The purpose of the Pace Counter beads is to provide a distance measurement when travelling by foot. The image shows one that I have made, on this design there are 4 beads in the top section of the lanyard and 9 on the bottom. You can modify the variation of the counter to suit your personal preferences.
To start of you need to measure how many steps it takes for you to walk 100m (or another known distance that’s suits your unit of distance), the average is 65 steps but this will differ from person to person.
Using the step counter beads, for each 100m (or step multiple) one of the beads in the lower section is moved down as shown in the first image, when you get to the 9th bead you have completed 900m, on the next 100m you can reset the lower section of beads upwards and pull down one of the top, hence each top bead pulled is equal to 1000m (1km) travel, this continues to 4900m then on the next 100m you have reached 5000m or 5km and then you fully reset all beads and start again.

The simple way to measure your steps is to mark out 100m and then walk the distant counting the steps, repeat to check.

One use for this method of measurement is for night navigation where visual distances aren’t always available, an example would be where you have a waypoint target or are trying to reach a navigational Handrail, for example if you know that a river that you intend to use as a handrail is 5km away and you pass this distance with no sign of the river then you have likely to be off course and on a wrong bearing.

Be aware that travelling at night, varied terrain, inclination, and in different weathers is likely to change the amount of steps per 100m, therefore it is wise to gain your step count for each variation and adapt your count accordingly when using the Beads.

Why use the counting beads? They are easy to carry, act as a backup for satnav or pedometers.

From a preparedness aspect, alternative uses for the beads could be counting water intake / rationing, also the wooden beads could be used for fishing floats and the paracord could be used as a shoelace, tourniquet, tieing a knife to a stick for hunting, etc.

Available Product

I have Some Pace Count Beads that I have made up and these are available inclusive of postage £3.50 UK & £6.50 rest of the world. If you would like to purchase one please leave a message with your email address and I will contact you with my PayPal details.