Join NEMO in Damascus, VA on May 17-19 for the annual Trail Days Festival! We will be at Booth #726 along S. Beaver Dam Ave showing almost our entire line of backpacking tents, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and camp accessories.

The Nocturne™ 15, part of NEMO’s new Spoon™ Shape sleeping bag series, and the Helio™ Pressure Shower, have earned top honors from National Geographic Adventure. Amongst thousands of products considered, both Nocturne™ 15 and Helio™ were chosen as examples of revolutionary ideas to hit the outdoor market in 2012. Here’s what editor Steve Casimiro had to say:

Nocturne™ 15 Spoon Sleeping Bag

“Odds are that you sleep best on your side. Most of us do. According to a study from the U.K., about 70 percent of us are side sleepers. But most sleeping bags are built for mummies, which technically speaking are dead and don’t care if they’re on their back. The NEMO Nocturne 15, though, is built for the rest of us. It’s constructed with more room at the knees and slightly less at the waist, which lets your midsection move unencumbered as you shift position in the night, whether to your side or back. The 15-degree, water-resistant down-filled bag is said to be shaped like a spoon, but imagine a burrito slightly pinched in the middle and you’ll have a better idea of it. The second best feature? There’s a pillow pocket for neck support.”

 Helio™ Pressure Shower

“Solar-heated showers are a great idea, but they so rarely work well—they’re leaky, awkward to mount (at least they are in the desert, where there are few trees), and have anemic water flow. But NEMO’s Helio Pressure Shower blows all those cheap, inefficient showers out of the, er, water. Like most solar showers, the 2.9 gallon Helio is black to absorb the warmth of the sun during the day, but it uses a foot pump to build pressure, giving you about five minutes of warm, strong, blissful water flow. Compared to what you’ve used before, it’ll feel like the shower in a luxury hotel.”

To see the full list of Gear of the Year winners, click here.

NEMO’s new Spoon™ Shape sleeping bags have been receiving a lot of attention and accolades since we first released them at the end of 2012 and the biggest news came today—the Nocturne™ 15 and 30 bags have won the prestigious Backpacker Editors’ Choice award. 

“If you crave more space than a mummy provides, but don’t want the weight penalty of a rectangular bag, this is your ticket to dreamland,” said Kristin Hostetter, Gear Editor at Backpacker when asked why the Nocturne™ 15 and Nocturne™ 30 Spoon™ shape bags were awarded an Editors’ Choice. 

All of Backpacker’s Editors’ Choice winners must excel under extensive field-testing conducted by its team of editors, who take hundreds of new products every year into the backcountry to put them to the test. This rigorous process ensures that the performance of the winners is truly worthy of distinction and meets the guiding principle behind the program: gear that is of real value to the readers of Backpacker magazine, who are very active, long-term outdoor enthusiasts. 

Unlike conventional mummy shapes, NEMO’s new Spoon™ Shape backpacking bags give you extra space where it matters most. Wide in the elbows, the bag tapers down to the hips then gently flairs back out to allow room for your knees to naturally bend and shift throughout the night. This innovative bag profile offers restorative sleeping comfort while maintaining thermal efficiency and low weight. Details like the tuckable Blanket Fold™ and a waterproof-breathable footbox elevate comfort and protection for adventures near or far.

The Spoon™ Series has also won Outside’s Gear of the Show, Outdoor Retailer 2012.

For Fall 2013, NEMO will be launching the first in its series of cold weather bags. Canon -40, which debuted at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market show in January, has won the Best in Show award from Gear Junkie. “A tsunami of gear hit the Salt Palace Convention Center in Utah this past week, where the twice-annual Outdoor Retailer trade show sprawled for tens of thousands of square feet. On display were to-be-released tents, packs, jackets, ice axes, GPS gadgets, fire-starters, lights, shoes and all manner of equipment and apparel imaginable. GearJunkie was on the ground with a crew of six editors and reporters to scour the halls in search of the most stand-out new items, our “Best in Show” picks for winter of 2013… This gear represents the state of the art in outdoors equipment and gear design,” said Stephen Regenold. “Minus-40 Bag (with blow hole). We gave the first generation of this bag recognition in 2011. But NEMO never got it off the launching pad. This year, the brand revised its Canon -40 bag to make it one of the most unique winter sleeping systems ever built. It uses 850-fill down throughout. The slots on front, called gills, zip open and closed to vent. A head-ensconcing hood is finished off with a PrimaLoft-insulated baffled tube that sticks up and offers a ‘stovepipe’ to breathe. The often-wet footbox area has a mix of down and synthetic insulation to keep the loft going even if snow soaks through. Finally, for moving around in the tent, cooking, and working with gear the bag has zip-open arm hole areas so you can do tent chores without ever getting out of the bag. Weight is 4 pounds, 7 ounces. $999.”

For Fall 2013, NEMO will be launching the first in its series of cold weather bags. Canon -40, which debuted at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market show in January, has won Gear Institute’s Best in Show. “The problem with this sleeping bag is obvious: On a bitter winter morning, you’ll never want to get out of it. NEMO’s Canon -40 is a waterproof shell stuffed with 850-fill down, with PrimaLoft synthetic (and down) insulation in the footbox. It features a “stove pipe” opening to warm air near your face, with arm zippers to allow you some mobility??”and so you don’t have to let a bunch of cold air in anytime you reach for some gizmo in the tent. 5 lbs (actual weight, 4 lbs., 7 oz.); $1,000.”