Tent Stakes on Walmart
Tent Stakes at Walmart
As you are well aware and the reason you are looking to Walmart for your tent stakes is because they have such a great choice and their prices are pretty good too.
A question is, what type of stakes are you looking for?
Are you looking for light duty tent stake from Walmart which are made out of fencing wire or heavier duty tent stake made out of steel like rebar? Perhaps you’re looking for a stake at Walmart that works in sand or one for snow?
Either way, chances are that you will find tent stake at Walmart that will work for you.
You may even find more options for tent stakes on the Walmart online platform because similar to Amazon, they have other businesses selling their wares. Some may just sell tent stakes on the Walmart platform as one of hundreds of other non-related items, some may specialise in camping equipment.
Another question is…HAVE YOU CONSIDERED A GroundGrabba™ GROUND ANCHOR instead?
INTRODUCING THE GROUND ANCHOR
At the moment you won’t find GroundGrabba tent stakes on Walmart but to be more precise, our GroundGrabbas are ground anchors not tent ‘stakes’ as such.
Although, you can use them as thousands of our customers do for camping, tents, easy up, shade structures and more. But GroundGrabba has outstanding and industry leading ground holding ability.
Where you’d be concerned in high wind environments of your stakes ripping out of the ground with the next stronger gust, once you get used to GroundGrabbas ability to hold, you’ll no longer concern yourself of that particular challenge.
Then it becomes a case of the next weakest link of your set up.
What is the difference between the tent stakes you may find on Walmart and GroundGrabba ground anchors?
The Difference Between Tent Stakes and Ground Anchors
Let’s take a look at what makes our GroundGrabba ground anchors so different to the stakes you may find on Walmart?
There a several factors that set GroundGrabbas above a tent stake typically you may find on Walmart such as the ability to use your cordless drill or impact wrench to deploy them, and flights.
You are no doubt wondering what a ‘flight’ is?
Flights are the portion close to the tip of the GroundGrabba that are like spirals that extend out from the shaft. Like an auger in fact.
Let me explain… Standard or traditional tent stakes are a pretty basic device invented probably by caveman. It was the Romans who lifted the common timber stake to new heights by creating steel tent stakes. So pretty much there has been zero innovation in staking for 2,000 years!
HOW GROUNDGRABBA’S WORKS
Fast forward from the Roman Empire to today where we have cordless drills and the technology to create augers full length welded to the heat treated carbon steel shaft.
By using an adaptation of the auger design our GroundGrabba ground anchor stakes grip the ground under the ground. Using the weight and forces of the surrounding substrate and the composition of that ground with all the organic material in it such as grass that’s interwoven. Also their root systems interwoven and that of other plant roots which creates an even greater hold down ability which means that GroundGrabbas can hold down multiple times more than old fashioned spike steel tent stakes like those from Walmart.
The physics and dynamic nature of the organic ground root systems of grass, plants and trees aside, the ground density and ground weight create a kind of plug shape of earth that bears down on the flights at the base of the stake. The greater the density of the ground, the broader the shape of the plug of earth. The plug shape is kind of like an upside-down cone or umbrella in shape.
The deeper down our GroundGrabba ground anchor stakes reach, the greater their anchoring force.
Because your typical tent stake that you may find in Walmart of just the straight pin or skewer shape, even if a thicker material like rebar, they are missing the wide flights that extend out from the shaft like GroundGrabbs do therefore cannot provide the plug shape of earth to hold the stake down.
GROUNDGRABBA GROUND ANCHOR VERSUS A Walmart TENT STAKE
(NOTE this image is to be updated soon with the correct set)
As you can see from the above images, the shape of the plug or cone of our GroundGrabba with auger flights, versus the pin or skewer shape of a conventional tent stake you may find on Walmart give a greater representation as to which will anchor with greater force.
The GroundGrabba plug shape of earth has a definite plug shap about it compared to that of the standard Walmart skewer stake shape which has barely any plug shape around it.
For vertical loads you don’t have to be a genius to recognise that GroundGrabbas outperform straight Walmart tent stakes which rely on a sideway ground resistance hold.
Typically, the pin-shaped steel or aluminum tent stake is hammered into the ground at an angle somewhere between 45 degrees away from the intended load up to 90 degrees vertical.
In doing so, the tent stake cannot reach down to its full length and therefore has even less groundmass weight holding it down which is kind of like a double whammy of losses.
If you think about it, you realise that to achieve ground holding the shaft of the typical Walmart tent stake presses up against the ground relying on the ground density and pressure against its shaft. Depending on the load of course this can work well if the ground is dry or there are no sudden forces to shock the tent stake out of the ground like a sudden gust of wind hitting your shade canopy.
