NEMO Dagger OSMO 3P Review: More Room, Less Money

The wind whipped against the side of my tent, and a fine layer of sand covered everything. My sleep system, backpack, and clothes were all powdered with dust. This was our second night camping in a sandstorm, though, and I was getting used to it.

One by one, I pulled everything out of the tent to shake off the Utah sand. Then I climbed back inside, zipped shut the doors, and tucked in for bed.

I don’t know if any tent could have stopped the sand from collecting inside on that particularly gusty weekend, but I know plenty of tents that wouldn’t have fared as well in that kind of wind. But the NEMO Dagger OSMO three-person tent I lay in held up impressively. For a comparably light three-person tent, this thing so far proved impervious.

NEMO released this tent in spring 2025, boasting it was “the industry’s first Bluesign product backpacking tent.” It uses NEMO’s proprietary OSMO material and purports to have even more head and shoulder space than the previous iteration, which was billed as NEMO’s “most liveable” backpacking tent.

The description certainly hit all the buzzwords like “lightweight,” “spacious,” and “sustainable.” But how would it stand up to real use and abuse in the field? I called in a testing sample to find out.

In short: The NEMO Dagger OSMO 3P tent is a three-season shelter that balances spaciousness with a light carry weight. It has more shoulder and head room than its predecessor, higher doors, and bigger vestibules. For campers and backpackers who err on the side of weight savings and often travel with one or two companions, this is a versatile option. It will work in almost any setting.

Compare the NEMO Dagger OSMO to tents on GearJunkie’s guide to the Best Backpacking Tents.

NEMO Dagger OSMO 3 Person Tent Review

GearJunkie reviewed the Dagger OSMO 2 Person tent back in 2021. That was the first time the brand debuted its proprietary OSMO material, which is PFAS-free and 100% recycled. NEMO also claims OSMO offers four times longer-lasting water repellency and stretches three times less than nylon when wet.

However, the tent has undergone some changes since 2021. First, the pole structure was redesigned to increase the tent’s peak by 2 inches and door height by 4 inches. The brand claims that the vestibule area was increased by 22%. The rectangular Divvy Cube is also more packable than the previous stuff sack.

Most appealingly, NEMO reduced the price of the three-person tent from $600 to $580 (and from $530 to $500 for the two-person tent). It’s still an expensive tent, but it’s nice to see a price come down for once.

I tested this tent car camping in Colorado several times last summer and took it backpacking into Canyonlands National Park last fall, and Poor Canyon in Utah’s Swell this spring. It was intuitive from the get-go. But the more I used the Dagger OSMO, the more I found to like about it.

Set-Up

The corners of the tent connect to the pole apparatus with easy ball-and-socket snaps. When I shook it out of the bag, the single-pole system almost assembled itself.

A pole crosses the top at the center of the tent, spreading the ceiling out and creating more head and shoulder space inside. Plastic hooks snap onto the poles, and the tent quickly takes shape.

Getting the rainfly to attach to the center pole takes a little effort. Instead of hooks like those, the mesh inner attaches with a rubber hood that pulls over the end of the center pole. The first time I put it on, it took me a minute to line the two hoods up and some umph to secure it in place. But once I knew what to expect, it was easy.

The corners of the rainfly also have a unique attachment system. Instead of clipping, snapping, or hooking on the corners as most tents do, NEMO uses a twist-lock mechanism. You slide the plastic male piece on the corner of the fly, into the female piece on the corner of the tent, and twist, locking it in place.

Weight

The NEMO Dagger OPSMO 3P tent weighs 3 pounds, 14 ounces (the 2P version is 8 ounces less). Compared to tents on GearJunkie’s guide to the Best Backpacking Tents, it would be the fourth-heaviest tent out of 16. But it still lands pretty squarely around the median weight for that list.

Keep in mind also that this is a three-person tent. When I backpacked with it into Canyonlands and Poor Canyon, my companion and I split the weight. I took the fly and the poles, and he took the tent and the stakes. If you take that approach, the weight savings is significant. I’m not a gram counter, but I certainly appreciated how light my pack felt with the tent split up.

Tent Features

NEMO has a reputation for its feature-filled tent designs. The Dagger OSMO 3P is no exception — it’s stacked with features that make it a very livable little shelter.

The internal pockets are laid out at points inside the tent where they’re easy to reach when you’re lying down. There is even an opaque honey-yellow pocket on either side of the tent, so when you put your headlamp in it at night, it not only disperses the light but also gives it a gentle, warm hue. Both the doors of the rainfly and of the mesh inner roll up and are secured in place with a cradle hook that holds a cinch button (pictured).

