Should you upgrade your tent pegs? Tent stakes explained.

Should you upgrade your tent pegs? 100% YES! There are still lots of new tents with really poor tent stakes. Personally, I hate the traditional hook end tent pegs as they bend and come out of the ground easily. This tent peg review tests different types of tent stakes with a summary at the end. These can be purchased for as little as £10 set.

I have used all of these tent pegs on various tents (except the snow / sand tent stake). In fairness, all of these have performed well and certainly out-perform the traditional hook peg.

Whatever tent stake you use remember to put them in the ground at a 45 degree angle and push them deep down into the ground. You will also need a rope loop attached to put them back out of the ground.

Remember to properly tighten all of your guy lines and remember to use all your guy ropes, don't just leave them hanging! There's nothing worse than being woken up by a flapping fly sheet that could of been avoided.

The tent stakes that I believe need to be replaced are those use for guy ropes. These take the strain of high winds, loading and keep your tent taut. Other pegs such as those located at the bottom of the tent poles are not so important as they simply keep the tent in place.

For instance, my Hilleberg Soulo uses 12 tent stakes. If I were to upgrade the pegs it would be the 6 that are used for the guy lines.

In summary the V-shaped peg and heavy duty tent stake performed the best. Interestingly, these are the ones chosen by Hilleberg for their original equipment tent pegs.

DAC and MSR make some great high-end tent pegs. DAC V-Shape and DAC Y-Shape. MSR Groundhog and MSR Cyclone.

If you are camping rather than backpacking and wild camping I would also recommend the use of steel pegs too as weight is not such a deciding factor. Plus you can take a hammer with you.

The Delta pegs are superb in certain conditions. However, the ground conditions need to be right for them. Also, for backpacking, they are bulky to carry so I would recommend only carrying 2-4.

Pegs tested:

V-Shape Dac Tent Peg - 12 grams
DAC £38.99 for 10 https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co....
DAC £22.97 for 6 https://amzn.to/2Wt8wyL
BUDGET OPTION - £14.69 for 6 https://amzn.to/3opagoy
NOTES: easy to put in and take out of the ground whilst staying in securely

Y-Shape Naturehike Tent Peg - 9 grams
NATUREHIKE $9.14 for 10 https://www.naturehike.com/collection...
NOTES: good all rounder

Triple Spiral Tent Peg - 9 grams
MSR £25.99 for 4 https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co....
MSR £22.10 for 4 https://amzn.to/3utEqaY
NATUREHIKE $10.42 for 10 https://www.naturehike.com/collection...
NOTE: difficult to get in and back out of the ground

X-Shape Tent Peg - 12 grams
BUDGET OPTION £7.69 for 12 https://amzn.to/3opC4Js
NOTE: moves around fairly easily once in the ground.

Traditional heavy-duty tent stake - 16 grams
HILLEBERG https://hilleberg.com/eng/tent/tent-a...
BUDGET OPTION £6.95 for 6 https://amzn.to/3ip1m6y
NOTES: easy to put in and take out of the ground whilst staying in securely

Delta Ground Anchor - 46 grams
ORIGINAL £12.50 for 4 https://deltagroundanchors.co.uk/coll...
NOTES: poor for hard ground use

Snow and Sand Stake - 51 grams
HILLEBERG - £87.99 for 6 https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co....
BUDGET OPTION - £16.99 for 6 https://amzn.to/3zZMRw3
NOTES: ground must be very soft ground such as sand or snow

Any questions just ask. If you have any alternatives please put them in the comments box.

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Thanks, Andy.

#camping #backpacking #tents

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