Nemo Aurora 2 Tent Review (Bought & Tested!)
This is my review of the Nemo Aurora 2 after weeks of testing.
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Quick Summary
If you’re looking for a spacious and lightweight 2-person tent, the Nemo Aurora 2 is no doubt the best tent for you.
It doesn’t even have any deal-breaking cons, as you’ll find out in just a bit.
RELATED: Best Budget Backpacking Tents
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Check out the Nemo Aurora 2:
1. In the Box
Out of the box, this is what I got:
- 2 tent poles
- 1 small patch kit
- 8 stakes
- 1 pole repair split
- Rainfly
- Tent body
- Footprint
- Carry bag (with pre-attached setup instructions)
2. Set Up & Pack Away
This is the gist of the entire setup process:
- Lay out footprint and tent body.
- Attach hubbed pole to grommets of both footprint and tent body.
- Secure all 12 pole clips.
- Ridge pole to go above hubbed pole (secured with 2 extra grommets and 2 extra pole clips).
- Secure rainfly to tent via grommets as well.
- Stake entire tent down (2 vestibules, 4 corner stakes, 6 guylines).
For more details, I have a separate video with loads of instructions and tips to help you set up your tent more easily.
Altogether, the entire setup takes 7.75 minutes.
On the other hand, packing away takes about 6.75 minutes. The carry bag had ample space, so everything fit back in easily.
3. Peak Height
The peak height in the Nemo Aurora 2 comes in at about 42 inches.
And on top of this peak height, I also measured the height at the four edges of the tent:
- Right: 36.5in
- Back: 37.5in
- Left: 39.0in
- Front: 37.5in
So, you pretty much get an extended peak height all around the entire tent.
4. Pole Structure
The livable space in this tent is because of the special 2-pole structure.
The first pole is the hubbed pole, and this single pole creates almost vertical walls here on the right, and on the left.
The second pole is the ridge pole at the top of the tent, this pulls the tent body up on the front and the back, creating another 2 vertical walls.
Now, my height is only about 5’3 (160cm), so the peak height was incredible for me.
5. Base Area
For the base area, I first measured the length, and that came in at about 85.5 inches.
Then, I measured the width, and that came in at about 49.5 inches.
Overall, that’s a total base area of about 29.4 square feet.
6. Pad Sizing
As for the pad sizing, here’s my Exped MegaMat Duo, which is the size of 2 regular pads put together, it fit quite nicely, with a bit of leftover space for storing gear on the floor.
The extra width left though, after the pad goes in, it’s only like 5.5 inches (see above), so if you want to fit wide 25-inch pads, it’ll be a very, very snug fit, all the way to the edges of the tent.
As for anything wider (like a queen bed), it won’t fit at all.
7. Vestibules
The Nemo Aurora 2 comes with 2 vestibules, one at each length of the tent.
I measured the width of each vestibule, and that came in at about 33 inches.
So, on top of the inner base area from before, this gives us another 9.8 square feet for each vestibule, or 19.6 square feet for both vestibules.
Each vestibule comes with only 1 stake down, so you can stake down only the left panel of the vestibule, and leave the right open.
If you don’t need the vestibule at all, you can un-stake it completely, and tie the whole thing up with its 2 toggles.
Each vestibule has just 1 zipper, not branded, but the zipping experience was good.
8. Doors
Under each vestibule, you’ll find one door each, so 2 doors altogether.
To keep the doors open, there’s a pocket beside each door, to hold the door fabric out of the way.
These doors are super huge, measuring about 54 by 27 inches, which is at least 20% bigger than most other tents this size.
Each door has 1 zipper, these are the same non-branded zippers we saw for the vestibules.
9. Storage
For storage, there are these 2 door pockets (8 x 6in), plus another 2 pockets nearer the top of the tent (20 by 7in). So, altogether, we’ve got 4 pockets in this tent.
Note: The newer version of this tent comes with an overhead Nightlight Pocket, where you put a headlamp in, and the pocket diffuses the light for you (mine doesn’t have it though).
I also got 2 loops at the top of the tent.
10. Tub Floor
Now, before we get into the rain test, we have to check the waterproof features, starting with the tub floor, which runs all around the entire tent.
The height of this tub floor at the lengths is 9 inches, while the widths is 11 inches.
