NEMO Tensor Elite Sleeping Pad Overview

The path up Mt. Katadyn, the northern terminus and highest peak alongside the Appalachian Path, typically sits above the clouds and cuts by means of car-sized boulder fields to succeed in the summit. Gripping a rebar ladder rung on a vertical rock face, I rigorously decide one other spot for my foot. I now perceive why the rangers right here have a fleet of daypacks for AT hikers to borrow. 

After summiting Katadyn, I walked into the distant woods of northern Maine with the identical pack filled with the identical gear I carried up the mountain. I ended to make camp for the evening in an excellent place to look at the sundown. I pitched my tent and started inflating the feather-light Nemo Tensor Elite sleeping pad.

This pad was model new — to me and the world. As I lay atop my sub-9-ounce mattress, I puzzled if the gossamer-thin cloth would maintain up all the best way to Georgia. 

Over the following 2,200 miles and 100 nights, I typically appeared on the patch package I carried, questioning once I’d want it for that insanely mild sleeping pad. However I by no means ended up utilizing it. Not even as soon as.

In brief: The Nemo Tensor Elite is the lightest inflatable sleeping pad available on the market. For thru-hikers and gram-counting backpackers searching for a dependable ultralight sleeping pad, it delivers distinctive efficiency with out the sturdiness issues that usually plague this class. It has an R-value of two.4 that’s heat sufficient for summer time to early shoulder season, plush 3-inch baffles to maintain house between you and the exhausting floor, and an easy-to-use inflation valve system.

NEMO Tensor Elite Sleeping Pad Overview

The Lightest Sleeping Pad Out there

The NEMO Tensor Elite balances featherweight design with trail-worthy development. Its 8.5-ounce path weight consists of the stuff sack (however doesn’t rely the Vortex Pump Sack). It’s the lightest inflatable sleeping pad presently obtainable.

I’ve used the Therm-a-Relaxation NeoAir XLite NXT for ultralight backpacking for years. The XLite, a full 4 ounces heavier than the Tensor Elite, was beforehand the lightest insulated sleeping pad obtainable. However now the Tensor Elite has taken that title.

The Tensor Elite virtually disappears in your pack and weighs about as a lot as 4 vitality bars (or a bag of Fritos for all you thru-hikers). It’s silly mild, so it’s a wise improve in your ultralight package. 

Summer season Weight Pad

Its 2.4 R-value is heat sufficient for summer time backpacking journeys. Relying on how heat you sleep, you could possibly use it in shoulder-season situations.

I had deliberate to modify to my NeoAir XLite NXT, which has an R-value of 4.5, if situations grew to become too chilly on the Appalachian Path. I primarily had balmy situations for a lot of the path till the final 200 miles, when the temperatures dropped. However by that time, I didn’t need to take care of swapping out pads, so I foolhardily stored rocking the Tensor Elite.

The coldest evening I slept with the Tensor Elite was about 15 levels Fahrenheit. That was past this pad’s limitations, however I surprisingly stayed heat sufficient. If I moved round or my hip was too near the sting of the pad, I may really feel the chilly air, however I’m actually shocked by how heat this 2.4 R-value pad stored me.

I wouldn’t plan to carry this pad for winter backpacking, however it’s heat sufficient to maintain you snug sufficient just under freezing. Sooner or later, if I’m not anticipating temperatures beneath 40, that is the pad I’ll carry.

Extremely-Snug

This 3-inch-thick pad all the time permits me to discover a snug place. It’s comfortable sufficient for again, abdomen, and even facet sleepers.

I’m a facet sleeper, and if my hips are within the center 16 inches of this pad’s 20-inch width, I by no means really feel the bottom beneath. If my hips are close to the sting of the pad, I can sometimes really feel the sting collapse. However I’m shocked by how agency and supportive it feels for a pad this mild.

Should you’re conversant in different Nemo Tensor fashions, which are available varied cloth thicknesses and insulation ranges, then the Tensor Elite will really feel related. The Tensor Elite makes use of the identical Apex baffle development, which gives even weight distribution and stability, as the opposite Tensor fashions.

It’s not a really loud pad, both. Some ultralight pads sound such as you’re sleeping on a crinkly bag of potato chips. This pad isn’t silent by any means, however it’s not as loud whenever you toss and switch as others.

Simple Setup & Packing

The Tensor’s zero-profile, micro-adjustable Laylow valve lets you rapidly inflate the pad and fine-tune the extent of firmness you like. And when it’s time to pack up camp, absolutely open the valve, and all of the air rushes out.

The included Vortex Pump Sack (2 ounces) inflates the pad rapidly and simply with none of your lung energy. It’s additionally straightforward to inflate utilizing your lungs, and lots of who learn this are doubtless seeking to shave ounces from anyplace. The Vortex Pump Sack works nice, however it’s not too troublesome to inflate the pad along with your lungs the old school manner, both. 

What Might Be Higher

The 10D Cordura Nylon Ripstop materials used on the Tensor Elite is barely slippery. I’m not speaking about slip-n-slide ranges of slick, however this pad tends to slip round greater than heavier pads. Thinner supplies are extra slippery, and the Tensor Elite isn’t resistant to this. But it surely’s a manageable stage of slippery.

It also needs to be famous that the Tensor Elite’s 2.4 R-value is comparatively low. Whilst you would possibly be capable of get some shoulder season use out of it in some climates, that is largely a one-season sleeping pad, which limits its use.

The Backside Line: Nemo Tensor Elite Sleeping Pad

By December, I used to be standing on the different finish of the Appalachian Path, atop Springer Mountain in Georgia, having by no means even touched the patch package. Over 2,200 miles and 100 nights, my Nemo Tensor Elite by no means precipitated me a poor evening’s sleep. It by no means popped, by no means leaked, by no means crinkled. A loopy mild sleeping pad sturdy sufficient to final a complete thru-hike, plus extra? Rely me in.

With the Tensor Elite, Nemo has lastly made an ultralight sleeping pad that doesn’t really feel prefer it’s one thorn away from catastrophe. I doubtless bought slightly fortunate in by no means needing to patch this pad climbing so far as I did. The comparatively much less sharp Appalachian Mountains in all probability aided with that, too.

I can’t promise that you’ll have the identical expertise I did, however 100 nights with out punctures is outstanding in my guide. And it offers me confidence that this pad will proceed to be dependable for a lot of extra ultralight missions.