brewmeisterI have never seen a stake that performs better than the groundhogs for such a great price. If size is an issue then they also sell groundhog minis that are still amazing while being smaller lighter and cheaper.
brewmeisterWire stakes will never match the overall holding power of shaped extrusions like the groundhogs, etc, but they definitely have their uses and most of the time they work just fine. If you have dry, loose soil/sand these are not the best choice. I have used groundhogs for about 15 years now and they are hard to beat, but I just bought a pack each of these Lawsons to save some bulk and use in places where I don't need the hogs. To supplement the groundhogs I tuck in some 8" Easton Nano spikes for use in deep soft forest duff where the groundhog full size isn't quite long enough (and forget about the minis there), so the longer Lawsons will be replacing my Eastons. These are also easier to sneak into a crack or between rocks if you need to, where the groundhogs sometimes can't. The main disadvantage with shepherd hooks is that they can rotate sometimes if you aren't careful but the head design on these helps with that. Slightly easier to bend and harder to pound but these are beefy titanium unlike most. If someone made an 8" titanium spike like the Toaks stakes, that would be perfect but these are the next best if you need something long, imho.