NEMO
NEMO Forte 20
No citable owner-review average published for this one, so no stars.
The synthetic Spoon bag, and the right recommendation for anyone camping somewhere persistently damp — the Pacific Northwest, the Appalachians in spring, anywhere a down bag spends a week slowly losing loft. Zerofiber is made entirely from post-consumer recycled polyester, and it keeps insulating wet, which down does not. The cost is real: 53 ounces and 10.6 litres of pack space, roughly a quarter more weight and 60% more volume than the down Disco at a similar rating.
Label against lab
NEMO publishes an ISO 23537 lower limit of 18 °F but no comfort figure. The comfort rating typically runs ten to twelve degrees warmer than the limit, so plan around the low thirties rather than the number on the label. Comfort against limit
At that temperature the pairing table wants at least an R 5.5 pad underneath it.
Size run
One product, 4 sizes. The headline numbers on this page describe the Regular.
| Size | Weight | Approx. price | Length | Shoulder girth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | 3 lb 5 oz | ~$200 | — | — |
| Regular Wide | 3 lb 10 oz | ~$230 | — | — |
| Long | 3 lb 9 oz | ~$250 | — | — |
| Long Wide | 3 lb 15 oz | ~$260 | — | — |
Specifications
Highlights
Features
- ISO or EN rated
- Draft collar
- Full-length zipper
- Spoon shape
- Wide option
- Recycled fabric
What it does well
- Synthetic fill keeps loft when it gets wet, which is the entire argument for this bag over the Disco.
- ISO lower limit of 18 °F, slightly better than the down Disco's 16 °F claim at a lower price.
- $200 is a third less than the comparable down bag, and synthetic doesn't need the careful storage down does.
- Zerofiber is 100% post-consumer recycled, and the bag is built to be sent back and reprocessed.
- Four sizes including two widths.
What it costs you
- 53 ounces and 10.6 litres packed — more than three pounds and a serious chunk of a backpacking pack.
- Synthetic loses loft with compression cycles faster than down does; expect a shorter useful life.
- ISO comfort figure again unpublished.
- The Spoon shape's extra volume is harder to heat with synthetic fill than with down.
Those two lists are drawn from NEMO’s published specifications and from reviews that measured them. They are not owner sentiment — anything owners said appears under its own heading below.
What owners say
Distilled from owner discussions and long-term published reviews, not from anything measured here.
The Forte is the synthetic version of a shape that people mainly buy for comfort, and owner reports reflect that overlap: the things people like about it are the things they like about the Disco, and the things they dislike are the standard synthetic tradeoffs.
What comes through most clearly is that the Spoon cut works regardless of fill. Side sleepers describe tucking a pillow between their knees inside a zipped bag and not feeling constricted, which is the specific test that separates this shape from a mummy.
Owners who care about weight talk themselves into the down versions; owners who camp somewhere wet, or who do not want to worry about a bag getting damp, stay here.
What owners like
- Side sleepers report the same Spoon-shape benefit as the down Disco — enough room to tuck a pillow between the knees without feeling constricted.
- Owners who have both a Forte and a Disco describe the shape as the thing they value, not the fill type, and are happy with either.
- The blanket-fold feature at the chest gets specific mention as something owners actually use.
- Men's and women's versions have zips on opposite sides and pair together, which couples note works well.
Common complaints
- Synthetic fill means bulk, and owners comparing it with a down bag are clear that it is the heavier, larger option.
- The usual synthetic caveat applies: owners expect it to pack out faster than down with repeated compression.
- Owners who want the Spoon shape at backpacking weight end up recommending the down versions instead.
Questions owners ask
Is it the same shape as the Disco?
Do the men's and women's versions zip together?
Is synthetic worth the weight penalty?
Others in the same band
More from NEMO →
NEMO
NEMO Disco 15
The Spoon shape is NEMO's one genuinely original idea in sleeping bags: extra room cut in at the elbows and knees and taken back out at the shins, so a side sleeper can bend a leg without fighting the bag. If you have ever woken up wrapped in a mummy bag that rotated with you, this is the fix. The Disco is the 650-fill version — heavier and bulkier than the 800-fill Riff above it, and $100 cheaper. NEMO publishes an ISO lower limit of 16 °F but no comfort figure, which is the standard half-disclosure across this brand's line; assume comfort lands roughly ten degrees warmer.
Best for: Side sleepers who find mummy bags claustrophobic
Full spec sheet
NEMO
NEMO Riff 15
The Disco's trimmer, more expensive sibling: the same Spoon silhouette and the same Thermo Gills in a narrower cut with 800-fill down instead of 650. That buys four ounces and half a litre of pack space for $100. Whether that is a good trade depends entirely on how far you are carrying it — for a weekend it is not, for a long trail it very much is.
Best for: Side sleepers going long enough that four ounces matters
Full spec sheet
NEMO
NEMO Tempo 20
NEMO's entry synthetic bag: the Spoon shape and the Thermo Gills in a heavier 50-denier shell with a lower grade of Zerofiber, at $170. The 50D fabric is the real difference — it is a much tougher bag than the Forte, which matters more in a campground and on a car-camping trip than the 58-ounce weight does. Published ISO lower limit of 21 °F, honest for a bag with a 20 on the label.
Best for: Campground and car-camping trips in a wet climate
Full spec sheet