Sometimes the best gear finds you in the most unexpected places.
I didn’t walk into the Missouri Tactical Games Regional Event thinking a camp chair and a folding table were going to be two of my most-talked-about pieces of gear. But here we are.
NEMO designed the Stargaze EVO-X Chair and Moonlander Table for camping and overlanding. I saw something different. I saw a base camp solution for one of the most physically demanding competitions in the shooting sports world, The Tactical Games.
Let me explain why that matters, and why you might want to rethink what’s sitting in the back of your truck.
What Is The Tactical Games And Why Your Setup Matters
If you’re not familiar with The Tactical Games, here’s the short version: it’s fitness and firearms colliding in a 2-day event designed to push you to your absolute limit. Regional events typically run 7–8 stages across two days. You might shoot four stages in a single day, and then wait two to three hours between them.
With 100 to 300 competitors spread across multiple divisions, those wait times are real. And if you roll up without a tent, a solid chair, and somewhere to clean your guns? You’re going to feel every single one of those hours.
Recovery isn’t optional in a Tactical Games event; it’s strategy. Every minute you’re on your feet when you don’t need to be is energy you’re burning that you’ll want back when the next stage starts. A malfunction from a dirty firearm can end your run entirely. You need a base camp. A real one.
That’s exactly why I loaded up the NEMO Stargaze EVO-X and Moonlander Table for Missouri.
Built for the Outdoors. Battle-Tested on the Range.
Before I get into how these pieces performed, let’s talk about what they actually are.
NEMO Stargaze™ EVO-X Folding Reclining Camp Chair
NEMO did not cut corners here. The Stargaze EVO-X is feature-rich, built on a steel frame, and rated to hold up to 300 pounds. But the specs don’t tell the whole story.
What sets it apart:
- Instant, no-assembly setup: deploy it in seconds flat, no fussing, no fumbling
- Automatic reclining with a smooth swinging motion: you lean back, it catches you; it’s as intuitive as it sounds
- Plush cushioning and a supportive padded headrest: not camp-chair comfortable, actually comfortable
- Easy fold-down and carry: the steel frame folds into a tight pack for fast mobility between stages or campsites
Specs at a Glance:
- Dimensions: 31 x 37 x 43 in
- Packed Size: 40.0 x 10.5 x 8.5 in
- Minimum Weight: 13 lb 12 oz
- Frame: Steel
- MSRP: $179.95
NEMO Moonlander™ Dual-Height Camp Table
The name is fun. The table is serious.
The Moonlander adjusts between two heights: low for ground-level use, higher for sitting in a camp chair, and it folds down to almost nothing. It’s one of the more cleverly designed camp tables I’ve put through its paces.
What sets it apart:
- Dual-height versatility: adapts from a low surface to a side-table height with minimal effort
- Compact and lightweight: it packs small and travels without complaint
- Smooth, easy-clean surface: whether you’re breaking down a pistol or breaking down a Bible passage, cleanup is simple
- Stable platform, and I mean genuinely stable, which matters more than you’d think
Specs at a Glance:
- Dimensions: 19 x 15 x 16 in
- Packed Size: 14.5 x 9.5 x 1.5 in
- Minimum Weight: 4 lb 13 oz
- Frame: Aluminum
- MSRP: $159.95
Why the Stargaze EVO-X Became My Go-To Competition Chair
Missouri in the summer does not mess around. It was hot, it was sunny, and shade on that range was a premium. Mix that with a full day of competing, walking, shooting, and carrying gear, and by mid-afternoon, your body is sending you invoices.
At 41 years old and competing in the Masters division, recovery between stages isn’t a luxury. It’s the job.
The Stargaze EVO-X’s automatic reclining system and padded headrest made it possible to genuinely rest between stages; not just sit, but rest. The built-in swinging motion keeps the recline from feeling awkward or stiff, and honestly? I fell asleep in the thing. Former Army Infantry; I can sleep anywhere. But the Stargaze EVO-X made it easy.
And it wasn’t just me.
My 7-year-old and my 3-year-old nearly passed out in that chair while I was on the range. Fellow competitors were “borrowing” it every chance they got. The Stargaze EVO-X was one of the most popular pieces of gear at our base camp, and it had nothing to do with firearms.
