NEMO Recalls Stargaze Recliner Camp Chairs

On Tuesday, camping-gear company NEMO Equipment issued a voluntary recall for its Stargaze Recliner Chair, due to a malfunction causing the plastic leg-joint supports to break.

The Stargaze Recliner is effectively a cross between a camp chair, a La-Z-Boy, and a porch swing. An aluminum frame snaps together and supports a hanging mesh seat that allows the user to recline or swing. (In March, Gear Guy Joe Jackson called it one of the most comfortable camp chairs he’s tried.)

This recall is the second NEMO has issued for the Stargaze in the last seven months. In February, it announced that the webbing and buckle system that attaches the mesh chair body to the frame had been improperly installed on some models (with only one weaker layer of webbing instead of the intended two). At the time, the brand reported one incident of a chair’s webbing breaking, causing the user to fall, and asked customers to check their chairs and send in defective models for repair.

This time around, NEMO has heard of 14 incidents of joints breaking—though luckily no injuries—and is again asking customers to check the production-batch stamps on the plastic joint casings on each leg. Affected chairs are also missing a particular divot next to the batch stamp.

The process for making the Stargaze Recliners involves molding two hubs that support the aluminum frame. “Recently, we discovered a manufacturing defect in the molding of the hubs for three production lots,” a NEMO representative says. The company did not provide any more detailed information on what, exactly, went wrong with the manufacturing of the defective hubs to cause them to break.

NEMO encourages customers with Stargaze Recliners matching certain production batches (see images above) to fill out the recall form on NEMO’s website to get their chair inspected and, if necessary, replaced for free.