fabricated from light-weight aluminum poles with a custom-forged hub. The grommets the place it attaches are additionally metallic and thus far appear very sturdy.
A smaller pole curves throughout the highest holding out the mesh with rigidity and increasing the sidewalls out. That’s the place all the additional headroom comes from.
Moreover, as soon as the rainfly is on, the tent stakes out extensive providing giant vestibules with plenty of cupboard space. NEMO consists of guy-out traces with the stakes for the rainfly.
Straightforward setup and extensive curved zipper; (photograph/Xiaoling Keller)
Zippers & Pockets
One of many standout options of this tent is the lengthy, curved, steady zipper of the door. I’ve used a steady zipper earlier than. However the curve wasn’t fairly giant sufficient, so it will get caught, and it will definitely broke.
This tent doesn’t appear to have that drawback. The curve is lengthy sufficient that the zipper easily glides within the grooves for straightforward in-and-out entry.
When you’re contained in the tent, you’ll discover and recognize the variety of pockets. There are two lengthy pockets on the ends, two deep pockets on the perimeters, and one “Nitelight” pocket for a headlamp up above that diffuses gentle. It makes it straightforward to prepare your equipment and light-weight the tent up when its darkish out. It additionally has loops for a mini lantern or a string of lights.
The Aurora 2 is at house automotive tenting and simply gentle sufficient for backpacking; (photograph/Xiaoling Keller)
Supplies & Colours
The material is fabricated from 68D polyester, which is right for holding bugs out whereas permitting for loads of airflow. Many of the tent physique is mesh, so if each doorways are looped again or the rainfly is off altogether, condensation is minimal and nearly nonexistent. NEMO consists of toggles so you may roll the rainfly or doorways again and safe them in place.
The rainfly is fabricated from PU polyester. Whether or not its waterproofing fails with age stays to be seen. We’ve solely used this tent for 1 12 months. However from all of our use, it has maintained its waterproofing and stored us dry. When it will get water on it, the solar dries it out pretty shortly.
Spacious inside and ample pockets make the NEMO Aurora 2 good for comfy, organized tenting; (photograph/Xiaoling Keller)
Climate Resistance
We not too long ago weathered a storm on this tent, and we’ll climate extra as we get deeper into fall. It was pouring and very windy. Finally, it stopped, and the wind blew all of the water off our rainfly. But it surely wasn’t lengthy earlier than it began pouring once more.
The within of the tent stayed utterly dry with none indicators of leaking or letting moisture bleed via. The two,000mm waterproof score of the rainfly did its job.
(Picture/Xiaoling Keller)
After we left, I needed to pack the tent away moist. However the next morning, I simply tied it to a pole and let it blow within the wind for about 20 minutes to dry it out sufficiently.
Some on-line evaluations have commented that the Aurora 2 doesn’t carry out very properly in excessive wind circumstances. However in my expertise, I discovered it to be sturdy and steady.
Room for Enchancment
My solely gripe with this tent is its weight and bulk. It’s marketed as a backpacking tent, however even on NEMO’s webpage for the Aurora 2, it recommends eradicating the poles “to share the weight with a friend.” This isn’t to say that it is a monstrously heavy tent. At 4 kilos, 11 ounces, there’s one tent on our Information to the Greatest Backpacking Tents that outweighs the Aurora 2. And among the many Greatest Tenting Tents, this may be the lightest by far.
(Picture/Xiaoling Keller)
It’s additionally pretty cumbersome for a backpacking tent, which many individuals point out of their evaluations and which I skilled as properly. It isn’t the slimmest backpacking tent on the market. However once more, the tradeoff is the extent of consolation and room it presents inside.
For individuals who need one thing lighter, we love our NEMO OSMO Dagger 2 — nevertheless it comes at a a lot steeper worth ($529).
Conclusion: Who Is It For?
Examined throughout a number of seasons, the NEMO Aurora 2 has confirmed spacious, sturdy, and well-suited for normal tenting journeys; (photograph/Xiaoling Keller)
The NEMO Aurora 2 is a perfect tent for 2 individuals who like to camp typically and need loads of room for further consolation. I’ve used different tents and I camp very ceaselessly, and I’d extremely advocate the NEMO Aurora 2 tent for its design and affordability. At $300, it will be the fourth most cost-effective choice on each our guides to the Greatest Backpacking Tents and the Greatest Tenting Tents.
Whereas I desire the NEMO OSMO Dagger for backpacking, I discover this tent good for automotive tenting and as a backup for backpacking if wanted. For individuals who need one tent that can work properly for each, the Aurora 2 lands squarely within the crossover area.
You’ll be blissful utilizing it in both setting — particularly when you’ve got an additional individual to separate its weight and bulk with while you’re backpacking path.
The NEMO Aurora 2 additionally comes with its personal footprint. Tent footprints are normally offered individually, in order that’s a pleasant further contact that extends the lifetime of the tent. For its worth, it is a strong funding that doesn’t break the financial institution and can final for years.
