Tensa Outdoor and the commercial packable tensahedron stand

**curlymaple42** · 10-12-2018, 20:20

I did it. I ordered a Tensa4 stand!!! Can't wait to try it out and I hope it's everything I think it will be and it will solve any and all of our camping issues with lack of enough trees wherever we go!!

**rasidi** · 10-13-2018, 06:31

Tensa4 Unboxing

It's packable, not that light (10.9kg) but for it's intended use, it is a quality product and it shows.

The Tensa4 stand comes with 8 collapsable struts that are joined with spring buttons with 4 UCR amsteel ropes to form 4 poles, 2 Big Orange Screws for both head/foot thethered ends, a sling bag and a manual.

The struts' ends seemed a little rough that it almost can cut your hands if you slide the sections hard.

Not all the spring buttons click into place as you extend the struts. You will have to twist and slap the sections lightly to fully engange the spring buttons. And you need to do a bit of digging to position the spring buttons before extending the sections especially the struts that join the big section part.

Setup is easy though a lot of tweeking needed to be done but once you lay on the stand you'll forget all the issues above, and the feeling of getting tacoed disappear as you adjust your body for a diagonal lay.

Warbonnet Blackbird XLC continuous loops simply hook on to the poles and you're done by adjusting the baseline for your prefered hammock height and the WBBXLC structural ridgeline adjusts nicely on the stand.

Takedown is even easier as you slide the poles into its packable form. Careful not to lose the spring buttons deep into the struts as the buttons will move and not stay in place.

More report to come next week when I have a chance to test the stand outdoor with my Warbonnet Superfly Tarp.

In short, get one!

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**Latherdome** · 10-13-2018, 09:57

Originally Posted by rasidi

Tensa4 Unboxing

It's packable, not that light (10.9kg) but for it's intended use, it is a quality product and it shows.

The Tensa4 stand comes with 8 collapsable struts that are joined with spring buttons with 4 UCR amsteel ropes to form 4 poles, 2 Big Orange Screws for both head/foot thethered ends, a sling bag and a manual.

The struts' ends seemed a little rough that it almost can cut your hands if you slide the sections hard.

Not all the spring buttons click into place as you extend the struts. You will have to twist and slap the sections lightly to fully engange the spring buttons. And you need to do a bit of digging to position the spring buttons before extending the sections especially the struts that join the big section part.

Setup is easy though a lot of tweeking needed to be done but once you lay on the stand you'll forget all the issues above, and the feeling of getting tacoed disappear as you adjust your body for a diagonal lay.

Warbonnet Blackbird XLC continuous loops simply hook on to the poles and you're done by adjusting the baseline for your prefered hammock height and the WBBXLC structural ridgeline adjusts nicely on the stand.

Takedown is even easier as you slide the poles into its packable form. Careful not to lose the spring buttons deep into the struts as the buttons will move and not stay in place.

Rasidi: glad you received safely after a long journey. There must be a mistake on that 11.9kg figure though: it’s a little over 11 pounds, which is a bit over 5kg. Also surprised you don’t need any suspension at all with an XLC. We’ve found at least some suspension useful on everything short of a full 12 feet, but HYOH.

Concerning the spring buttons, we’ve heard from about 5% about this, with probably more not reporting. It’s mostly from rough handling in shipping, but can be a lasting concern with ongoing rough handling in transport, especially drops onto the open ends of the collapsed sections. There’s also some QC issue with a small percent of the spring buttons themselves, that aren’t as straight as they should be.

The workaround is bending them straight, and avoiding rough handling, particularly while held vertically with feet up. Handling the collapsed segments horizontal or feet down is preferable. Stubbornly reticent spring buttons can be helped by enlarging the holes a few microns by rotating a screwdriver or other hard steel tool a few times in the holes. Similarly, rough edges can be turned easily with any abrasive or hard-edged tool.

I say workaround in acknowledgement that these are areas for improvement, with our apologies. And we have improvements in the works for the next production run. Mainly nylon collars for the sections that prevent them sliding in too far where they can dislodge the buttons. The collars also cover what are now rough edges. There are some small downsides to the improvements (extra packed length) but we feel they are worthwhile to improve first impressions especially.

There are other changes than this coming. Partly they are motivated by production efficiency considerations, and partly to streamline setup further. By this I mean not all users will find the changes a value add after learning the present scheme, but some might, and it helps us make them more easily. All changes currently in the works will be retrofittable to what’s shipping now, either simply or by returning to us, though we doubt many will find it worth the cost of shipping for retrofit.

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**rasidi** · 10-13-2018, 10:43

Originally Posted by Latherdome

Rasidi: glad you received safely after a long journey. There must be a mistake on that 11.9kg figure though: it’s a little over 11 pounds, which is a bit over 5kg. Also surprised you don’t need any suspension at all with an XLC. We’ve found at least some suspension useful on everything short of a full 12 feet, but HYOH.

Concerning the spring buttons, we’ve heard from about 5% about this, with probably more not reporting. It’s mostly from rough handling in shipping, but can be a lasting concern with ongoing rough handling in transport, especially drops onto the open ends of the collapsed sections. There’s also some QC issue with a small percent of the spring buttons themselves, that aren’t as straight as they should be.

The workaround is bending them straight, and avoiding rough handling, particularly while held vertically with feet up. Handling the collapsed segments horizontal or feet down is preferable. Stubbornly reticent spring buttons can be helped by enlarging the holes a few microns by rotating a screwdriver or other hard steel tool a few times in the holes. Similarly, rough edges can be turned easily with any abrasive or hard-edged tool.

I say workaround in acknowledgement that these are areas for improvement, with our apologies. And we have improvements in the works for the next production run. Mainly nylon collars for the sections that prevent them sliding in too far where they can dislodge the buttons. The collars also cover what are now rough edges. There are some small downsides to the improvements (extra packed length) but we feel they are worthwhile to improve first impressions especially.

There are other changes than this coming. Partly they are motivated by production efficiency considerations, and partly to streamline setup further. By this I mean not all users will find the changes a value add after learning the present scheme, but some might, and it helps us make them more easily. All changes currently in the works will be retrofittable to what’s shipping now, either simply or by returning to us, though we doubt many will find it worth the cost of shipping for retrofit.

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Yes you are right it's 5.3kg. Thanks for the tips.

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**AZsteelman** · 10-14-2018, 13:26

This has become my fav nap spot! I love this thing. May just need another!

**Latherdome** · 10-14-2018, 14:14

Love that Moroccan Blue too. Is that a 12'er, do you have a good amount of foot-end suspension, or are you one of a few who seem to make it work with an 11'er without suspension?

**AZsteelman** · 10-14-2018, 14:18

Originally Posted by Latherdome

Love that Moroccan Blue too. Is that a 12'er, do you have a good amount of foot-end suspension, or are you one of a few who seem to make it work with an 11'er without suspension?

It’s an 11’ and I just make it work. It sets up perfectly in this room door to corner.

**rasidi** · 10-14-2018, 21:53

There will be a lot of tweaking .. I'm determined to make it work ..

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**Latherdome** · 10-14-2018, 22:10

Originally Posted by rasidi

There will be a lot of tweaking .. I'm determined to make it work ..

Not clear on the trouble. Looks like you could afford to let the suspension and ridgeline out further, and increase the tilt a bit, though.

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