Choosing the best stakes for man lines can make or break your tent's stability in difficult terrain. We look for stakes that hold well and are lightweight for backpackers counting every ounce. We also consider durability metrics like whether the stake can be wacked with a club without breaking or flexing.
1. Product
For those who are attempting to conserve every last ounce in their packs, the material made use of for the stakes can be an important factor to consider. Aluminum and titanium risks use fantastic longevity at an affordable weight, while carbon fiber stakes are ultralight yet can be much more at risk to damaging or snapping under anxiety.
The Toaks Titanium V-shaped stakes are light-weight and pack to an impressively little dimension. They're simple to drive into rough soil and have a plastic top that shields the metal from rocks and origins. Though they don't featured a pull cord, there is an open up to add one and an opening for permanently affixing man lines. The only downside is their delicacy. The blunt ends aren't as durable to blows from a mallet as a few other stakes, and they might break under excessive stress in a severe tornado. Despite this, they stay our choice for a light backpacking stake.
2. Size
This metric is necessary nearly exclusively for backpackers, considering that every ounce counts when you're hoofing it through the wild on a 10- to twenty-mile walking day in day out. We look for risks that load down small which are very easy to install with a club and by hand, while providing sufficient longevity for the conditions you will certainly come across on the route.
Needles (or pegs) are cylinder-shaped risks with sharp ends and a head or notch on one end for guy-line add-on. They are easiest to pound into the ground, however are prone to flexing. Guard's hook stakes, which have a comparable form to needle stakes but a tent durability directly just one end, are more long lasting than needle stakes, yet call for an extra step in arrangement to secure the line. V-stakes, which have a v-shaped body that offers higher surface and are more resistant to bending, are additionally an alternative. Some come with a paracord loop, that makes it less complicated to remove the stake when you require to move camp.
3. Suggestion
The risk pointer's ability to resist bending and turn is a crucial statistics for those making use of guy lines on rocky terrain where the line may scrub versus the rocks. The risks with a rounded factor, like needle stakes or shepherd's hook stakes, have a tendency to flex and transform more easily than those with a flat or V-shaped suggestion. They can additionally cause the line to fray as it rubs against the rock. Lastly, for the ounce counters available, we determined each risk's weight and how portable it packs down into its stuff sack. The most effective stakes pack down to an extremely little dimension.