CONTROLLED FAILURE VERSUS CATASTROPHIC FAILURE
Think about this, what if the ground is wet or sodden? The ground holding integrity of the typical pin-type skewer steel tent stake is lost. Also what now if there is a sudden gust of wind? There is little to no ground anchoring effect at all and the steel tent stake can rip out of the wet ground within a fraction of a second and is what we call a catastrophic failure.
Now compare our GroundGrabba screw-in auger style ground anchors to that of typical Walmart steel or aluminum tent stakes.
To drive your GroundGrabba down vertically just use your cordless drill or impact wrench. Driving them in vertically means you get them in to maximum depth which means greater groundmass and weight for clamping pressure which presses down to the top of the flights or spirals which extend out from the shaft. Think about it, it is really quite logical.
There are some different adaptors to help your purpose or method of attaching your load whether it is a vertical load or side angled load like a guy rope. If it is a vertical load the greater the density of the ground, the better the hold down force due to the larger ‘plug’ area and therefore weight of the surrounding earth on top of the flights.
The other thing is when a side load is applied like a guy rope then you get even more ground holding force because not only is there the initial cone shape of ground but now it elongates to create an even larger kind of warped cone shape and then also there’s the shaft pressing against the ground creates even more resistance.
So, you get a kind of triple ground anchoring effect!
When a sudden gust of wind comes along and if it is strong enough for your GroundGrabba to lose its grip, it will do so at a slower rate. The deeper the GroundGrabba, the slower the rate, and therefore we call this a controlled failure as it lets go slowly in comparison.
HOW TO ADAPT GROUNDGRABBAS TO YOUR APPLICATIONS
We have several different adaptors to help using your GroundGrabbas more effective. As at the time of putting this article together, we have three varieties of adaptors available:
We also have a few others currently on the drawing board soon to be produced such as:
- The Fang
- The Multi Saddle
- Clamp It Up
Check out our online store to see if these are now available.
Because GroundGrabbas do a great job holding thing down, our customers use them for a whole range of applications. Some applications may need special adaptation which we currently do not make. So if you cannot find an adaptor that is suitable please contact us to let us know how we can help you achieve the ground anchoring you are looking for.
HOW TO DEPLOY YOUR GROUNDGRABBA GROUND ANCHOR PRODUCTS
You don’t need to be an Einstein to deploy your GroundGrabbas but it does take a little more practice and knowledge than hammering in your usual old fashioned Walmart tent stakes.
To start, you’lll need a good-quality cordless drill with plenty of torque. Go for a brand name like Makita, DeWalt or Milwaukee for example. My first Makita cordless drill had 65Nm or 48ft-lbs and driving our GroundGrabbas into hard ground took its toll on the drill. My next Makita drill which I still use today has 125Nm or 92ft-lb of torque and is much better for the job.
However, today I have a large Makita cordless impact wrench (rattle gun) which has over a whopping 1,000Nm or 740ft-lb of torque! Not pushing Makita, it’s just the brand I used back when I was doing electrical trade work and I have stuck with since.
Please note: Only use impact-type drills with our GroundGrabba Pro steel ground anchors. GroundGrabba Lites are made of a special nylon mix and can be damaged with impact type drills.
Then, to adapt to the19mm ¾” hex head you will need a socket for your drill.
On our website you’ll find a medium-duty hex socket driver that can clip into your impact driver BUT for chunkier heavy-duty impact wrenches, you will need a different socket to suit.
STEPS TO DEPLOY
- Make sure that there are no underground dangers such as services not limited to electricity, gas, communications, water, sewerage/effluent, drainage.
- Place the pointed tip of the GroundGrabba against the ground where you need to deploy it.
- Place the 19mm ¾” socket (which is already in the drill ready for use) on top of the GroundGrabba hex head.
- Hold the drill steady with a tight grip in BOTH HANDS, one on the handle the other on top of the drill body so you can push down.
- Make sure your feet are about 12” or 300mm apart and you have a sure footing and that…
- The drill handle is just on the inside of your RIGHT leg (if using a longer GroundGrabba you may only be able to achieve this after the GroundGrabba has wound itself down far enough) which helps prevent wrist injury should the drill handle want to twist counter-clockwise.
- Start your drill slowly (Best on a medium safety torque setting until you are competent with being able to increase it) pressing down on the drill.
- Keep the speed slow with downward force until you feel your drill slow down more as the flights bite into the ground and start to draw themselves downward.
- As the GroundGrabba draws itself down, if you choose you may now reduce the downforce.
- When the hex head of the GroundGrabba reaches almost ground level you can stop.
See the video here:
STEPS TO EXTRACTION
- Remove any loose attachments or tie downs from your GroundGrabba before starting the extraction process.
- Place the 19mm ¾” socket (which is already in the drill ready for use) on top of the GroundGrabba hex head.
- Hold the drill steady with a tight grip in BOTH HANDS, one on the handle the other on top of the drill body so you can push down.
