I would probably score the 1g titanium ones that came with my Laser Comp 10/10 for weight, 5/10 for durability, 3/10 for ease of use (very easily lost) and 2/10 for holding power, giving a score of 20/40. The Tibetan titanium 11g V pegs I've been using to supplement them would probably rate 6/10 weight, 6/10 durability (they seem to bend very easily), 5/10 for ease of use (they chew your hands) and 8/10 holding power, total 25 -- still not brilliant. Anybody come across any that would score sigificantly higher?
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 Clamcleats do some decent Alu Y pegs clicky
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Good question! I want a good angle peg in titanium of about 17 - 18 mm length, with a good turn-over to stop guys coming off. I have not found anything yet. Taunton Leisure used to sell an excellent alloy angle peg of that length, very cheap, good holding power, but they've changed them for ones of approx 23 mm - far to long for my purposes, though I suppose of some use in firm snow, perhaps. I do not get on with typical titanium ones which are just angle with no turnover - can't see how they are meant to be used with rubber guy rings. They tend to be too short, too. So if you find something suitable, let us know!
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 Blacks sale right now has a good cheap set of very light tent pegs.  And Alpkit has some nice very lightweight tent pegs too as well!
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| Edited: 21/07/08 23:26 |
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A garment hanger can be used to make cheap and light pegs. 1. Cut out the hook. 2. Cut half way along the longest straight. 3. File all cut ends to remove any edges. You are left with a 'prong' type peg, 8" long, weighing 8 - 12grms. Weight depends on source of hanger, some are very light and pliable others are heavy and not so bendy.
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| Edited: 22/07/08 12:07 |
 I went through a range of options and did some simple tests when selecting pegs. i was looking for an 'optimum' peg for lightweight travel in heavy weather. Titanium seemed like the obvious answer, so I bought a stack of VArgo Ti V pegs. They performed worse that than any other peg I tested and weighed about 1g less than the best peg I tested (which was aluminium). The V peg would pop out of the soil like toast from a toaster - no other peg I tried (there were about ten types in total) did this. I then wedged it into more stoney ground to see what would happen - it turned, buckled and twisted - no not repairable. Here is the result
The best in test for me were Golite Y pegs. They were light strong and held the ground better than any other peg I triedBut to be honest - golite, vango, alpkit - it doesnt matter who - just the type of construction.
. Edited: BTW I sold the remaining Ti V pegs on ebay just to get rid of them.
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| Edited: 22/07/08 12:12 |
Interesting stuff there fb. It's easy to assume that titanium pegs are the strongest for their weight, but my experiences would seem similar to yours -- the Tibetan V pegs I've got tend to bend in much the same way as the one in your pic. The Golite ones might well be worth a look.
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The advert for the Ti V pegs said something like ' virtually unbendable' - however the test was to place each peg in the ground (up to the head) with a 2m long guy line bisecting the head at 90 degrees. I then pulled the guy with one hand in a consistent motion - as I said it just popped out of the ground, but when it found a stone it bent. The Y peg construction in aluminium is a gram or two heavier - for me that isnt a big deal. The only time I have managed to bend a Y peg was in stoney ground (windy meet Lakes). Conviced that it just needed a little shove I booted the hell out of the peg by stamping on it and bent it. 
I had a good mind to send the Ti V peg back to Vargo with a complaint about this apparent 'unbendyness' but my wife stopped me by saying that they probably didnt expect people to actually test tent pegs, and that I am just a sad git with OCD. Guilty as charged I guess 
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 After years of just using the alloy skewers that came with my various TN tents, I've done some experimenting over the last couple of years and now have 4 types of pegs that I like, and I usually carry a mix to allow for the different ground I might encounter. My mainstay are the 6g Ti skewer pegs offered by a range of manufacturers - Vargo, Alpkit, TN etc. They're very strong for the weight, penetrate hard ground well and hold surprisingly well in a range of conditions. I also have a few of the Vargo Ti Nail pegs - these must surely be unbreakable?!! They'll penetrate the rockiest ground and anchor the key tent corners for me. I'm not a great fan of V-pegs but for softer ground they can be handy. I got half a dozen of the Vargo Ti ones and I can't say I've had any of the problems fb describes - I do only use them in softer ground for the extra holding power though. And I've not had any pull out. And as an alternative to v pegs I recently added a few Y pegs - mine are the alloy Macpac ones sold by Needlesports. I like these for their strength and holding power, but they can be awkward to extract (no cord to pull on). That lot covers it for me. I recently bought 6 of the TN 1g Ti pegs (I thought they were 2g actually, the 'hat-pins' with the orange sleeve?). I'd never try to anchor my tent with them, but they're great for staking out a footprint and I use a couple to anchor my stove windshield. Oh, and I still use cheapo alloy pegs if I take my tent to a busy campsite!
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 I tend to just use whatever comes with the tent. My Spacepacker came with cheap alloy skewers. By most standards to which people seem to worry about they're terrible... but they've never let me down so I've never bothered to change them. Are they bendy? Very! and that makes them really easy to bend back again! They don't bend from tension exerted through the pegging rubbers. I've hovered over the "Add to basket" button a few times with exotic tent pegs, but ultimately the fact that the grot ones I use keep the tent up, which is the actual bottom line important thing, means I've not clicked it yet. Pete.
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 I tend to use four of the serious alloy numbers, like the Spike ones Alpkit sell, for main anchoring points if I'm using the Minaret. They're not strictly speaking indestructible, but they're pretty tough unless you insist on trying to hammer them through solid rock. For the rest it's a motley mix of what's lying around and appropriate. Or rocks. Or ice screws. Or snow stakes. Or on a few occasions, actual ice tools. What works best is genereally down to the ground type, I think. Thin skewers are fine in decent stuff but not so clever in soft or sandy conditions where big, fat vee-types or just massive girders - an MSR snow picket cut down would work well, but be a tad heavy... I see Terra Nova do a dedicated snow peg, but if you're carrying pickets anyway, what the heck... Yep, and I know snow pickets don't get much UK use, they're ace in the Andes though and fantastic on some of those wide, open Scottish gully exits where there's nothing much else
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al anon, sorry but what's a garment hanger?
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Stuart: clothes hanger - the thing your trousers are hung on when they return from the dry cleaners.
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 I would second fb's comments regarding the Golite Y pegs however, they can be had cheaper by buying the exact same ones branded by (for eg) Gelert.
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 I like to carry more than one type of peg, unless i know the camp spot. I always carry a couple of bombproof pegs for main guying points.
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Stuart: Just re-read my reply, it comes across a bit curt. Please accept my apologies I wrote it in a hurry just as I was rushing out.
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I'm with Peter on this one as i've never had any problems with the pegs supplied with any tent i've owned. Though i was minus a couple of them on erecting my new TN Superlite Voyager which wasn't a problem as there were plenty of stones around. The only way i could justfy buying additional/better pegs is if i knew that the supplied pegs wouldn't be able to cope with the ground conditions. Almost all of my camping is done on moorland or machair and i've never had a pegging issue even in truly awful conditions.
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In fairness calum you are right. But then there is seldom a problem with most of the gear we buy - but we keep on buying it anyway!
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