There are a lot of things you can do to improve your chances of seeing shooting stars during meteor showers. Letting your eyes adjust to the darkness for half an hour, going to an area with minimal light pollution, and gazing at the sky during the darkest hours of the night will all likely help you see more meteors go whizzing through the sky. But if you’ve ever gone stargazing, you may have realized that staring straight up for 30 minutes while sitting on the ground is not exactly the most comfortable experience. And while I love my portable, lightweight backpacking chair, if I try to lean backward too much, I just tip over.
Photo: Suzie Dundas
This Luxe Piece of Outdoor Gear Helped Me See the Best Meteor Shower of My Life
Enter my new favorite piece of clever outdoor equipment: the Nemo Stargaze swinging camp chair. And while it’s not new, it’s new to me — which is too bad, as I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot of potentially awesome stargazing events without it.
A weight-sensitive system on the side straps triggers the auto-recline feature. It’s foolproof and works quite well. Photo: Suzie Dundas
The Stargaze is a foldable, swinging camp chair — but with one feature that makes it unbeatable for stargazing. Shifting your weight backward activities the auto-recline feature, lowering the backrest to a near-flat position, akin to a lay-flat airplane seat. This position is more like laying in a hammock, making it far easier to star at the sky without neck stiffness or fatigue. There’s even a thick pillow you can move up or down on the backrest. It’s also pretty supportive, so you don’t feel like you’re sitting in an awkward V shape.
When you sit back up, that motion automatically returns the back panel to an upright position. It’s clever as heck, and really makes relaxing outdoors far more comfortable, especially if seeing shooting stars is your goal.
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The NEMO Stargaze made the 2024 Perseid Meteor shower the best I’ve ever seen
We’ve spent quite a few nights working on this NEMO Stargaze review, from the comfort of my back deck in the mountains. Photo: Suzie Dundas
The Perseid Meteor shower happens every year from late July to mid-August as the Swift–Tuttle comet passes by the planet. In 2024, it peaked on August 12. Because I love astronomical events, and I wanted to make this Nemo Stargaze review as night-sky focused as possible, I carried it to wooded clearing in northern Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Nevada. Set up is wildly easy — aside from foldable legs, and a hook on each armrest, there’s nothing to put together — and the four separate feet helped it to feel secure on uneven terrain. It’s a little awkward to plop into, but using the armrests to balance yourself helps.
But once I settled in, I was surprised how long I sat comfortably staring at the sky. I wasn’t frequently shifting or grabbing my phone out of boredom. For a good 40 minutes, I just sat laying down, looking around the sky uninterrupted. That’s longer than I’ve ever stared up at the sky in one go, and it allowed my eyes the optimal amount of time to adjust to the darkness. I started noticing stars during twilight, and by the time the sky had turned the inky shade of black ideal for stargazing, I could make out even the cloudy wisps of the Milky Way.
Less than an hour after sunset, I saw the best shooting star of my life. It was bright, so big, and so low that I almost jumped out of my seat, sure that it had hit the treetops in the forest nearby. Despite the fact that the Perseid is not the biggest meteor shower of the year (in the northern hemisphere, that honor usually belong’s to December’s Geminids show), it seemed like I saw a shooting star every five minutes or so.
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While I can’t give the NEMO Stargaze credit for generating the show, I can give it credit for making it much easier to keep my eyes on the skies and giving me access to a wider field of viewing. Several times, I found myself saying “Woah, did you see that one?” to my husband, only for him to say “What? No!” Perhaps if he’d been sitting in a NEMO Stargaze, instead of trying to lie on the ground with a jacket balled up under his head, he would have had an easier time spotting them. It’s far easier to move your head and look around the entire sky when you’re swinging in a chair, instead of laying with your head on a fixed spot on the ground.
(Don’t worry: we switched after about an hour so he could give the chair a try, too).
The fact that I saw more meteoroids than ever during the show is especially notable because I live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The clearing where I watched the show is about a 10-minute walk from my house, and I regularly have fantastic stargazing opportunities from my back deck, where the Stargaze is now parked. So the variable wasn’t being in new place or having access to darker skies — it was having a comfortable way to stare at the stars.