- Make sure your feet are about 12” or 300mm apart and you have a sure footing and that…
- The drill handle is just on the inside of your LEFT leg which helps prevent wrist injury should the drill handle want to twist clockwise.
- Start your drill slowly or if experienced it’s ok to use high speed (Best on a medium safety torque setting until you are competent with being able to increase it) pressing down on the drill.
- Keep the speed slow (or high speed when experienced) with a downward force to keep the drill socket connected to the hex head and the GroundGrabba will start rising.
See the video here:
See, as I said, to deploy your GroundGrabbas you don’t need to be an Einstein but you do need a little more knowledge and equipment than your average tent stake that you’ll find at Walmart.
Which are the best stakes, GROUNDGRABBAS or TENT STAKES FOUND ON Walmart?
GroundGrabba Pro Series are hot dipped galvanized and made of a special blend of carbon steel that has been heat-treated for even greater strength. Unlike cheap look a-like copies, our flights (spirals) are full-length welded to the shaft. They also are made with a non-sharp but smooth tapered leading edge for better bite into the ground and the hex heads are forged as part of the shaft.
We could have opted for cheaper manufacturing methods like a thin zinc coating or friction welding the head or just a few spot welds for the flights or just roughly cut flights that may injure a user like some cheap Chinese copies out there but then, they just wouldn’t meet our strict heavy duty and quality criteria and we couldn’t offer our customers a genuine lifetime replacement warranty.
Given Walmart has such a huge variety of tent stakes you will find a range of quality and strength there. So be sure that you match the tent stake you need with the task it is needed for.
But to answer the question, which tent stake is better, there is no one answer. It is like asking which car brand is best. It comes down to some questions to ask yourself.
Do you need a tent stake or a ground anchor? What is the investment of the equipment or tent that you need to hold down? Maybe it is just a low-cost pop-up tent purchased at the supermarket so you don’t care if it flies away in the wind.
Do you need something heavy-duty that comes with a lifetime replacement warranty and that will last lifetimes or are you happy if they bend, break or if they don’t work that you can throw them away and start again?
Have you heard this saying... Poor man pays twice? I sometimes forget that one myself and end up paying again for the better one!
WHAT GROUNDS CAN GROUNDGRABBAS BE deployed in?
Let me ask you this question: Into what type of ground can you hammer a traditional tent stake like those found on Walmart into? Your answer will also answer the question of which grounds are suitable for GroundGrabba.
Just like how hammering a Walmart tent stake into hard ground may be difficult or impossible, so to with GroundGrabba. BUT, if the ground is ‘that’ hard then by drilling a ½” or 12mm pilot hole into the ground you will help the deployment.
If you were to try to drive a screw into concrete or masonry blocks you’d first need to drill a pilot hole if you were to have any chance of success. Same thing with trying to drive your GroundGrabbas into very hard grounds. If it is too hard you will need to drill a pilot hole. You may even need to enlarge it.
We currently manufacture four types of GroundGrabbas. Giving you the option to find the right one for you when you consider the application you intend to use them for and the ground type they’ll be inserted into.
One type of tent stake does not fit all, does not work for all circumstances. Back in 2013 when I began the challenge to create a drill driven screw-in tent stake and after trialling dozens prototypes in many types of ground and despite my burning desire to come up with a ONE perfect tent stake solution for all applications and all environments, I eventually found out that it was a just not physically possible.
It’s kind of like trying to find one motor vehicle that would suit all situations. “A small smart car will not carry the load of a Kenworth!”
For sand or soft grounds or heavy loads, a short and thin tent stake is just a waste of time. In hard grounds, a broad and long conventional sand stake just wouldn’t work either.
That is why we currently have three steel and one nylon GroundGrabba.
- GroundGrabba Pro 12” 300mm steel for harder to average semi-soft ground.
- GroundGrabba Pro 18” 450mm steel for not quite as hard to soft grounds including sand.
- GroundGrabba Pro 24” 600mm steel for not quite as hard to soft grounds including sand but with much higher anchoring ability.
- GroundGrabba Lite 15 ¾” 400mm nylon for soft ground and sand only and NOT for vertical loads in soft sand.
The GroundGrabba steel Pro series are not toys, they’re serious quality heavy duty tools to add to your bag of tricks to anchor and stake down your outdoor equipment such as; Tents, tarps, easy ups, gazebos, pop-up garages, shade canopies, horse jumps, signposts, road barriers, jersey barriers, sports goals, volleyball nets, boats, flag poles, jumping castles, outdoor play equipment like swing sets and trampolines, electric bear fences, dear hides, traps, hurricane tree support, hurricane tie-downs for your RV, annexes and more.
After reading all of the above, you now have some background information that you can use to help you decide if tent stakes that are found on Walmart versus GroundGrabbas will work best for you.
If unsure, you are welcome to contact us to help you with your choice.
Be well.
David Levine
Inventor/creator & Founder GroundGrabba