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Until very recently I had only ever used the ordinary wire pegs which come with most tents, only replacing them with stronger wire ones when the originals inevitably became too bent to bother straightening. I never had a problem with pegs pulling out in windy weather but certainly worried about poles bending to breaking point...always seemed to get away with it though.

However, the last lot of windy weather I was in prompted me to buy a tent with steel poles which I am hoping will be more stable in windy conditions. This tent, being an Outwell, came with blue plastic pegs. I was very hesitant in breaking from my trusty, tried and tested wire pegs but I have tried the blue plastic ones on two occasions and they seem to hold ok. However, being ribbed plastic, they tend to fetch a big plug of muddy soil with them when pulled out. This is both annoying and messy.

At one site I recently went to I found the pitch extremely hard and for the first time ever, had to buy rock pegs from the campsite shop having bent most of mine. These were the screw type and I was very impressed. Not only can you force them through any terrain (fortunately I had a lump hammer with me) but they hold well and remove easily and as clean as a whistle.

For me, rock pegs seem to fill the void between my trusty wires and the plastic pegs which I am having great difficulty coming to grips with, and I am thinking of using rock pegs all the time.

In my opinion all pegs do the job they are made for i.e securing tents and guy ropes to the ground. If any have ever been made that don't hold a tent down in most camping conditions then it is doubtful they would even come on the market. It's horses for courses...if you find you don't like, or lose trust in certain pegs then try something else...then go back to the ones you first thought of

Sorry I haven't been around much since posting this. I'm not good with the computer and have been having a few lessons from a friend  

We went in our tent the other weekend, luckily the weather wasn't too bad and we really enjoyed it. I don't know what kind of tent it is (it's a blue one) but it was really easy to put up and we just used ordinary peg things that we got with the tent. It was very good and we can't wait to go again. We haven't got all the fancy camping gear but loved it all the same

Thanks for the answers,  Rebecca

Quote: Originally posted by newcampers7471 on 23/3/2010

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From reading other posts we would only need them for main guys, so my questions are, how many main guys would I have on my tent? How would I identify them?

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The main guys on most tents are those that hold the main framework of the tent down i.e the guys attached to the poles and on the corners of the tent. There may be other guys which help to pull out the material or adjust vent flaps etc; which aren't part of the main structure and take little or no strain...a bit difficult to explain but I hope it helps.

For our awning we are using steel pegs  alongside plastic pegs that my OH made when he worked in making reinforcing mesh for building works, way back in the seventies.  They are the best thing out.