Every ounce matters!

Every ounce that you have saved while packing your rucksack will help you in the wilderness. At 14000 feet, you don’t want your shoulders being dragged down by unwanted weight.

I bought Wildcraft T Lite in 2012 from Delhi. 1990 grams in weight and too voluminous to be fitted inside the rucksack. While it performed exceptionally well all these years, I was desperately looking for a replacement.

Light weight and compact size were my topmost priorities.

That’s where Wildcraft’s D Lite scores big. It’s light-weight. And compact. And obviously warm as well. The good folks at Wildcraft sent me D Lite for testing. Having used the old T Lite, I was bit susceptible about the performance of this little compact softball going by it’s lighter weight but my worries were put to rest in a wintry October camp set at 10000 feet in Himachal Pradesh.

Specifications

Weight: 1065 grams
Material: Polyester Shell and Lining
Temperature Rating: 10°-5° Celsius
Dimensions: 210cm L – 75 Head Width – 40 cm Foot Width
Compression Straps: Yes. Fold, wrap, and tighten with the compression straps.
Price:  ₹2995/-

If you have a rucksack with separate compartment for your sleeping bag (like my Wildcraft Rodhas) D Lite will smoothly fit in.

Now coming to its performance, I pitched my tent besides a lake and at 10000 feet in a jungle to figure out how well the sleeping bag would perform. The head space has amply been modified and you don’t have to pull the Velcro straps to keep your head falling out of the hood.

Secondly, the heat loss that was prominent in my old T Lite near feet area has been substantially reduced. It doesn’t feel cold anymore when you wake up in the middle of the night.

I had to use warmees to keep my feet warm previously but this time, even without the outer lining of the tent installed, I was comfortable inside my sleeping bag during nights.

I would recommend this sleeping bag for summer treks of altitudes upto 4500 meters where you don’t have to camp on snow. For snow camps, this sleeping bag won’t do because then you would be subjected to low temperatures that has been marked as ‘risk range’ for D Lite. I think T Lite would perform good for such treks but I would rather try it out before passing any judgement on its performance.

Wildfcraft has also launched a refurbished T Lite, which is lighter than its old version by 925 grams (1990 vs 1370 grams) and is reasonably compact in size. However, as I couldn’t lay my hands on that, I can’t comment how well the newer one is going to perform.

The only problem that must be given a serious thought by Wildcraft is the quality of compression straps. Without compression straps, you will have a bulky-dangling mass of polyester shell ready to explode out of your rucksack.

At high altitudes, when you have to unpack and pack your sleeping bag inside a cramped tent, it’s the compression straps that will bear the brunt of accumulated stress. Slight modification in the build quality of compression straps will surely make D Lite unbeatable in it’s category for summer treks. 

D-Lite is a winner hands down. I’m going to try it again for my upcoming Winter Trek expedition.

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