TheTentLab Deuce review: the ultralight backpacking trowel hikers swear by
The Deuce is the trowel serious backpackers quietly agree on. It weighs about as much as a tablespoon of water, disappears in a pocket, and is machined from aerospace aluminum tough enough to pry rocks — the tool that turned the humble poop shovel into a piece of gear people actually recommend by name.
The verdict
The backpacking trowel benchmark. TheTentLab’s Deuce is the one experienced hikers name without hesitation: 0.6 oz of US-made 7075-T6 aerospace aluminum, de-burred and rounded so it is comfortable in the hand, with a clever upside-down trick that quadruples your digging power in hard ground. It costs a little more than a no-name trowel and its handle is still a thin blade under real load, but the strength, the finish, and the lifetime warranty make it the trowel you buy once and carry for a decade. For anyone who backpacks regularly, this is the pick.
What it does
The Deuce of Spades is a two-ended ultralight cathole trowel milled from a single piece of 7075-T6 aluminum — the aerospace-grade alloy used in aircraft and satellites, not the soft aluminum of cheap trowels. The classic #2 weighs 0.6 ounce (there is a 0.45 oz #1 for gram-counters and a beefier 0.97 oz #3 for genuinely awful ground). The design has a real trick to it: used right-side-up the scoop moves dirt quickly, but flipped upside-down the tapered end becomes a pry that TheTentLab says gives up to four times the digging power for breaking hard soil and levering out rocks and roots. You can also probe the top few inches upside-down first, to find a spot free of buried rock before you commit to digging. Every edge is tumbled and de-burred so it does not shred your hand the way raw die-cut trowels do, it is anodized in bright colors so it will not vanish in the dirt, and it is backed by a manufacturer’s lifetime warranty.
What verified buyers say
Verified-purchase owners — a lot of thru-hikers and long-time backpackers among them — are strikingly consistent:
- Ultralight but it does not bend. The recurring theme: absurdly light for the pack, yet stiff and strong enough to dig without flexing or folding.
- It handles rocky, hard soil. Buyers report it cuts and pries in tough, rocky ground where they expected a trowel this light to give up.
- A genuine backpacking must-have. Owners describe it living permanently in the pack and coming out on every trip — the small thing they would not leave home without.
- Cheaper than the outfitter shelf. Several note it costs less on Amazon than at the specialty backpacking stores, which makes the buy-once value easier still.
Worth knowing
It is still a thin, skeletonized blade, so when you really bear down in hard-packed or rocky ground the narrow handle can press into your palm — a few owners wrap a turn of tape (which doubles as trail repair tape) for comfort. Use the upside-down pry method rather than forcing the scoop, and it digs far easier than its size suggests. And keep its lane in mind: this is a superb cathole and light-digging tool, not a fire-pit shovel or an axe — for that you want a folding steel entrenching tool. Within its purpose it is close to perfect, which is exactly why it has been the default recommendation for years.
Who it is for
The Deuce is for the committed backpacker who counts ounces but refuses to carry junk — the person who wants the lightest trowel that still digs like it means it, comfortably, for the next ten years. It is the natural upgrade from a bargain trowel and the one most experienced hikers settle on. If you only need something cheap to start practicing Leave No Trace, the budget aluminum trowel will do. If your trips call for digging fire pits, trenching runoff around the tent, or cutting kindling, you need the heavier SOG entrenching tool instead.
Specs at a glance
Weight: 0.6 oz (#2) · Material: US 7075-T6 aerospace aluminum · Sizes: #1 (0.45 oz) / #2 / #3 (0.97 oz) · Trick: upside-down pry, up to 4× digging power · Warranty: lifetime · Best for: regular backpacking, LNT catholes
The Verdict
The TheTentLab Deuce is the trowel to buy if you backpack regularly: it weighs nothing, survives rocky ground, is comfortable and de-burred, and carries a lifetime warranty — the buy-once cathole tool experienced hikers name by heart. Just need something cheap to start? See the budget aluminum trowel. Need to dig fire pits and hard ground, not just catholes? Step up to the SOG entrenching tool.
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