The Divvy Cube stuff sack is a new feature from NEMO. It’s got a roll-top design so you can squeeze out air and compress the tent for better packability. The rectangular shape of the Divvy Cube also lends itself to packing well inside most backpacking packs. When we split the tent on our backpacking adventure, I used the Divvy Cube (hence the name) to keep my portion packed tightly together.

The rainfly has a nifty ventilation flap to manage humidity. To get less ventilation, you can leave it closed, and to get more airflow, you simply prop it open. The prop is fixed in place with a patch of Velcro.

Finally, one of the most unique features is what NEMO calls the “Landing Zone.” It’s a small triangular tub in the tent’s vestibule that offers storage for boots or other gear you want to keep dry and clean.

NEMO Dagger OSMO 3P: In the Field

As mentioned, when we split the tent into two packs, the weight was negligible (roughly 1 pound, 15 ounces each). When I carried the tent by myself, the full 3 pounds, 14 ounces was more noticeable, but by no means prohibitively heavy. For multi-night backpacks, the Dagger OSMO is a perfectly adequate weight.

It also packs well. The Divvy Cube made it easily fit into my backpack and anywhere in our packed car.

On our first night of the backpacking trip, we arrived at our campsite late. It was late November, and the temperature dropped quickly after sunset, so when we arrived, we were scrambling to get the tent up and our sleeping bags laid out. Even in our semi-anxious state, setting up was a breeze and took only a couple of minutes.

When we were getting ready for bed and waking up in the morning, the head and shoulder space inside this tent was great. We could both sit fully upright and had enough room to change our clothes and pack our bags without feeling cramped. The added door height made it easy to get into and out of the tent, as well.

Breakdown was just as fast and easy as setup. Thanks to the Elements Hardwear used on all the corners and clips and the single-pole design, it’s a streamlined process. Simply twist the locking hubs at the corners, remove the rainfly hoods from the cross bar, unhook the mesh inner clips from the poles, remove the poles from the corners, and roll it all up together. Done.

Wind & Weather

I got rained on, sleeted on, and stuck in some ferociously windy weather in this tent. The Dagger OSMO offered great protection against all of the above. The OSMO material did its job in wet weather, keeping rain at bay and shielding me from wet snow when temperatures dropped.

In windy weather, the Dagger OSMO did well. Despite the increased peak height, it’s still a pretty squat shelter at 44 inches high (fairly standard among backpacking tents). Even in big buffeting gusts, it stayed staked to the ground. And while I could hear the flapping rainfly outside, I couldn’t feel the wind within.

Unfortunately, the rainfly doesn’t prevent wind from blowing in from the bottom, which meant living in very sandy conditions for 2 days in Utah. But I don’t blame the Dagger OSMO for that. My partner’s REI Half Dome tent was likewise dusty as a result of that weather, so I think it was unavoidable.

Three People?

NEMO bills this as a three-person tent, and you could get three people inside. But they’d need pretty minimalist sleeping pads. When my companion and I shared this tent in Canyonlands, I was using a Therm-a-Rest Neoloft long sleeping pad, and he had a Big Agnes Rapide XL. We took up the entire tent.

The Dagger OSMO has 42.8 square feet of floor space inside, which is comparable to other three-person tents in this category. Two people can sleep in it very comfortably. Three people can sleep in it if they don’t mind sardining a little bit.

Room for Improvement

The only issue I experienced had to do with the main doors, which have a top and bottom zipper. Unless I was using two hands to open it, the bottom zipper got stuck a lot. A couple of times, the delicate mesh got snagged in the teeth, and I had to carefully extract it so I didn’t tear the fabric.

When sand started blowing around, this issue got a lot worse. I was worried I was going to break or tear something every time I used it after that.

It wasn’t a deal breaker, but I had to be careful to use two hands when I opened or closed it. When I returned from the windy trip in Utah, I set the tent up again and hosed it down. That seemed to help with the sand making the zipper stick, but I’m still being cautious with it.

NEMO Dagger OSMO 3P Tent: Who Is It For?

Backpackers who often camp with a partner or two and who prioritize weight savings will appreciate what NEMO has brought to the table with the Dagger OSMO 3P Tent. It’s very packable and perfect for multi-night trips in the backcountry.

The Dagger OSMO worked great for backpacking and was a good car camping companion, too. It’s not the cheapest option you’ll find, but this is definitely a case where you get what you pay for. NEMO stuffed this tent with unique features, techy materials, and functional designs.

I quickly grew to love my Dagger OSMO. It’s become my home away from home when I pack a backpack and hit the trail. It’s also come in useful a few times when our car was packed too tightly with other camping gear (and bigger tents). If you can afford it, it won’t disappoint you.