Love these stakes. I am currently at a beach in South Carolina where the wind blows like crazy. The tent posts that came with the tent pulled out at the first wind storm. I was reluctant to the buy these as they seem so cheap and looked like they would pull out easily (after all, I am putting these tents into sand) after reading the reviews i decided to buy them. I am so glad I did. They were so easy to use, they are easy to remove and the value is incredible. They anchor great and I’ve never had a steak pull out. I don’t know whether you would call them thick, but you don’t want them to be bigger than they are. And they are thicker than they need be and the length is perfect.These pictures were taken at dark, but I think you can see them. I put the first one through the mat into the sand, and the rest are directly in the sand