Ranger Beads

[Frothgar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEAQv3nsTu4

Check this out. i am definately making myself a set of these things.

Frothgar

[Willrett]

That's a pretty good idea. I would like to see it alittle more ME like to see how they look.

[Frothgar]

Heres a shot of my attempt at Ranger Beads. i only used 4 beads on the upper level because i ran out. they are cheep though, next time im at michaels il get on that.



also included is my knife, its sheath, and a dollar bill (for scale)

Frothgar

[Eric C]

also included is my knife, its sheath, and a dollar bill (for scale)

Frothgar

Mmm Hmm! You're just trying to show us who has the money!

[RikJohnson]

i always found these to be more trouble than they were worth.
Between trying to ensure that my steps were uniform and counting them and trying to remember which bead to move when, I found myself ignoring the surroundings and getting into trouble.

Plus i never walk in a straight line as hiking rules say "walk around instead of over" etc so the easiest and safest path may be thrice the crow-fly distance.

[ineffableone]

i always found these to be more trouble than they were worth.
Between trying to ensure that my steps were uniform and counting them and trying to remember which bead to move when, I found myself ignoring the surroundings and getting into trouble.

Plus i never walk in a straight line as hiking rules say "walk around instead of over" etc so the easiest and safest path may be thrice the crow-fly distance.

Yep never found much use for them myself. But then I also don't find much use for compass and maps much either.

I think the ranger bead tends to be most useful for those who are doing a lot of map navigation and orienteering. The pacing off tends to be used to know a good estimate of their distance that can then be transferred to locations on map etc.

Since I am not big on maps and compasses and doing all the work of trying to navigate by what a piece of paper tells me, the ranger beads sort of seemed a bit useless for my needs. Now for those who do like maps and navigation they could be useful I imagine.

[Elleth]

i always found these to be more trouble than they were worth.

My experience to - even with a map and compass.

I reckon they're useful to someone though.

[wulfgar]

I tried them once during a land nav course in the Army and pretty much gave up after the first 500m or so. Just my personal experience, some guys really liked them.

[Eledhwen]

They are pace count beads. AKA Ranger Beads. I have used them for...oh, thirty odd years.

Measure a 100 meter (or yard) distance across a bit of varied ground. Pace it off, counting every time the left (or right) foot hits the deck. This is your pace count. As you move along, move a bead for every 100 meters you pace off. Mine have small and large beads. The large ones are for 1000 meter marks. I can calculate how many klicks I have traveled simply by noting the bead positions. Very useful tool for a lot of things, not least of which is making maps for beachreps and other things.

Mine are paracord with plastic beads since they are commercial. I have made them out of leather thong and wooden beads though. You do want the fit of the beads on the cord to be rather snug so they don't move around. Leather works very well for that.

Eledhwen

[Rifter]

Interesting but it's just more kit for me to carry really

[Kortoso]

I'm familiar with those from military practice and they are useful. Things happen out the field, where you might lose track of your count.

However, it inspires me that different color "pony" beads could be issued when a Ranger shows that he has learned a required skill.

[Peter Remling]

I used to travel long distances with my family when I was a kid. My older brother and I were pretty close in age so we had a lot of sibling rivalry. In order to avoid the unimpending conflict, I'd look outside and count everything: sign post, the number of telephone poles. This became subconcious in later life to the point where once the District Secretary said " I wonder how many feet it was from the office we were in to her office", I looked up and said 103.

Five minutes later she came back and said it was exactly 103 and I had to explain how I knew such an insignificant fact.

For me concentrating on counting requires little conscous thought and I can run through something entirely different in my mind and still know what the count is when I'm finished. My thought to you when you're a passenger, is start counting telephone poles, do a count of the time between telephone poles and then check the speedometer, you'll soon be able to judge your speed without looking at the speedometer and I find your awareness of your surrounding will increase, You'll see more of nature.

[Eledhwen]

Yep. Once you get it down it becomes a second nature activity. I can keep the count regardless of what happens during the hump. It helps that I constantly measure distances by eye and pace as I walk; it helps with range determination while hunting through pretty much any kind of terrain.

Pace count beads weight nothing and are highly useful to me.

Eledhwen

[Beornmann]

Every time I tried using these in the field, my count got more messed up than usual, but then again, I was a typical LT.