The NEMO Tensor Elite Sleeping Pad is an ultralight 8.5-ounce air mattress that’s three inches thick and tremendous snug to sleep on when backpacking or tenting. Whereas it’s insulated with metallic foil, it’s quiet whenever you roll round on it at evening, in contrast to another producer’s pads that sound like potato chips being crushed. The Tensor Elite additionally rolls up fairly small, which is crucial when utilizing an ultralight backpack which will have lower than 40L in capability.
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- Gender: Unisex
- R-Worth: 2.4 (ASTM F3340-18)
- Weight: 8.5 oz
- Insulation: Artificial
- Dimensions: 72″ x 20″ x 3″ (shorter 63″ x 20″ x 3″ obtainable)
- Supplies: 10D Cordura Nylon
- Packed dimension: 3 x 5.5 inches
- Inflaton Sack: Included
- Execs: Ultralight Weight, Comfy, Quiet, Sturdy Flat Valve, Packs Very Small
- Cons: Skinny Base Material is Simpler to Puncture, Greatest Utilized in Hotter Climate
Weight
The NEMO Tensor Elite is an ultralight sleeping pad, weighing simply 8.5 oz in an everyday dimension mummy and seven.6 oz in a brief dimension mummy. That’s significantly light-weight. As a degree of comparability, the NEMO Switchback (14.5 oz) and Therm-a-Relaxation Zlite (14 oz) folding foam pads weigh nearly twice as a lot and have a barely decrease R-value.
The Tensor Elite is light-weight as a result of NEMO makes use of a skinny 10 denier Cordura Nylon cowl for it and insulates it with a thermal reflective movie, much like Therm-a-Rests’s NeoAir pads, however a lot quieter. I’m unsure how they did it, however the thermal movie within the Tensor Elite makes no noise whenever you roll round on high of it. Nonetheless, the ten denier cloth is way thinner than many competing pads, so I’d advise you to child it within the area by fastidiously eradicating any particles below it and by laying it on high of a floor fabric when sleeping in a shelter or on the bath ground of a tent.
The highest of the pad is coloured silver and has evenly distributed baffles alongside its floor that give whenever you lie down on high. The impact may be very very like a pocket spring mattress, offering nice help whereas sustaining a luxurious really feel. The pad is a full three inches thick when inflated and fairly comfortable, though it is going to backside out when you kneel on high.
Valve and Pump Sack
The Tenor Elite has a two-way flat valve and comes with a pump sack. Flat valves are extra sturdy than stick valves as a result of they’re flush with the floor of the pad and don’t stick out. The valve operation is intuitive. You’ll be able to blow into the pad with out it deflating or launch some air by pushing into the middle. To deflate, you merely pull each valve covers open and roll up the pad to deflate it.
NEMO has been utilizing the identical model pump sack for so long as I can bear in mind. Sadly, it has a slim neck, so it may’t be used as a stuff sack or pack liner just like the 42L Exped Schnozzel, which you can too use to inflate the Tensor Elite. Alternatively, you should use an electrical pump just like the electrical Alpenblow Micro Inflator, which weighs lower than one-third of an oz.
R-Worth
The Tensor Elite has an R-value of two.4, measured utilizing the sleeping pad normal adopted by REI, Sea-to-Summit, NEMO, Large Agnes, Therm-a-Relaxation and others. That’s good for summer season use right down to about 30-40 levels, which is the very best time to go ultralight backpacking. When you plan to backpack or camp in different months, you’ll both want to purchase a second pad or get a pad with an R-value of not less than 5.4 designed for 3-season (spring, summer season, and autumn). Why 5.4? An R-value of 5.4 is required to realize most standardized sleeping bag temperature suggestions in cooler climate. If it’s decrease than that, you’ll lose physique warmth to the bottom and sleep colder.
Suggestion
The NEMO Tensor Elite is an ultralight sleeping pad that weighs 8.5 oz and has an R-value of two.4. Greatest utilized in heat climate, it packs up very small, making it an awesome possibility when you’re an ultralight backpacker who desires to hold the lightest weight gear attainable. The Tensor Elite is on the market in two lengths: a dimension common that’s 72″ lengthy and a brief mannequin that’s 63″ lengthy. Most individuals can get by with the shorter size in summer season by placing their legs on high of their pack and holding their torso on the pad: it’s not as snug as sleeping on a full-length air mattress, however it’s one other technique to save one other 9/10’s of an oz in gear weight.
It’s fascinating to notice that NEMO launched the Tensor Elite in the identical 12 months (2025) that Therm-a-Relaxation killed off their ultralight sleeping pad, the NeoAir Uberlite (8.8 oz). Will probably be fascinating to see how the Tensor Elite does, given the Uberlite’s abysmal adoption. It could possibly be that Therm-a-rest simply introduced the Uberlite to market too quickly in 2019, earlier than the present upswell of curiosity in ultralight backpacking. It might be that the Tensor Elite will discover higher adoption for the reason that inhabitants of ultralight backpackers has grown a lot within the intervening six years. Time will inform.
Disclosure: NEMO donated a pad for evaluation.
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