User Review: NEMO Tenshi

NEMO Tenshi
Above: The current Tenshi, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed April 19, 2007 by Ryan Valentine

Rating:
Design: four-season freestanding dome
Sleeps: 2
Ease of Setup: Not as easy as advertised, takes some breaking in
Weight: 4+ lbs stripped down and 6 lbs (with vestibule and condensation curtain)
Price Paid: $450

I spent a week in this tent this spring, three warm nights in the south and four very cold and very rainy nights on the way back north. It did a great job in both conditions. When it was warm at night it was easy to open the vents which allow for great air circulation. On the cold and wet nights though I made the mistake of not properly venting the tent and we woke up to condensation dripping from everywhere, I neglected to use the condensation curtain that night as well so I'd say this was more my fault than it was the tent's. One suggestion is to sleep with the door open when the vestibule is on so you can allow for better air flow.

The vestibule is easily big enough for two full packs and your boots and anything else you can think of putting out there. I'd say it's well worth the extra weight in bringing it along.

My only complaint is that it's not as easy to set up as I was expecting. Since the tent sets up as tight as a drum the poles require some serious tension to get them to seat into their positions properly. I slightly bent one of them trying to force it too hard on one of the first couple times setting it up. By the end of the week however I noticed I had figured it out a bit more and the tent seemed to have loosened up making the whole operation a lot easier.

The tent never leaked, it easily handled some pretty strong gusts and there is plenty of head room and elbowroom to allow for two people to move around well. The condensation curtain is an awesome idea and I wish I'd have used it every night. One last gripe is that it doesn't pack down as small as I would like. The stuff sack they give you is a great idea but it doesn't allow for you to really compress the whole package down to a very convenient size. Nothing a cheap compression sack can't take care of though.