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I was off on a quick one-night visit to the lakes, my plan was to pitch late, leave early, bag a summit, then back home to feed the cats. So, I was travelling fast and light, I wanted to enjoy my time at camp, so wanted a roomie tent with some liveable features. We had just got the new  Dagger OSMO 2P Tent in stock, so it was perfect timing to try out this brand-new tent!

I arrived at camp and fresh out of the bag, (I obviously didn't read the instructions) had the tent up in less than 5 minutes. It’s incredibly easy and intuitive to pitch. It’s a free-standing, inner pitch first design, so you are going to get the exact same pitch every time. The cross pole vastly increases the liveable space, and gives the tent a terrific feeling of openness, especially if you leave the fly sheet off. The DAC poles are strong and flexible and sit neatly into the fittings at the Jake foot attachment points. (Jake’s foot attachment point snuggly house the tent poles, fly sheet, and footprint). The Fly sheet also clips onto these same attachments, so you get a very neat, and well-fitted tent, erected in minutes. The tent doesn’t come with the guy-lines pre-attached, and I confess I didn’t bother attaching them, as I knew I was in for a calm night.

Now, for context, the UK has been having a bit of a heat wave the last few weeks, so I was tempted to just leave the fly sheet off, however as this was a new tent, I was quite keen to see the difference in setup options. This tent has a lot of versatility, depending on the weather conditions, and lots of ways to vent heat and improve ventilation. Both outer doors can be partially rolled up, or fully rolled away (this is the option I went for), which gave us a fantastic cooling breeze through the tent, which resulted in me getting the most comfortable night’s sleep I've had in weeks!

The doors (both inner and outer) when rolled away are held in place by the gatekeeper door clips, simple plastic clips that are very easy to use and secure the door in place. Easy to do with just one hand, even if you had gloves on. No more messing about with bungee cord or little knots, so simple but very well thought out.

When the doors are rolled down and pegged out, the liveable space is huge! Both vestibules offer a large amount of floor space, so you can stow a lot of extra gear or cook inside if in a pinch. if you are on the smaller end of the scale, you could even get changed in the vestibule, they are really that big. One vestibule can be designated for the “landing zone”, a small footprint with a bathtub side, which is perfect for storing muddy boots, and keeping them separate from your gear. The inner D-style doors are very generous in terms of size, both roll away and can be held in place with the gatekeeper door clips (however ours were tightly shut to ward off the midges, and I'm pleased to report the No-See-Um Mesh kept them at bay) The large doors make entering and exiting a far more graceful affair.

Inside the tent, some nice features have been added that make the tent a nice liveable space. It’s a large living area that easily fitted both our wide mats, next time I take this tent out, I’ll be using our double wide mat which will easily fit (that can’t be said of all 2-person tents). Two storage pockets on each side of the tent, keep everything organized. Hooks and loops for attaching a clothesline or towel have been included overhead. Each end of the tent also has a night light pocket, which houses your head torch, defusing the light and giving the tent a cosy glow, which also looks great for those of you who like to get night-time photos of the tent. I kept my glasses in the nightlight pocket as well, so they were out of the way, but easy to reach, this would work for medication as well.

As this was a new tent, I hadn’t had a chance to grab and attach a  footprint but I'm pleased to report that it connects to the attachment points as snuggly as the tentpoles and fly sheet. The tent floor is robust and waterproof, but if you expect to be camping on rough stony ground, and who knows where our wild camping adventures will take us? I would always advise using one.

it's fair to say that I have only used this tent in fair weather, so my experience can’t really attest to what this tent would be like in a true downpour, however, this tent has been made from Nemo’s new OSMO fabric, a mix of polyester and nylon. The resulting fabric has 3x less stretch when wet, which reduces sag, and sheds wind and rain in any weather thanks to the advanced water repellency that lasts 4x longer than any of Nemo’s previous tent materials. Both the head and foot end of the tent, allow air to flow as do the 2 ridged vent openings located on each door, so if you are battening down the hatches in bad weather, you can be sure condensation will not be a problem.

After a night of watching shooting stars and cooking a slap-up meal, my partner and I retired to bed. We had plenty of room inside the tent, not just for us but our gear also, I'm six foot one and had plenty of room to sprawl, it never felt claustrophobic. It’s a tad on the heavy side for an ultra-light tent, but this is a true liveable 2-man tent, it’s kept some nice features that make it more homely, and if weight really is a deciding factor, you can easily divide the tent and carry half each. For its weight, liveable space, intuitive design, and versatility, I would definitely say this is the best new tent I have used this year.

Andy Neil
Andy has been a keen long-distance hiker and wild camping enthusiast since he completed the Cleveland Way in 2015. Since then, he has walked thousands of trail miles all over the UK and is an active member of the Wild Camping UK community, being an admin of the largest wild camping community on Facebook. He strongly advocates for responsible wild camping and believes it is important to leave no trace when camping in the wilderness. He joined the UOG team in 2021 and works as a website developer and content creator. Read more from Andy Neil