Berghaus Kepler 9 Nightfall Air Tent Review

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BEST PRICE
KEY FEATURES
OVERVIEW
EASE OF USE
SPACE & COMFORT
HOW DOES IT COPE WITH WEATHER?
PROS & CONS
BEST PRICE ON AMAZON

What Is It?

Name- Berghaus Kepler 9 Nightfall
Price- £1099
Style- inflatable tent
9 berth family tent

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Key features of Berghaus Kepler:

9-man inflatable pod tent from Berghaus
3 x Nightfall® Darkened Bedrooms – for darker sleeping conditions
2 x doors (1 x behind rear bedroom pod)
Mesh doors on inner bedrooms – for extra privacy
5 x windows
Skylights in living area – with curtains
Air pump, poles, steel roundwire pegs and wheeled carrybag included
Built-in sheltered porch area with windows
Removable bedroom pods – for extra space
Pitches in minutes and deflates in seconds
High performance TPU beams
Outside facing, spring loaded, quick releases air valves – for quick deflation
6000mm hydrostatic head
Air flow ventilation system – with high and low level vents for improved air flow
Drop step on main door – for pram and wheelchair access
Fully taped, sewn-in groundsheet
Adjustable pegging points
Reinforced webbing straps – for stability in bad weather
Reflective guylines – with mesh pockets to store when not in use
Dual cable access
Outer tent dimensions: 785(l) x 235(w) x 213(h) cm
Inner tent dimensions: 230(l) x 210(w) x 175(h) cm
Bedroom dimensions: 230(l) x 210(w) x 175(h) cm
Packed dimensions: 90(l) x 66(w) x 60(h) cm
Flysheet material: 150D Polyester Oxford
Inner tent material: 310T Breathable Polyester
Weight: 42kg

Campers Content Thoughts

The Kepler 9 is a mansion in the tenting world! If you’re wanting a tent that’s literally a home away from home then this might just be the tent for you. There’s plenty of room to bring along all those extra home comforts to make your next camping trip as comfortable as can be! So, if you’re the sort of person that likes a bit of luxury and can’t go too long without your home comforts, then stick around and we’ll have a look at everything the Kepler 9 has to offer.

Berghaus Kepler, Ease Of Use

The brand Berghaus is well over half a century old and it is renowned for creating pioneering outdoor gear for campers, hikers and climbers. With a brand like Berghaus you know you’re getting extremely high quality. All the materials used to make their tents will last for many years of great camping trips with the family. The Berghaus range of air tents revolutionised the camping world and their innovation has allowed tents to be pitched and taken down in a fraction of the time of equivalent poled versions. Air tents don’t just save time, they save marriages 😉 Most of the tents on the Berhaus air range have a tunnel design so it is worth mentioning here that the Kepler design isn’t quite as straightforward a tunnel shaped tent. Even though it is an inflatable tent, it will take a little more pitching than inflatable tunnel tents. With that being said it’s certainly possible to have this tent pitched in around half an hour, so compared to poled tents of this size there’s simply no comparison for the ease of pitching and the time it takes.

Pitching

As you can see from the specifications above, the ground sheet and rain fly sheet are built in, so you don’t have to worry. To get the main shell up, all you have to do is peg out the floor plan with the provided pegs, then set your guy lines and finally blow up each air beam in turn and just watch as the shape of your tent comes to life. Inside the tent, setting up the bedrooms is easy as well, because each ‘clip’ is colour coded so you know exactly where it has to go.

Packing

When its time taking the Kepler 9 down is just as easy and believe it or not, even quicker than putting it up. There’s pressure release valves at the base of each air beam and you simply press them and gravity does the rest of the work for you. As daft as it sounds one great thing here is that all the release valves are on the outside of the tent, so you can use them without the tent coming down on your head! This should be a given but there’s plenty of brands out there that think its a good idea to have you on your hands and knees crawling to the door after bringing the tent down on your head.

