Screw-In Stakes Or Screw In Ground Anchors. What’s the hype?
Drill Driven Screw-In Pegs, Stakes and ground anchors are gaining widespread recognition as the new way to stake or peg down outdoor equipment.
Wind the hands of the clock back about 2000 years and it was the Romans who first invented the steel hammer-in stake….well history books tell us that anyway.
Since then little has been done to find a better way of staking until recently.
Enter the screw-in stake.
Given the proliferation of cordless equipment such as the cordless battery drill we can now choose if we want to secure our outdoor needs with screw-in stakes or the old fashioned hammer in variety.
Screw in ground anchors come in all different shapes and sizes depending on what job and function they will designed for. There are those screw in stakes made for foundations of building, others for outdoor signage, others that can be used for a variety of uses from camping to light aircraft tie downs.
Generally speaking the difference of a ground anchor screw versus a hammer in stake is that one uses the battery energy with a cordless drill to do the hard work whilst the other…you just got to do all the hard work.
The screw-in stakes or pegs also can have better grip in the ground depending on the type of screw in peg you have chosen. Not all screw-in ground anchor stakes have been made the same.
Some proclaim to be heavy duty and yet are made of thin wire others claim they will work in sand when clearly they are too thin and would pull straight out with any amount of tension.
Here in Australia there are many to choose from with all different features and price tags. Some of these are also available in the USA and Europe also.
Before you go investing in screw in tent pegs, stakes or stakes for sand you should really ask yourself questions about what it is you need to anchor down to the earth and what type of ground would you mostly encounter.
From my observations there is no ONE screw in ground anchor stake solution that will suit all purposes.
Take a look at these screw in peg stakes and see for yourself the differences and lets have a quick chat about them.
What we see on the market today are two subsets of screw-in tent peg stake ground anchors. There are those that are clearly timber screw adaptations like coach bolts/ lag bolts/ Roofing bolt screws and those that have been designed specifically for purpose like Peggy Peg or GroundGrabba.
Naturally the wood screw adaptations are much cheaper due to their construction which can be mass produced out of a machine compared to designed for purpose ground anchors which are clearly not mass produced and have a whole lot of engineering behind them.
The Adaptation variety usually have some special way to adapt for ropes and tensioning devices that separates one from the other in appeal. But essentially it makes no difference to the amount of tension the adaptation screws can hold. SEE RV Daily Test Report.
The image below is of a GroundGrabba Lite. As you can see it has aggressive wings or flights that tells you immediately it will have serious grip. It is made of glass reinforced nylon and made for use in soft, loose ground and sand. Clearly plastics are not made for hard ground or rocks so I wouldn’t even try it in those types of ground. These are available online at www.groundgrabba.com.au.
Given the size of these (400mm) they would no doubt hold real well in loose ground.
Milite screw in pegs. You can see that these are narrow and an adaptation of a wood screw that you can drive with your drill. It comes with a special steel hook plate. For hard ground I am sure they’re great performers however I would doubt their ability to anchor in softer grounds, especially when you compare them to the likes of PeggyPeg or GroundGrabba’s.
Hex Pegs are another wood screw/ coach bolt adaptation for use in the ground. These are great for hard ground but in softer grounds don’t expect them to hold too much tension.
Screw Pegs Australia is yet another wood screw/ coach bolt/ lag bolt adaptation. As you can see little separates the design of these to the Hex Pegs or the MiLite. It maybe a case of just going to your local Lowes or Bunnings and pick up some from the hardware section. As you can see they have a steel wire hook with the appearance of a spring used for attaching ropes and tensioning devices.
Black plastic hand screw variety great for lightweight camping and hiking. No tools required. Just hand screw them in provided the ground is soft enough. I wouldn’t trust them for any serious loads or even attempt to use them in anything but soft ground. IF you do and it snaps then please remove it as leaving it partially sticking up could cause injury to someone.
