NEMO Equipment - Aurora 2

I got this tent on special a few years ago and it’s great: https://www.paddypallin.com.au/nemo-equipment-aurora-2person-tent.html (I don’t work for Paddy Palin by the way!). It’s small and light enough to take hiking, which I do once or twice a year. And it’s also sizeable enough to take on a 4wd trip. It’s more pricey than an Aldi tent (I like the sound of the Aldi tent I must say), but it’s quite good quality. It costs between $400-500 so it’s not ridiculously expensive but it’s more than a nice meal at the pub!

I take my Nemo Aurora 2p backpacking, car camping and soon to be canoe camping. It's the perfect all around tent imo.

My Nemo Aurora I've only gotten wet in it once in heavy rain and that was due to me not tightening down the fly at my feet. I haven't used an MSR but I can't imagine they intentionally designed it to not keep you dry

Second the Nemo worth the money

Meh we have survived plenty of torrential rains in our cheap old eureka tent as well as our giant Walmart pop up tent. Sure they weigh much much more than our Nemo tent but for most camping they’re just fine.

I have a eureka apex 2 that I got 14 years ago. It has been all over the country. They were like $120 new, are pretty well made, and decent pack down size and weight, especially for the price. We replaced it a couple years ago with a Nemo backpacking tent that weighs probably half as much, but cost about 4x as much. Our kid still uses the eureka. Don’t get a big tarp for underneath it. They make footprints specifically made for that. You can get fancy expensive ones but Walmart sells cheap plastic ones that work great and pack down much smaller than a normal tarp. We have used ours the entire time we’ve had the tent and still no holes even after lots of gravel camp pads.

Nemo Aurora 2p, it actually fits two 65cm pads and the vestibules are large enough for a backpack.

Tried the Gazelle, liked it until I put it away on the first trip and 2 out of 4 metal sheath ends for the rain fly poles went loose into the dirt. Terrible quality for the price, went back to REI and got the Nemo Aurora.

Nemo is doing great. Obviously not as thick of a material as the Gazelle but it’s a similar size that has “standing room.” Allows me to use other vehicles for camping too since the Gazelle only fit in my truck.

My hubs and I love my Nemo aurora. We can sit up facing each other to play cards or chat. It’s wide enough for us to fit a double wide inflatable pad and suuuuuper light. I love that thing.

Wait, it was more than $100 sorry I didn’t read closely enough. Well if you want to spend more, the Nemo is where it’s at.

Nemo had some issues with their tents, specifically tub and seams, that was about 4-5 years ago. They’ve fixed those problems and they’ve been fantastic for me. Specifically their aurora and dagger tents. They have the best customer service in the industry. On 2 sleeping pads I’ve had of theirs they sent one on 2 day shipping and one on overnight to the middle of no where dakotas.

REI brand tents are actually great. The base camp 6 is my favorite car camping tent, hands down. First one I owned I knew NOTHING about tent maintenance and never once cleaned or treated it and it lasted 15 years through tons of use and some crazy storms. Replaced it with the 2021 model and was very happy with it. The Nemo aurora would probably be my second pick but it lacks a full rainfly and the windows are poorly designed. The North Face wawona is fine. Also for the record I worked at REI for 3 years in the camp department, but we call it hardgoods (started after I purchased my second base camp)

I like Nemo but the colors are a bit overwhelming.

It’s just rain right? You’re not gonna melt right? I would suggest next time use a 2P tent with a drop cloth AND a overhead tarp But all that gear, consider at least 3P tent. I like the Nemo stuff