Has anyone purchased these? They seem like a well-made product (at least the ones Ruta Locura and Easton are selling). I know there are now many other companies offering them as well. My uses would be mainly Sierra trails and hard pack dirt.

Couch

Yes I have used them quite a bit.

http://tinyurl.com/9fysgze

I have been using the 6" Ruta Locura Sorex stakes for the last few months. I bought a 4 pack and have just been carrying 2 to use along the ridgeline on my tarp. They have worked pretty well, however, in really rocky/rooty ground they can be a little hard to get in and may take a few repositions. I have been pretty happy with them though and will likely be ordering a pack of his 9" stakes to give them a try too...

I use the 9" ones. They work very well in soft ground. In hard rocky ground you might have trouble getting them in.

I've been using some of the MSR carbon core stakes for a few recent trips. So far, so good. Lighter than my ti shepherd hooks and better holding power. They've proven reasonably durable so far; I've pounded them in to some dense, hard packed ground with a small rock without any trouble.

Obscenely expensive... I got lucky and found them on a good sale a few months back.

Good to hear everyone has had success with these. For my money, I am tired of the ubber light shepherd stakes as they are easily bent and seem to work best in a limited variety of applications under somewhat ideal conditions---maybe this belongs in "stupid light" category?

Couch

I've used the Ruta Locura carbon stakes a few times with good results. Great holding power. Can be a pain to get out of the ground though. I did manage to knock one of the heads off, but that was due to me being careless I think. The MSR's look great, will most likely get a set of them once my current stakes break/get lost.

Ryan

I've also used the Ruta Locura stakes from Josh. Work great for me.