Getting the Kepler 9 back in the wheeled carry bag which also comes with the tent can be a struggle though, as it is with most air tents! The carry bags are fitted with adjustable straps, which helps, however if you are thinking of purchasing this tent we would recommend having a few practice runs at getting it back in the carry bag. It is worth mentioning here that the packed weight of air tents is a lot heavier than poled tents. An average family tent that uses poles is around 16kg whereas the Kepler 9 weighs about 42kg! This is a really heavy tent so please bare that in mind if you’ll struggle getting the packed tent in and out of your vehicle. The packed size is massive too, so just bare in mind that it will take up pretty much the whole of the boot of your car! You’ll need a reasonably big vehicle to transport this tent and all your camping gear to your destination.

Space and comfort

Head Room

The only thing this tent is missing is a basement! As with all our reviews, lets start with the headroom. In all the living area you’ll be completely fine stood up straight as long as you’re under 7 foot! In the bedrooms its very good too for a non tunnel design.

Bed Rooms

The bed spaces themselves will all easily fit a double airbed in any direction in, so you can change it around depending if the floor is on a slight angle. each room would fit three people in but like always it would be fairly snug. Two people per room would leave plenty of extra storage in the bedroom for your things and would be absolutely perfect.

It is possible to remove the rear bedroom with out any hassle to create space for another storage area or eating area if need be. If this is the case then there is also another door to access the tent from this side.

Living Area

The central living area is a really big nice space that receives lots of natural light due to there being roof lights that do have blinds so you’re not woken up by the morning sun.

Vestibule Area

One of the only drawbacks to this tent in my opinion is the large vestibule area at the front of the tent. Its got nearly everything, lovely big windows with blinds, one and a half meters of coverage but the only thing its missing is a door! Its such a shame this area isn’t sealable as equipment and camping gear could have been stored here worry free! I’m not saying this area is completely useless, of course there’s endless options for what you could use this space for! Besides there is a sealable porch just inside from the vestibule area and before the central living area.

Its also worth mentioning at this point that just bare in mind this tent is 7.85 meters wide. Although that’s great in terms of living in, some camping sites may not have big enough pitches to accommodate you and your mansion of a tent!

What is Nightfall?

The reason Berghaus call this line of tents ‘Nightfall’ is because of the material of the inner wall of the bed spaces. It basically prevents any ambient light from passing through, so the morning sun waking you up on those summer mornings won’t be an issue. These bedrooms are the equivalent of having blackout curtains in your bedroom at home, so they make for a perfect nights sleep!

Extra Features Of The Kepler 9

This tent has a lot of storage pockets! They’re everywhere and all of a good usable size. You’ll find them in the main living area as well as in the bed spaces themselves. There’s also a clothes hanging line on the base of the bedrooms to keep clothes up off the floor. Another small feature which I really like is the lantern hook in the centre air beam. You can either use a battery one or supply a mains electric light using the small sealable openings at the base of the centre air beam. The cable then can be run up the beam using Velcro tabs. Or of course you can supply any other part of your tent with electricity.

How Does The Kepler 9 Cope With Weather?

The Kepler 9 comes with a hydrostatic head rating (a waterproof rating) of 6000. Anything above 3000 will cope with pretty much any rain Europe can throw at it, so its definitely not going to leak! All the seams throughout are tape sealed and the base sheet is built in so not only will this stop any unwanted creepy crawlies but it will also stop any ground moisture striking up.

The Kepler 9 also comes with ‘storm lines’ in case of extremely windy weather. These are basically extra guy ropes that you can use the really make the tent stable during bad weather. Its amazing how well a tent of this size really does cope with extreme winds!

The Kepler 9 will cope well in warm conditions too. Its duel skin will stop and condensation forming on a night in the bedrooms and there’s a clever set up of both low and high vents that allow cool air in at the bottom and warm air out of the top, keeping your tent cool and fresh with no damp. All the doors have mesh, so can be left fully open to allow air in without the worry of unwanted insect guests appearing.

Pros And Cons

PROS	CONS
Very easy to pitch for a tent of this size	Some campsites may not be able to accommodate this size tent
Lots of headroom	Really heavy Packed weight (42KG)
Lots of storage pockets	Really large packed size
Lots of natural light allowed in	No door on the vestibule area
Huge living area
Smart features such as electric access
removeable bedrooms
Mesh on all tent openings
Great ventilation system
Large bed spaces

Check The Berghaus Kepler 9 Nightfall Out On Amazon

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Berghaus Kepler 9 Nightfall air tent review