GroundGrabba Pro II which is a serious screw in peg for loose grounds and sand. Looking at A Youtube video you can see these will hold over 500Kg in soft beach sand. Also there’s another video where they test these in normal campground where it held over 1ton! And also during their test…this happened..
Whites Wires tent pegs as you can see are similar to the MiLite screw in pegs, also Hex Pegs and Screw Pegs Australia, just an adaptation of a wood screw variety known as a Coach Bolt or in the US called Lag Bolt. Whilst they may be good in hard ground I doubt their ability to hold in soft ground or sand. These are also called heavy duty but I wonder why when you compare them with the PeggyPeg or GroundGrabba.
Orange Pegs are very popular due to their lightweight nature and your ability to wind them into the ground by hand using the tube that comes supplied. The tube slides through the rope loop for a handle. Orange screws come in two sizes. Great for hiking or the odd larger tent. I personally are not into light weight and prefer to not get RSI twisting these in if I had more than four to do. Although plastic and they look like they’d be good in sand if you look closer there’s little to bite into sand so I would not risk any major structures with them.
Here is the GroundGrabba Pro II again but this time showing the adaptor hooks called HexHook Pro II. This image is out of scale but you can see the Hooks Have a key slot for slipping over the head of the GroundGrabba. It also has a built-in hex tool of you wanted to wind these in by hand. Although I’d prefer use a drill or impact driver. These have an unlimited drill torque rating and a lifetime replacement warranty.
Blue Screws are very popular for boaties to anchor their boats or kayaks into the shore or river bank when there are no trees or bushes to tie on to. No need for any tools. Just hand wind them in. They have tremendous anchoring ability into sand should you be able to hand wind them in deep enough without snapping (the longer one). For use with tents I’d get a bit fed up with hand winding them into the ground if the ground was soft enough. Maybe not so good for RSI?
Peggy Peg Orange Screw very popular brand. It is a versatile screw in peg for sand and normal grounds. This is their long version best for sand however when you look at the Blue Screw or the GroundGrabba Pro II you can see these are made to go deep and both have augur type flights or wings to really anchor down into sand.
UK Wire screw peg as you can see look lightweight and no more than a twisted nail. I guess to hammer them in as a narrow stake they would hold better than pegs without twists. Not my cup of tea though.
GroundGrabba Pro (USA) which as you can clearly see look as tough as they are touted to be. Advertised as Heavy Duty good for most ground types loose to hard. Alos in the image are the hook adaptor plates called HexHook Pro’s which are also used for the GroundGrabba Pro II. These have an unlimited drill torque rating and a lifetime replacement warranty.
Peggy Peg aluminium made for use in soft grounds even sand to hard grounds. These have been made for purpose and are not just an adaptation like most screw in tent pegs and stakes on the market. These are lightweight and easy enough to carry. The down side to cast aluminium or actually cast metals in general is their susceptibility to fracture if given a sharp knock. Also they have a rating of 70Nm. Not sure about you but If I drill a stake into the ground I won’t be measuring how much torque I am giving it… I’ll just give it all I got and hope it doesn’t snap. The rope adaptor is made of plastic and the design seems to me like it would be troublesome trying to slip the rope through it as you adjust tension to your guy ropes. Also I’m a bit dubious as to the tension the plastic hook is capable of holding.
RV Daily Test Results Hammer in Pegs versus Screw in Pegs
Here is a link to RV daily’s tests that Mark Allen carried out on normal tent pegs compared to screw-in tent pegs and sand pegs. In his tests Mark set up an elaborate rig that included his 4×4 winch to test the anchoring ability of many different hammer in pegs and screw in ones.
In a vertical lift test in sand the Blue Screw won with 150Kg followed by the GroundGrabba Pro II at 135Kg. In my own tests couldn’t hand wind the Blue Screw down full length because as it got within about 6″ of full depth there was significant wind up before the shaft snapped. Unfortunately the Blue screw could not be used in any other test ground in this instance whereas the GroundGrabba Pro II won the overall vertical lift test in dirt at 710Kg!