11. Seam Taping
I checked all the seam taping in the tent (flooring, corners, rainfly, etc.) and found that everything below the tub floor was taped, and everything above wasn’t (because the rainfly covers them anyway).
12. Rainfly
As for rainfly protection, this is a full-coverage rainfly, which extends almost all the way down to the ground.
I really loved that apart from the vestibules at the front and back of the tent, the widths of the tent have an extra guy-out point where you can pull the rainfly away from the tent body.
13. Vents
For even more ventilation in the tent, this Nemo also has 2 vents, one on each width.
I really liked that I could reach it from the inside by sticking my arm through the door.
14. Heavy Rain Test
I tested the Nemo Aurora 2 in heavy rain for 1 hour, and after the rain stopped, I found that there was not a single drop of water inside the tent, at all:
- No seam leakage
- No tub floor leakage
- No rainfly leakage
- No vent leakage
Overall, it held up really well in the heavy rain, and you can check out the full rain test here:
15. Mesh
Now, if you remove the rainfly on hot days, you’d find a decent amount of mesh on the tent body.
Overall, I’d say 55% of the tent is covered in mesh.
Note: The newer version of this tent comes with a little bit more mesh.
I do wish that they’d make the mesh a little bit more transparent and less colored, cos it really takes away from the nice views that you get outside.
16. Materials
As for materials, here’s all the info you need:
- Flooring: 75D Polyester (2,000mm PU)
- Footprint: 75D Polyester (2,000mm PU)
- Rainfly: 68D Polyester (2,000mm PU)
- Canopy: 68D Polyester
- Poles: Aluminum
- Mesh: No-see-um
17. Portability
For portability, the Nemo Aurora 2 has a packed size of 21.5 x 9.5 x 7.5 inches.
If you’re packing the poles separate from the rest of the tent body, the packed length is 20.75 inches.
The whole packed tent weighs about 5.44lbs (2.47kg), and here’s the breakdown of all the parts of the tent if you need it.
- Poles: 20.6oz
- Stakes: 4.7oz (8 stakes)
- Rainfly: 26.6oz
- Tent body: 26.0oz
- Footprint: 7.6oz
- Carry bag: 1.5oz
- Total: 87oz/5.44lbs/2.47kg
18. Pros, Cons, Recommendations
Now, what are the pros and cons, and would I recommend this Aurora 2?
Pro #1: 4 vertical walls
Overall, this Nemo Aurora 2, is, without a doubt, the most spacious 2-person tent I’ve ever camped in, in my life.
Most other good-quality 2-person tents will typically have 2 regular tent poles plus a ridge pole, giving them only 2 vertical walls.
The Nemo, on the other hand, has 4 vertical walls; I’ve never seen this in another 2-person tent before (see Test #4: Pole Structure).
Pro #2: Nice peak height
And it also has a very generous peak height of 42 inches.
Pro #3: All-around ventilation
Ventilation in this tent is great as well, and I really loved that the rainfly can be guyed out at all sides.
Pro #4: Great cross-ventilation
And the doors in this tent are extra big too, so cross-ventilation beats other tents as well.
Pro #5: Great in rain
And it’s not just ventilation that’s great; this Nemo is also great in the rain, complete with every single waterproof feature (vents, rainfly, waterproofing, tub floor, etc.), and a 2,000-millimeter polyurethane coating.
Pro #6: Comes with footprint
The footprint also comes provided with the tent, which you don’t get with most tents out there.
Pro-Tip: To go extra light, you can do the footprint-only setup, which will weigh 3.81lbs (1.73kg).
Pro #7: Lifetime warranty
And you also get a lifetime warranty from NEMO Equipment.
Con #1: Vulnerable against winds
However, with 4 very tall, vertical walls, this tent won’t take wind as well as other more dome-shaped tents.
Con #2: One-way zippers
And a smaller con is that the door and vestibule have only 1 zipper each, so if you want to crack the top of the door open for ventilation, you can’t do that. Most tents usually come with 2 zippers each.
Overall Recommendations
Overall, the pros definitely outweigh the cons, and if you’re looking for a very spacious tent, and you’re not going to be camping in crazy winds, this Nemo Aurora 2 is the perfect tent for you.
18. Bonus – MUST Read!
If you’re undecided on this tent, and you need other options, check out my article here on the best budget backpacking tents.
Otherwise, check out the Nemo Aurora 2:
