Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Gather 'round kids, I'm gonna tell you a story... I bought 2 packs of these stakes to hold down a Columbia Cougar Flats II (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Q3LICS/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00) tent in clay soil during Element11 (Utah's regional Burning Man event). My fellow Burners gawked and mocked, brandishing their rebar stakes, custom claws and heavy ropes. "Those things are toothpicks!" "The first good wind will pluck those from the ground and let your tent fly!" I'd done my research and I'm no novice... I hate carrying around 50 pounds of steel where a few ounces of well-made metal will do. The tent went up in a good wind, the stakes holding it fast. A couple of days later we got pounded with a Severe Thunderstorm of legend! 60 mph sustained winds with gusts well over 75 mph. Torrential rain saturated the ground putting a good couple inches under the tent's footprint (A "Dry Top" tarp - perfect! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00310QPSM/ref=oh_details_o02_s01_i01). I watched many a dome tent become a kite, Yurts imploded and flew to Oz, hippies were carried away with their drums and their didgeridoos! All the while, the tent held, the stakes never coming loose. A few of them were even completely submerged in the lake forming around my tent. When we finally left it took some effort with a hammer to pry them from the ground. Let no one mock you with these...they are worth every penny.