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

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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."

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

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

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 😊

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.

On big agnes website, they say the rapid sl 25" x 78" packed size is 11x 20cm while, the long wide tensor all season is 11.5 x 27 cm. Maybe you have an older version. But to me with those measures the rapid sl is definitely the one I would bring, knowing its comfort and the small difference in R value

Good review…shocked that the Thermarest NeoAir NXT was not in this lineup. I have the old tensor and had a trail leak, with very limited use of the mat. For the life of me, could not find the hole. Had to sink it in the tub when I got home to find it and even then it was hard to locate. After that, and reading so many reviews of the same thing happening to others, I have moved on from the tensor. Just seems too fragile and don’t want to spend my time on the trail fixing mattress holes all the time. Have never had a Thermarest but just got the NXT in and am looking forward to giving it a go. Def not as quiet as the tensor but does not have the chip bag sound of old. Looking forward to spending time on it soon. Great weight and good r value at 4.5 (I live in Colorado and think this is a good 3 season value for up here). Again, thanks for the video.

That liquid glue is a contact cement. You have to apply the cement equally on both the patch and mattress ant WAIT until they evaporate the solvent for about 10 to 15 minutes. When you bring the two together they will stick and you can’t move the patch anymore.

To me, the weight is less of an issue. It's reliability that counts. I used a Thermorest mat on my 40,000 km bike tour across and back the Australian continent. It was punctured by spinifex but was reliable, until it developed a bubble for my mid-rif. That was in the last few 100 km. I got a replacement, thanks Thermorest lifetime guarantee, but eventually only use that for car camping. I've tried various high-end mats, and they have had mechanical failures rather than developing rips. It is hard to find slow leaks when out through hiking in New Zealand. It's not like there's much in the way of shops within a few days. Lightweight mats have lasted a week, or three, but I haven't found something reliable yet. And I have to pay $400 for the top-end mats here. People seem to have a fixation on flimsy, and I would prefer robust.

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.

is that a 2024 BA Rapide? Because I just got a new one and it packs down smaller than what you show here (also size 25x78)

Thanks for the review. The biggest reason I hold out on some of these mattresses is cost. I don't buy the cheap ones but I also can't justify the cost of some of the others. Cheers

Everywhere you look youtubers are recommending the Tensor But a little research shows so many people writing comments about Tensor failing and needing to be patched multiple times or outright replaced. One guy is on his 4th pad lol Don't think I could recommend it to anyone

I used that sea-to-summit, was so comfortable! But for the weight/size, I got cold spots while testing at 5F. Took so long to warm up in the house after going in at 5am... im thinking about the summer mat to pair against my thermarest xtherm.

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.