NEMO
airbeam tents
Tent Technology & Use

Q. How fast and easy are the tents to inflate and deflate?

A. Very fast and easy! That is the single biggest benefit of inflatable tents for three-season use: you don't need to fuss with poles! NEMO pumps come with quick-disconnect fittings which plug directly into the airbeams on every NEMO AirSupported™ tent. Morpho, our largest AST™ tent, takes less than 50 seconds to inflate with the foot pump and less than 90 seconds with the Integrated Pump! Deflation is just a matter of attaching the Deflators to each airbeam valve and rolling the tent up.

Q. Are the AirSupported™ tents easily repaired in the field?

A. Absolutely. It only takes a few minutes to swap a new bladder into an airbeam. The airbeams are a two layer construction, with a rugged abrasion resistant outer fabric and an airtight polyurethane inner bladder. Each airbeam has at least one bladder access point, typically a hook and loop flap, through which the bladder can be pulled for patching or replacement. Every tent comes with several self-adhesive patches and at least one extra bladder.

Q. Can NEMO tents be inflated using compressed air?

A. Yes, but only with a NEMO approved inflation system. One of the great things about NEMO inflatable tents is that they are designed to be functional at low pressures and therefore don't require heavy pumps or compressed air for inflation. In turn, compressed air systems may be used for extremely rapid deployment, but they will need a regulator or blow-off valve to insure that the pressures do not exceed 9psi.

Q. What if my AirSupported™ tent has a slow leak?

A. Every NEMO AirSupported™ tent is meticulously tested before being sent to the customer to insure that there are no leaks or defects. If you have a leak in your tent, it must be in either the airbeam bladder or the airbeam quick-disconnect valve. Remove the bladder from the airbeam and inflate it to a modest pressure. Most leaks can be detected by passing the inflated bladder along your cheek or the back of your hand and listening carefully. If this doesn't work, submerge the airbeam in clean water and you will immediately notice small bubbles come from the puncture. Use the included patch kit to repair the damage, or replace the bladder with your spare. Additional spare bladders are available from your local NEMO retailer or NEMO's online store.

Q. Can the AirSupported™ tents be used in the winter?

A. Yes, they can, but that's up to you. NEMO designs a range of shelters each for a specific application. The AirSupported™ tents are primarily designed to compete with 3 season shelters. They have numerous advantages over traditional poled tents including faster setup, greater strength, better field reparability and smaller packed dimensions. However, it could be tough to use the NEMOID™ foot pump in deep fresh powder. NEMO's Extreme Conditions poled shelters are designed with the coldest, harshest conditions in mind and have many features specifically intended to help you endure snow, below freezing temps and brutal winds.

Q. How did you come up with this idea for inflatable tents?

A. Cam Brensinger went back to school to study industrial design at RISD in order to start NEMO. He spent four years from 1998 to 2002 working on various ideas for new products. For his senior project, he decided to tackle the idea of revolutionizing tents. It struck Cam that this was a very significant product that everyone could identify with, that would really put the capabilities of his new company to the test and that hadn't seen much significant innovation in recent decades. Poles were an obvious place to begin reexamining tent design. They could be a real nuisance and also limited the packed volume and weight of the tent. Cam experimented with many methods of creating structure, but his ten year old Therm-A-Rest without a single leak, his exposure to the modern EMU spacesuit while working at MIT (please see the NEMO consulting section), and inflatable kites for kite surfing all combined to give credibility to this idea in his head of making a low-pressure inflatable structure.

NEMO Equipment

Q. What does NEMO mean?

A. Well, it originally meant New England Mountain Equipment, but we quickly decided to drop the acronym and just use the word NEMO. It is pronounced "nee-mo." We trademarked our name before we had any idea that Hollywood was creating a heroic little fish by the same name! That's okay though, because it made the name even harder to forget!

Q. What is the story behind NEMO's logo?

A. There is a story behind the NEMO logo. We call the white "N" on the black portion of the logo the "shield" and the red and white portion the "flag." The shape of the abstract "N" is reminiscent of a coat of arms and of an actual medieval shield. When Cam began NEMO in 2002 and designed the logo, it struck him that medieval arms make a great metaphor for climbing and mountaineering equipment. Artisans would spend as much as several years making the perfect sword or piece of armor, putting an amount of care into the object proportional to the gravity of its use. Cam wanted NEMO to embody the same spirit. If somebody's life or comfort would depend on NEMO gear, the company should put tremendous care into making it.

The letters "NEMO" on the flag are meant to loosely resemble shapes from nature. The "e" is like a river, the "m" like mountains and the "o" like a pond. Red was chosen because it is the first color your eye goes to.

Q. Why aren't your tents manufactured entirely in the USA?

A. We tried for two years to find domestic sewing capable of handling the sophistication and quality we demanded for our tents. Unfortunately, the sewing industry has seen a drastic decline in recent decades in the US. Many of the companies we tried working with were struggling to even find people to sew. None of them could even begin to match the speed of development, the skills and the competitive pricing of our manufacturer in Taiwan. It's safe to say that our manufacturer in Taiwan is the best high-end tent sewing company in the world. They produce nearly all of the major brands in this country and Europe, developing hundreds of new designs every year. We have been extremely impressed with their work ethic, professionalism, meticulous quality and ability to produce our challenging designs. Nearly all of the non-sewn tent components and accessories are made in the USA and will continue to be as long as our manufacturers continue to provide the highest quality and competitive pricing. We would love to be entirely "Made in the USA," but ultimately that's a decision that the suppliers in this country need to make.

Q. What is NEMO planning to introduce in the future?

A. NEMO is striving to achieve the best possible tent designs for different applications. Expect radical new designs and ongoing improvements. NEMO is also working on other products for outdoor adventure. Every NEMO product will share the same commitment to quality and fearless innovation.