The X-style folding frame sets up and breaks down in seconds. I tested it back at our RV site after Day 1, specifically to see if it was as easy as advertised. It is. It’s as fast on pack-up as it is on deployment; which makes a real difference when you’re moving between stages or loading out at the end of a long competition day.
“Rest when you can. The next stage doesn’t care how tired you are.” — every experienced Tactical Games competitor, ever.
The Moonlander Table: The Surprise I Didn’t See Coming
Full transparency: I came into this test skeptical about the Moonlander.
Most compact camp tables are either too small to be useful or too flimsy to be reliable. I figured the Moonlander was going to fall into one of those categories. I was wrong on both counts.
The Moonlander gave me exactly the right amount of surface space to break down a pistol or clean parts of my AR without feeling cramped, and it held up through all of it without any wobble. Even on sandy ground near a pond, nothing shifted. Nothing rolled off. It just worked.
Here’s what I didn’t expect: the Moonlander became my morning Bible Study table.
There’s something grounding about starting a competition day in the Word before the chaos kicks off. The Moonlander set up in seconds at the right height, gave me a clean stable surface, and made those quiet mornings feel less rushed. Then, a few hours later, it was doing double duty as a firearms cleaning station. Not many pieces of gear do both of those things well.
My kids found it too. They drafted it for Legos, coloring, and drawing at every opportunity. There were multiple moments where I had to go looking for my table because the kids had claimed it.
The one honest callout: the Moonlander is a one-person table. You might squeeze two people at it, but it gets crowded fast. If you need a full crew setup, you’ll want more than one. But for a solo operator at a competition or a solo devotional at first light? It’s dialed in.
How the Combo Performs Together, and Why That Matters
Here’s the thing I didn’t fully anticipate: the Stargaze EVO-X and Moonlander were clearly designed to work together.
The Moonlander’s dual-height setting pairs perfectly with the reclined position of the Stargaze EVO-X, giving you a stable surface right at the ideal reach while you’re seated. Setup for both from bag to ready is measured in seconds, not minutes. Breakdown is the same. You’re not fussing with gear when you should be mentally preparing for your next stage.
The combined setup was light enough to carry easily to different range positions as needed, and stable enough that I was comfortable doing precision work, pistol cleaning, magazine loading, and right on that table without second-guessing it.
Mobility plus stability. That’s a hard combination to find.
Are They Worth the Investment?
Let’s be straight: the Stargaze EVO-X at $179.95 and the Moonlander at $159.95 are not the cheapest options on the market.
But here’s the honest comparison: most reclining camp chairs in the $80–$100 range don’t have a steel frame, don’t have the reclining system, and won’t hold up after serious repeated use. The Stargaze EVO-X is a buy-it-once chair. That matters when you’re putting it through competition events, range days, and family camping trips all in the same summer.
The Moonlander’s value is in what it does across contexts. Bible Study. Firearms cleaning. Kids’ art station. Competition base camp table. One compact, lightweight piece of gear that earns its keep in multiple environments.
Combined, you’re investing about $340 for a complete, mobile base camp solution that packs down tight, sets up in seconds, and holds up under real-world use. For a gear investment you’ll reach for across years of competition seasons and camping trips, that math works.
To Make a Long Story Short
The NEMO Stargaze EVO-X is the best reclining camp chair I’ve tested in a competition setting, full stop. The automatic recline, padded headrest, and no-fuss fold-down frame made recovery between stages genuinely productive, and it held up to two days of competition, two kids, and a pile of fellow competitors stealing time in it.
The Moonlander Table was the surprise of the test. Stable where other camp tables aren’t, compact enough to carry anywhere, and versatile enough to go from morning devotionals to afternoon firearms maintenance without missing a beat.
Together, they’re a combo I didn’t know I needed and now won’t compete without.
To NEMO thank you for letting my family and me put these through their paces in a setting you probably didn’t picture when you designed them. We gave both pieces everything we had. They held up.
Which one are you adding to your kit first the Stargaze EVO-X or the Moonlander Table? Or maybe both? Drop it in the comments. And if you’re competing in a Tactical Games event this season, I want to hear about your base camp setup.
Have a blessed week. Go compete. Rest well.
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