Tent Accessories

Featured review by Gazedrop

Lightweight, strong tent stake with good holding power. A tent stake is a low-key, basic item that just needs to work. These do.

 A tent stake is a lowly item that just needs to address some very basic issues: Easy to drive into the ground; Stays put when in the ground; Easy to remove from the ground; Light and small enough to be carried; ...yet durable enough to do its job when replacements are not readily available. With such a basic list of requirements, you'd think that this would be an easy job to fulfill. Well, anyone who has ever set up a tent more than once already knows that this is not necessarily the case.

Read more: MSR Groundhog Tent Stakes reviews (14)

Reviewed by Sean Van Cleve

This reflective cord is easy to tie knots, making it ideal for guy lines. The 2.5mm thickness is thick enough to work knots loose without a hassle, and is high visibility both night and day for easy spotting.

MSR (Mountain Safety Research) has an extensive product line—not only tents, stoves, and water treatment, but accessories galore are available for every subcategory. When a shelter does not come with all the needed guy line, MSR’s Ultralight Cord is an excellent product to assist with stabilizing one’s shelter or tarp. MSR carries a wide range of affordable accessories  Specifications: Price: $19.95 USD Length: 32 ft /10 meters Thickness: 2.5 mm Tensile Strength: 200 lb. Reflective: Yes For those that prefer knots to cam tensioning, working with this line is extremely easy.

Read more: MSR Ultralight Cord review (1)

Reviewed by Sean Van Cleve

The Cyclone Tent Stake is designed for holding power without compromise. Ideal for loose soil or windy conditions, this is the go-to stake for ease of mind.

Mountain Safety Research (MSR) has been a titan in the industry for decades, well known for their design and attention to detail. Regardless of one’s chosen shelter, upgrading/customizing stakes is a very important factor in ensuring a good night's rest.  Product testing the MSR Front Range Ultralight Tarp Shelter prompted additional needs for such a large shelter—adding stakes with strong holding power during windy and stormy weather.  A spiralized design provides increased gripping power.

Read more: MSR Cyclone Tent Stakes review (1)

Featured review by Howard Koontz

The folks at Nite Ize know you're not a Boy Scout, and you're not a sailor. But sometimes you need to secure a rope to a fixed object, or a rope to another rope. Their elegant solution is the Figure 9.

I'm not a salty sailor who's ridden the high seas for decades. I'm also not a Boy Scout with a sash full of knot tying merit badges. I'm just a guy who sometimes abandons my otherwise perfectly usable home for a day or three and sleeps outside in a hammock. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person in this demographic. Because every campsite is different, there's no 'perfect' setup to how you string up your tarp, and hammock, and bug net, and gear pack, and anything else you brought with you for the trip.

Read more: Nite Ize Figure 9 Carabiner reviews (3)

Featured review by StoicFabian

A cheap, light, and highly effective item that simplifies and speeds up hanging tarps, clotheslines, etc. It has other uses as well.

Introduction A few years ago I purchased a couple of these Cam Jams to see if and how I could use them to improve my camp setup workflow. I like Nite Ize products and have a lot of their S-biners and other NI items around. It’s basic but simple, practical and well-made stuff. The Cam Jam is basically a cord tightener. As anyone who backpacks and camps knows, this has multiple uses. I’m always advocating the importance of knowing the basic knots and all, and also constantly practicing to stay sharp.

Read more: Nite Ize CamJam Cord Tightener reviews (4)

Reviewed by LoneStranger

A 50' length of reflective 2mm cord which can be cut up to make guy lines or used full length as a ridge line or for a bear hang. Includes a small biner.

What you see is what you get with the Coghlan's Reflective Guy Line; A 50' coil of 2mm line that has reflective threads woven in. It also comes with a small biner with a wire gate. While the label says Guy Line and it could be cut into lengths usable for that purpose, it can be used full length to hang a lightweight bear bag or as a shelter ridge line. I purchased this line after scouting out this tent site deep in the back country of Baxter State Park for a planned family trip. Measuring the distance between the few available trees I found that my 30' Dutchware ridge line wasn't going to cut it.

Read more: Coghlan's Reflective Guy Line review (1)

Reviewed by Vladimir Gorbunov

Extremely strong 6x145/165 mm titanium pegs for pitching on rocky, compacted, or frozen ground. Such pegs are successfully hammered into ground, which would otherwise damage any aluminum stake.

Since 2016 I've owned several tunnel tents, which require four stable pegs for successful pitching: Hilleberg Kaitum 3, Nallo 3 and Fjallraven Abisko Lite 3 (all reviewed by me). Quite often the stock DAC J-stakes don't work well, namely on rocky, compacted or frozen ground. Hammering the peg in such conditions may lead to its damage, sometimes — beyond repair. To simplify the pitching, in early 2017 I decided to purchase a set of strong titanium nails, not usual ultralight stakes made of titanium wire.

Read more: TiTo 6 mm Titanium Tent Pegs review (1)

Reviewed by Mike Mineart

Heroclip is a hybrid gear clip that is now available in a Mini size in addition to the original size, which has now been labeled as Medium and another new size labeled as Small. The three different sizes (which range from 3 11/16 inches long for the Medium, 3 1/16 inches long for the Small, and 2 5/16 inches long for the Mini) are rated to carry loads of 60, 50, and 40 pounds respectively, and provide greater flexibility for how and where a Heroclip can be used. The Heroclip is a device that is not really designed for any one specific application, but can be used for many applications and its overall usefulness is really only limited by the creativity of the user. The applications can range from simply clipping an item to your pack to using the integrated hook to hang your pack, trekking poles, or other gear while in camp. While the Heroclip may have similarities to a climbing carabiner, it's an accessory clip only and not for climbing use in any way.

A little over a year ago I did a review on Trailspace of the initial Heroclip design which at the time only came in one size. That earlier review can be found here: Heroclip Medium Review.  Heroclip has expanded its product line and the Heroclip is now available in three sizes: Medium (the original version), Small, and Mini. Design and Construction As I shared in my original review, the Heroclip is composed of an aluminum accessory clip with a bent wire gate common to climbing carabineers that has an aluminum hook assembly attached through a plastic swivel.

Read more: Heroclip Mini review (1)

Reviewed by Kerry

This footprint has grommets, clips, and loops on corner tabs. I would recommend to anyone wanting a fitted footprint.

I use this footprint on my Mountainsmith Upland 2 tent and it is a perfect fit. The footprint has clips and so does my rain fly so it attaches perfectly. The fly clips can be tightened or slacked out to assure it a custom fit on the tent. I use the grommets to attach to the tent poles themselves. After I lay out the footprint and set up the tent minus fly I just place the tent on top of the footprint. Then on each corner I remove the tent pole one corner at a time and place the grommet of footprint onto the pole first, then hook the grommet from tent body onto the tent pole under the footprint grommet.

Read more: Mountainsmith Morrison Footprint review (1)

Reviewed by Second Gear

It's a nice alternative to using bungee cords. They are as useful as bungees. I liked the 24-inch pair so much, I bought a pair of 18-inch ties. I might even buy a couple sets of smaller ones. They are a very handy "hardware" bag item.

Gear Ties are one of "those little things" that are nice to throw in the pack for "just in case." Like a bungee, they are highly utilitarian, useable for all the little jobs to hold stuff down or in, or... They stay pliable in the cold. I never go snowshoeing without them! The ties work MUCH better for holding snowshoes than bungees when I want to just carry the snowshoes. The rubber coating protects the gear from wear and tear and marring. They take up just a little more room than the mini-bungees, which I heavily rely on.

Read more: Nite Ize Gear Tie review (1)