Thing to remember here is that one solution cannot suit all problems. The Blue screw is perfect for soft dry sand and desert sand and provides amazing anchoring ability in substrates like that. But if you want greater versatility you may want to look more closely at Peggy Peg or GroundGrabba.
You can clearly see in Marks results that the wood screw versions of screw in peg stakes hold very little compared to the purpose built screw in ground anchors or Peggy Peg, GroundGrabba and Blue Screw.
When you take a moment to think about it, the words ground anchor versus tent peg can explain a lot.
Uses and Applications of Screw In Ground Stake Pegs and Anchors
From the RV Daily news article it gives one the impression that screw in pegs, stakes and ground anchors are just for camping but seems that is not the case.
Whenever you need to hold something down to the ground you have a use for a ground anchor. But being even more specific all the drill driven screw in peg stakes and ground anchors here are more for non permanent anchoring use.
If I were to use one type of ground anchor for permanent use from the above list then GroundGrabba would get my vote. Well, it’s logical really isn’t it? They are the only ones of truly heavy duty construction and they’re also galvanized. But otherwise for permanent use you would use concrete and maybe the GroundGrabba both together.
Some uses for heavy duty drill driven pegs stakes and ground anchors would include:
Camping
Dog tethering
Lightning arrestor anchoring
soccer goal anchoring
Portable basketball goal staking
Road barrier anchoring
Film/movie/ videography
Outdoor furniture staking
Boat and kayak staking
Jumping castles anchoring
Outdoor Art Installation anchoring
Pop-Up Canopy Gazebo anchoring for market stalls as well as outdoor recreation
When it boils down to it, to anchor down most of the above you’d want a legit screw in stake or peg. One you could trust and rely on. One that will not only anchor well in the ground but also not break and will last a lifetime. When you look at the engineering, strength and quality needed I know which Screw peg stakes I would use. What about you?
Drillable Tent Pegs, Ground Anchors and Stake Warranties
Hex Pegs offer a two year manufacturers warranty with stipulations where you must not use them. Excluded from these screw in tent pegs are:
Attempting to use them in bitumen, concrete or solid rock or as an anchor point if not fully drilled into the ground. Also any other activity to which they’ve not been designed for.
You also are covered for major failure to which you can get a refund or replacements. See their full returns policy here.
Peggy Pegs does not state their warranty terms on their website…well at least I could not find them when i looked. But what they do say is that “If you’re not completely satisfied with the products” they will refund you. I don’t know what their time frame for that is. One can only guess or ask them. Check out Peggy Pegs Shipping and Returns Policy here.
Whites Wire and Yellow Plastic pegs warranty is even more elusive. I could not find any reference to warranty on their site. My guess is if you purchase them from the hardware store like Bunnings they’ll have a one year warranty. Exactly what they will accept as a reason for returns under warranty is a mystery. Here is Whites website…good luck finding their returns and warranty policy.
Screw Pegs Australia’s warranty is a little ( a lot ) more legalese than the others. Basically my interpretation of their warranty is their products are covered by a 30 day warranty from the date of delivery. If you have a return then it is to their discretion for your products to be repaired or replaced with new or used ones. Warranty does not cover misuse.
Blue Screw’s website is fairly basic. Seems they rely on their resellers to showcase their product in a better way. On their site there are no navigation tabs to look for anything other than their home page images, contact numbers and videos. One of their resellers Oztent in their specifications tab says that the blue (but in this case orange) Screw has a one year warranty. What this warranty covers though is not stated.
GroundGrabba’s warranty states that their “Pro” steel items come with a lifetime replacement warranty which extends to breaking and wearing out. It does not cover the galvanize coating being worn or scratched off. GroundGrabba Lite or plastic items are covered by a twelve month manufacturers and warranty and excludes misuse. Their Shipping and Refunds policy are much the same for their USA or AU sites. It’s a wee bit convoluted but the basic concept is they are customer focussed.
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