COMPARING DIFFERENT BRANDS OF COMBAT ROSARIES
Recently we have been getting more customers who want to know, what is the difference between the Rugged Rosaries WWI Battle Beads combat rosary and the combat rosary sold by Roman Catholic Gear? or McVann? or "XYZ" company? Some of these companies are selling copycat imports from China which are really awful quality.
Roman Catholic Gear, in particular, sells a decent rosary, but we do feel our products and services to our customers are superior. Instead of describing another company's product, we will show you the advantages of a Rugged Rosary product. These differences are in 3 areas: Product, Customer Care, and Value. At the end of this article, we have some comparison photos so you can judge for yourself. We also have another article where you can read about how to avoid a poor-quality copycat product here:
Rugged Rosaries vs. Mass-Produced Copies
PRODUCT
Rugged Rosaries first introduced the WWI Battle Beads combat rosaries in late 2012/early 2013. The very first rosary we ever sold was called the Soldiers Combat Rosary. These first rosaries were made of brass and were brass in color, just like the vintage 1916 rosaries that are found in antique stores today. The entire collection was inspired by our owner's antique WWI rosary collection.
Over the years we have improved the collection:
2012 - Produced the first WWI Battle Beads Combat Rosaries
2014 - re-engineered the connector loops, started offering customizations with choice of devotional medals
2014 - introduced new colors (silver and gunmetal) and new variations (St. Michael Chaplet combat rosary, St. Benedict combat rosary)
2015 - greatly expanded the choice to customize with even more devotional medals
2016 - introduced more new varieties including a Floral combat rosary, and 15 decade combat rosary.
2017 - due to the emergence of copycat products, we trademarked the name, "WWI Battle Beads" combat rosary
2017 - re-engineered and improved the chains to have slightly larger Our Father beads at the request of many customers
2018 - Introduced the WWI Battle Beads Seven Sorrows combat rosary
2020 - despite the pandemic, we continued to produce without a beat
2020 - Knights of Columbus reached out to us to make an officially licensed WWI Battle Beads KofC combat rosary.
2021 - donated hundreds of WWI Battle Beads combat rosaries for the Knights of Columbus Warriors to Lourdes Pilgrimage
2021 - Knights of Columbus introduced the WWI Battle Beads combat rosaries at their national convention
2021 - donated hundreds of WWI Battle Beads combat rosaries to "Power In My Hand" film movie-goers.
2021 - introduced the customizable WWI Battle Beads One-Decade combat rosary
2022 - We continue to donate the hundreds of WWI Battle Beads KofC combat rosaries to the Warriors to Lourdes Pilgrimage for troops every year!
2024 - Introduced the Special Christmas Edition WWI Battle Beads Combat Rosary
Highlights of the WWI Battle Beads that we offer today:
Premium Crucifixes.
Rugged Rosaries only uses premium Italian imported Pardon and Three-Nail Crucifixes. We can customize your rosary with over 40 different crucifixes which we have in stock.
Premium Devotional Medals.
The devotional medals we use are always the best we can find. We look for Italian workmanship, high detail and readability, and strong connector loops.
Superior Chains.
The chains on the WWI Battle Beads combat rosaries are brass with different color finishes. The holes in each bead are made as small as possible to have less "jingle" noise.
We choose brass because that is exactly the same metal used in the original WWI 1916 rosaries.
Engineering and design.
The Our Father beads are slightly larger to aid your meditative prayer. The end loops are engineered into the chain and we use double looped split-ring connectors.
Large Variety and Customizations Available.
We handmake the WWI Battle Beads rosaries every day in our own workshop studio in Houston. Other companies have sourced out their products. Because we make these ourselves, we can fully customize with a large selection of devotional medals and over 40 different crucifixes to choose from. We also have over 12 styles, including a Seven Sorrows rosary, a St. Michael Chaplet, Divine Mercy Chaplet, and a Floral version, etc.
CUSTOMER CARE
We offer excellent customer care to customers. It is built into our Guiding Principles. Many companies, including RCG, have outsourced customer care to large corporate fulfillment companies. We have not gone this route because we want to provide PERSONAL care to every customer with any question or issue they have. Our customers will often mention the great customer service they have received from Rugged Rosaries when they leave reviews on our site, on Facebook, on Google, and on the Better Business Bureau website. We have the "Trusted Store" designation on Google with a 5-star rating, and an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Check the rating for other companies before you purchase! There are over 4000 reviews for the WWI Battle Beads collection with a rating of 4.97/5 stars. Some other companies do not even get or display review ratings on their shop or on Google.
We also ship very fast, often within hours of receiving an order. Other companies often will continue to take orders for products when they are actually out-of-stock, making the customer wait weeks for their order. Rugged Rosaries does not do that.
Competitor Exchange Policy
We offer a competitor exchange for customers. Nobody else offers this! If you purchase any rosary that is similar to our original WWI Battle Beads combat rosaries or even to our original Paracord Rosaries, you can send it to us, and we will send you an authentic Rugged Rosaries product in exchange. You can read all about our exchange policy here:
Competitor and Copycat Exchanges
VALUE
Because of the premium quality of the WWI Battle Beads combat rosaries, the fast shipping, the excellent customer care, and the ability to customize your rosary, you are getting the BEST VALUE from Rugged Rosaries. In addition, we offer free shipping on orders of $60 or more and your order will come with prayer cards, a Rosary "cheat sheet", and a free item. Sometimes the free item is a bracelet, a scapular, or a rosary ring. We always want to give a little extra to the customer.
You be the judge! If you ever have any questions about our products or services, just reach out to us at support@ruggedrosaries.com.
Below are some comparison photos. All the photos are of Rugged Rosaries' WWI Battle Beads combat rosary as compared to an RCG combat rosary which was sent to us by a customer for exchange under our competitor exchange program.