NEMO Stargaze: the pros
Assembly is easy, with two secure metal clips to attach the fabric seat to the aluminum frame. Photo: Suzie Dundas
Aside from the fact that the NEMO Stargaze will help you see absolutely baller meteor showers (a scientific astronomy term, I believe), it’s also more comfortable than your average camp chair. That’s probably because it’s larger, with a diamond-shaped back panel that provides plenty of support for broad shoulders, the padded headrest, the ability to rock and swing, and the wide seat width (just over three feet). With a weight limit of 300 pounds, it accommodates a wide range of bodies, butt sizes, and heights — though my husband, at just over six feet tall, reported that it was easier to maintain the laying-down position when he put his feet up on a rock or table.
The smaller packed size makes it easier to fit in the car on on road trips or for car-camping excursions. Photo: Suzie Dundas
Other useful features are mesh panels to reduce sweat on warm days, and a relatively small carrying case. Compared to my other chairs, it’s much more compact and far easier to pack in a car trunk. Assembly is easy, with elastic cords to connect the four legs and two upright supports. The chair has only two connection points to the frame, each attached with a very easy-to-use clip.
Disassembly is easy as long as you know one specific step: there are narrow poles on the back panel with a velcro tab to release them. I fiddled with the chair for at least 10 minutes before figuring that out. But once I did, no problems. Packing it back up wasn’t as quick as, say, my Helinox Chair, but it still only took about two minutes.
NEMO Stargaze: the cons
Photo: Suzie Dundas
The NEMO Stargaze is heavy compared to your average camp chair, at eight pounds. My cheap Coleman camp chairs weigh less than that, at around six pounds each. But the Stargaze is clearly a much more luxurious chair, and when I’ve set it up around friends using regular camp chairs, the series of “ooohs,” “ahhhs,” and “well, aren’t you fancy?“-ing is inevitable. That said, it’s better for car camping or carrying for short distances over your shoulder. I’d never carry it on an overnight trip as part of my gear.
Aside from the difficulties of packing it up the first time (I’m telling you, remove those poles in the back!), the other con is something some camp chair users may experience with every chair: the taller you are, the less comfortable it’s likely to be.
At 5-foot, 7-inches, I found it super easy to maintain a comfortable position.While my husband agreed it was more comfortable than a standard camp chair, he would have liked the pillow to move a little higher, and felt his longer torso didn’t fit as well in the curve of the seat when laying flat. We both agreed it was much more comfortable with our feet propped up. A stump worked just fine, but you can find attachable camp chair footrests on Amazon for around $15.
The cupholder works well for a phone or canned drink, but larger bottles will probably fall out if you swing. Photo: Suzie Dundas
The NEMO Stargaze also has two built-in cupholders. However, they’re too small for tall water bottles. They’re a great size for a beer or a phone, but you’ll probably want to set taller bottles on the ground.
What makes it worth $250?
Photo: Suzie Dundas
The NEMO Stargaze is extremely expensive for a camp chair, and there’s no getting around that. It’s the same price ($249.95) whether you buy it from NEMO, via Amazon, or somewhere like REI. While it does have an extremely solid warranty and repair program, it’s definitely a wishlist item. It could make a nice gift for your outdoorsy girlfriend, or a fun group buy for your buddy having a camping bachelor party. You can sometimes find used versions usually around the $100 to $150 mark on REI’s Re/Supply used gear website, especially if you don’t mind buying an older version. But it’s clearly a want item, not a need, and you can find way cheaper (albeit likely less durable) generic swinging chairs at Amazon or WalMart.
Of course, big box stores and generic Amazon retailers usually produce products in the cheapest possible way, which NEMO Equipment doesn’t. It’s one of the most sustainable outdoor companies on the market, actively working toward making all its products recyclable and using extremely high standards for materials, production methods, and carbon tracking. It also puts its money where its mouth is, so to speak, with active advocacy and inclusion programs. So if you’re worried about the very real effects of overconsumption and over-consumerism, but still want a sick chair for stargazing, buying a NEMO product could be a good happy medium. 