The Good Bad and Ugly of Nemo's New Tensor Mattresses

I think the point Justin Outdoors was trying to make in his video about the Nemo Tensor Extreme is that it needs to be reliable and if he’s out in extreme cold conditions he does not want to worry about shaking a mattress to get its layers correctly aligned.

In Sweden: summer is the best day of the year! Great video

I have the older yellow Nemo Tensor Insulated (and also the orange "alpine" version, with a higher R rating.) A huge factor for me is how quiet an insulated air pad is -- I move around a lot when I sleep, and the "potato chip bag crunch" thing annoys the tar out of me, and will sometimes actually wake me up. These Tensors were the quietest pads I've ever tried, and they were sufficiently warm and comfortable and light, so I've stuck with them. Hopefully the "new and improved" versions have retained that relatively quiet feature.

I love that you talked about Justin and Dev (great YouTube guys❤) You all have talked about in certain cases needing to REALLY inflate the pads to negate a person’s heavy hip area from compressing the air pads and making the insulation inside from falling or touching. I am sure Nemo has nailed it, but given it’s minimal design, in very cold situations you will need to blow it up to its stiffest to not have cold spot, but also making the pad a bit too firm. However sleeping in such cold temps and in such adverse conditions may have to be that compromise to have such a small and light weight pad. Zenbivy and BA (specifically the Rapide and the old blue Q-Core Deluxe are going to remain my go to for size, R value and comfort) [though very curious about Zen’s newest addition, 😉] ❤thanks Eric and everyone on YouTube making these videos and collaborating together. You are all great 😊

You made a common mistake gluing, I'm a truck driver and have to patch my tarps often. The right way is to apply the contact glue to both the patch and the other part then wait until both are dry then you contact the two parts, wait about another five min then paint the glue around the edges wait about 20 min and use.

Eric, you're more an expert than I, but there might be a chemical incompatibility between the Nemo patch fabric and the Gear Aid adhesive. Gear Aid puts out adhesives specifically for use with silicone-coated and non-silicone-coated fabrics, and the adhesives don't work if placed on the incorrect fabric. It's possible the Nemo patch fabric is silicone-coated on the "inside" and you need to use Seam Grip +Sil instead of Seam Grip +WP. Thanks for the solid sleeping pad application suggestions, I think the Extreme might reduce the weight of my sleeping on snow needs this spring and summer.

I've had the older versions of the Tensor (both uninsulated and insulated) for years. Definitely one of the most comfortable mattresses I've used in my 30+ years of backcountry travel. The tensor got a small hole in it early on, but I field repaired it with one of the included self adhesive patches and it fixed the problem and the patch lasted well. Sadly this summer the valves in both mattresses failed. Nemo was terrific with their warranty and replaced them both. Replacement was a little slow due to supply. This weekend I was able to test the replacement I was sent, a Tensor All Season, out on a a quick little winter overnight trip. We slept in a cabin, so temperature wasn't really an issue, although I know the original uninsulated one would not have been warm enough. Everything was great with the All Season, except the fabric used is ridiculously slippery. As long as I did not move it was fine, but any kind of small adjustments or turning over had me slipping all over the place. The mat itself was also slipping all over the floor. I am not a particularly restless sleeper. I have never had a mattress of any brand that felt this slippery. Quite disappointed, but I will try it again on a trip next weekend and maybe figure out how to have better results.

Thanks for a honest assessment of these pads! ❤

I've had good luck with the old Nemo Tensor Insulated, so good to hear of these upgrades. I run cheap but good tent and sleeping bags, but have learnt with sleep mats it's really best to shop carefully and get the best you can, "buy once, cry once."

I picked up a Rapide last year on sale for $160 and it is the most comfortable backpacking mattress I have used. I don't have nearly as much experience with the other mattress' like you, but I feel like the comfort far outweighs the drawbacks of the extra size and weight.

great and complete video, thanks!

6:01 that shot of you holding both of those side by side is amazing. I will say, I don't like carrying my sleeping pads rolled up like that. I don't use a hydration bladder so I tend to fold my sleeping pad flat and slide it into the hydration bladder sleeve. Tends to take up very little room that way

Extremely helpful. Am happy to know your confidence in the zen Bivey mattress. I bought the light bed 25 degree last year for summer backpacking and LOVE it. Slips on fine to my xlite, but have been thinking about a square mattress for awhile and they may be my go to for that. I wish square mattress manufactures would come up with a women’s version as thermorest has. Not soooo long and better r value.

Eric, Thanks for comparing all these different pads. Sleeping pad innovation is where the camping industry has really changed over the last couple of years. I really want to try out the all weather Nemo Tensor pad. It was really nice to meet you and Devin in Escalante this weekend.

I am in the market. I just ordered a Big Agnes Lone Ranger 15 degree 3N1 ( found on sale at Enwild). So, I definitely need a pad and this video helps. I am torn between the Rapid SL and the Tensor All Season. But the lesser bulk of the Tensor has me thinking that is what I am going to get. Thanks for producing this.

great breakdown. thanks for the solid, honest review.

I just used the extreme pad in the long wide version, directly on 6 ft of snow. The temperature was 11°F (-11.6°C) and I was toasty warm. I'm very happy with the way it preformed.

That was a good video. I liked it, well done!

Great video Eric. I have never had any cold spots or sensations using my Nemo Tensor Extreme Conditions and like you i think it's the warmest mattress out of any others in its class . I have however experienced the inner lining being displaced on the Thermarest Xlite and when holding it up to the light i could see that it was displaced in a few places and this happened after only a few camps which was very disappointing because comfort wise i really liked it. To be fair to Thermarest they changed it with no questions asked but i lost confidence with that model and bought an Exped R7 Ultra which was then replaced by the Nemo which is definitely a keeper.

Gear aid makes great repair patches! They even make sheets of interestingly shaped fabric patches. The set I got has Bigfoot😂