Review: screw in Terra Bite ground pegs

We try out the new screw-in Terra Bite and Terra Big Bite ground pegs from RVDevices and Accessories.

A few years back, while camping out at the Winton showgrounds with the kids, I thought it would be a good idea to sleep in an under-awning tent. Now, the tent was great (and still is), but the awning itself was pegged down with those old-school small tent pegs, and because the ground was so hard, I couldn’t hammer the pegs in properly without bending them.

So that night, when it got a bit windy, our only shelter tried to fly away with us in it and not much help from our ground pegs. I’m pretty sure the only reason it didn’t is that I’m not a few donuts lighter. Worse night ever! But it could have easily been managed with a set of the new Terra Bite ground pegs that you can see in the photo below.

What are Terra Bite ground pegs?

Terra Bite ground pegs are a new range of aluminium screw-in pegs from RVDevices and Accessories. Grahame, the owner, is also the Aussie inventor who bought us Reverse Mate and the All-In-One Caravan Clothesline. They come in two sizes, the Terra Bite, which is 295mm long and the Terra Big Bite, which is 365mm long.

The pegs are designed to be screwed into the ground with a drill using the Terra Pegs 17mm drill adapter. Alternatively, you can also hand screw them in place by placing a strong round bar into the top of the peg and rotating it like a cork screw.

On the head of the Terra Bite ground peg you’ll find a hook and eye for attaching guy ropes or a set of trace springs and straps to secure your awning down. The head is also tapered, allowing the hook and eye to sit flush with the ground should you wish.

Who are they for?

Anyone who wants to peg an awning down, whether it’s a roll-out attached to your caravan, part of your camper trailer setup, or the more simple type attached to your vehicle. They’re also handy for anyone travelling with a dog as they make a sturdy anchor for when you need to keep your furry friend secured at the campsite.

How did they go in the real world?

I took a brand new set of Terra Bite ground pegs out on a camping trip to Ivory’s Rock near Ipswich recently and used them to peg down a simple fold out awning. It didn’t really get much of a workout in terms of strong wind gusts however, I can say that using a drill with the supplied drill adapter made getting them in the ground a breeze.

The ground might look soft in the photos below because of all that lovely grass, but don’t let it fool you. An inch or two down into the soft stuff and that ground was hard enough to bend the old style tent pegs that you hammer in. A little extra pressure on the drill and it was no problems though. Given that the ground was so hard, I used the 295mm Terra Pegs and didn’t even bother screwing them all the way in. It was pretty apparent that they weren’t going anywhere as it was.

Another point of interest is how light they are. The smaller Terra Peg (Terra Bite – 295mm) weighs around 200g and the larger one (Terra Big Bite – 365mm) weighs around 270g. They look like they would weigh a lot more so even with quite a few of them in a bag, it’s still only a couple of kilograms.

Pros and cons of the Terra Bite ground pegs

What we love about them

• Drill friendly so you can get them into all sorts of ground types
• Lightweight
• Solid
• Goes far enough into the ground to ensure your awning isn’t going anywhere

What could be better

• If it came with a metal rod for manual drilling

The verdict

The Terra Bite ground pegs do what they are supposed to do and are easy to install, so I’ve now happily replaced my old pegs with these. Although you can buy the pegs individually, I got the caravan awning tie-down strap kit as not only does it come with four Terra Pegs and the drill adapter, but you also get four reflective straps (lashing capacity of 300kgs), two trace springs, a few G hooks, S hooks and snap hooks, as well as a zip-up bag to keep it all together.