Gear Review

Nemo Losi 2P

• spacious interior
• vented fly
• four-pole geometry
• 5lbs 2.0oz

Nemo's Losi 2P makes a big impression right out of the box: with a packaged weight of five pounds, fifteen ounces, this isn't the tent I would normally carry for solo use.

The Losi fits into the category of "larger" 2-man tents. If you're traveling with a partner and you don't want to rub shoulders all night, the Losi was built with you (and your comfort) in mind. Interior dimensions are a generous 86x54x46". And, thanks to the tent's unusual geometry, those numbers understate the actual, usable interior volume.

The Losi is the first 2-man tent I've tested that employs not two or three but four separate poles in its design. The two extra poles fit like gutters along the tent's upper sides—a very interesting innovation. As you'd expect with multiple poles and an unusual design, setup is definitely trickier than average. Be sure to take a practice run or two at home before venturing into the wild.

Once you do get the Losi together, you may well ask yourself, what the heck is this all about? The answer is that the two extra poles serve multiple functions. Perhaps the most significant is the alteration of the tent's geometry. Thanks to the side poles, the Losi's interior walls become much steeper than a traditional tent's, significantly enhancing interior space.

If the swish-swish of your sleeping bag rubbing against low-angled tent fabric keeps you up at night, you'll love the way the Losi's sides—all four of 'em—rise nearly vertically where they meet the floor. As noted, this gives the interior considerable spaciousness, exceeding, for example, the interior room of MSR's excellent Hubba Hubba 2-man tent—albeit at the cost of an extra pound of weight.

The other major perk of the Losi's double side-gutters is ventilation. When the fly goes atop the Losi, it connects directly to the ends of the two side poles, pushing it outward to create vents at each end. These vents are completely protected from rain, offering unmatched ventilation even in a downpour. Be aware that those end vents could prove problematic in dusty or snowy environments—there is no way to completely seal the tent from the elements. If that's a concern, Nemo does make the Losi in a 'Storm' version.

Though the Losi doesn't have a cross pole at the top, it still manages to create a generous double vestibule, again using the side poles. One oddity in this regard is that there is no obvious way to fully roll up the sides of the fly to create awnings/doorways. See my photo of Losi and Fly above—the fly is open to its maximum extent here. In hot weather, this makes creating a cross-breeze inexplicably more difficult than it ought to be.

The Losi is going to be at its best for two-man use on longer trips where rain is a real threat. Extra space is the big draw here: you and your hiking partner will weather storms in relative comfort in the Losi, with plenty of interior room and an innovative ventilation system that remain open even in the heaviest of downpours. If it's not raining, pull the fly and enjoy the stars and breeze via the Losi's full-mesh body.