Question on badge etiquette

[21JLURDG]

Driver. I believe accomplishing trails is based on driver skill more than how the vehicle is modified (although that certainly helps).

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[3TV]

I filled up the place I want to put them on my Jeep, and didn't want any more that would make it look cluttered. So, I've got half a dozen sitting on the desk in front of me that haven't been installed. The two times I did the Rubicon with this Jeep I didn't even check in to the app. I probably should have got the Rubicon badge, that is a good one. Maybe this year.

I think the badge goes with the Jeep. It is a "Jeep Badge of Honor" after all, not a "Driver Badge of Honor".

 

[wibornz]

Slap them on a toolbox or cabinet when you sell the jeep. Earn new ones with the new jeep.

Sure sounds easy until you realize that it cost about $4,000 to go from Michigan to Moab and run the badge trails and come back home. That cost can go significantly up or down based on how you travel. Either way, it is not cheap and requires big investment in time and resources. I think the only badge trail that I have run that did not cost over a thousand dollars was Holly Oaks Redbird trails and Drummond Island. Drummond Island was close though.. Holly Oaks was about $120. Redbird and Drummond Island was about $400. The other 50+ badges with easily over a thousand. Mind you some share the cost like Moab because there are 8 eight in Moab. So per badge trail was cheaper, but that does not mean it was cheap to travel out there and back.

I should add up what it has cost me to run some of the badge trails, I hate to do that as I know that there are badge trails that I have run that were definitely NOT worth the effort to run. Yet if you have a goal to run them all, that means you might have to run and spend the money to do so.

With that said, fuck Peters Mill Run.

 

[wibornz]

I filled up the place I want to put them on my Jeep, and didn't want any more that would make it look cluttered. So, I've got half a dozen sitting on the desk in front of me that haven't been installed. The two times I did the Rubicon with this Jeep I didn't even check in to the app. I probably should have got the Rubicon badge, that is a good one. Maybe this year.

I think the badge goes with the Jeep. It is a "Jeep Badge of Honor" after all, not a "Driver Badge of Honor".

It gets to a point where in my case it is just completing a goal. After all nobody has ever said, you have only done 58 of the badge trails. I think that after about 20 or so, it becomes to much for someone looking at them to be overwhelmed. They do a quick glance and try to see if I have been in their state and that's about it. I do get asked about them often them.

Sometimes they are hard to read though..

 

[Punkn89]

I did not read all the posts up until this point, so I apologize if this has already been said.

I think it’s fine either way, although I would lean more to it being the drivers if I had a gun to my head.

As long as the person who bought the Jeep doesn’t brag about badges they didn’t earn. Maybe it is okay if they brag about how they bought the Jeep that accomplished those feats, but they can’t take credit. If the original driver who earned them wants to keep them or even plaster them on the new ride, I see no issue with that. I’ve seen much worse things that I believe shouldn’t be on a Jeep.

You can buy a Super Bowl ring/jersey, but that doesn’t mean you played. I doubt NFL fans would bash someone for wearing them.

I don’t know guys, it’s Friday, it’s snowing and I’m cookin chili.

 

[NWJeepr]

Alternative perspective: The badge and app check-in thing wasn't appealing to me. I've run a bunch of "badge" trails and my "badges" are the few photos and copious memories I took away, and I felt no need to prove or display those things to anyone else. Badges are just pieces of plastic.

I say as the owner of the Jeep you get to make the call. There is no formal etiquette other than actually doing the trail (i.e. don't say you've been, or sticker your Jeep with a bunch of badges if you've never been to those places, that would be kinda tacky!)

 

[Zandcwhite]

Alternative perspective: The badge and app check-in thing wasn't appealing to me. I've run a bunch of "badge" trails and my "badges" are the few photos and copious memories I took away, and I felt no need to prove or display those things to anyone else. Badges are just pieces of plastic.

I say as the owner of the Jeep you get to make the call. There is no formal etiquette other than actually doing the trail (i.e. don't say you've been, or sticker your Jeep with a bunch of badges if you've never been to those places, that would be kinda tacky!)

The badges are actually metal/aluminum... but I see that perspective. I just think it's amazing that they exist and are still free (I know @wibornz they are far from free). It's like every time I get a pup cup for the dogs from Starbucks. Any corporations still trying to give back even a little in this day and age get a nod from me (I know it's also a marketing strategy to drive sales). It's not for everyone, and it's not like every good trail could possibly include a badge or my Jeep wouldn't have enough surface area to even try to display them. We ran 26 BOH trails and hundreds of others in the last Jeep. I was running out of room just for the badge trails.

 

[Zandcwhite]

It gets to a point where in my case it is just completing a goal. After all nobody has ever said, you have only done 58 of the badge trails. I think that after about 20 or so, it becomes to much for someone looking at them to be overwhelmed. They do a quick glance and try to see if I have been in their state and that's about it. I do get asked about them often them.

Sometimes they are hard to read though..

It would be awesome if they included the date you ran it on the badge. Gutbuster came to mind when you were speaking of cost and posers. The pictures I saw of it after they fixed it look like a damn dirt road. I know you ran it back when it was a sketchy hill climb with a 6' vertical rock in the middle. Only badge trail I've had to winch on (unless you count after broken parts in older rigs on the dusy and rubicon). Also the closest I've ever come to rolling a rig, 99% sure it was on only the passenger rear tire at one point. At 2k+ miles from home I wasn't going to not send it even if it was a monsoon outside. After several failed attempts to crawl it I got a little throttle happy. Passenger rear dropped down into a hole and the drivers front was a good 5' off the ground. Not sure if it was the rear bumper tapping the ground or the quick reverse shift but we ended up on all 4. The wife was not having any more attempts and the winch line came out. The same badge on a stock rig could be actually earned, but ours were EARNED. At that point it was definitely the hardest trail on the app.

 

[jadmt]

I am more proud of these than all of my BOH badges....takes real dedication to garner these, not for the meek or mild..

 

[bthomp]

The purist answer is “both”. It is a representation that the owner and that vehicle completed the challenge.

The non-purist answer is “who the hell cares”?

A couple random other thoughts that I feel like sharing for no other reason than I've read the last 5 pages.... lol

I’m a big fan of a good analogy, and as much as I’ve wanted to agree with both analogies on this thread, as they are good - neither one of them quite hit the mark.

• Fighter plane v. Pilot– doesn’t work as a fighter plane is not customized, they’re uniform. In that example it is 100% a representation of the pilot as all comparison pilots would have been flying a standard military aircraft. That doesn’t work to the Jeep analogy of endless customizations available that affect the outcome.
• Photographer v. Camera– doesn’t work as the camera is a passive tool whereas the Jeep is an active participant. A camera captures what the photographer sees and frames, not influencing the outcome beyond its technical specifications. A Jeep on the other hand, its performance, traction, suspension, power, and reliability – directly determine whether the trail is completed. It is a partner in the achievement.

Regarding the chatter on the relevance of irrelevance or the trails that are BOH trails and why did Jeep pick the trails they did? No idea, however, ultimately the BOH program is simply a customer loyalty program and a way that Jeep helps support and build the brand – as such it would have been developed by a marketing team. I say this not to disparage it, however to highlight that the program itself is nothing - it is the people who respect the program that makes it valuable and an accomplishment.

In the end -

Some care, and they should do their part to preserve the integrity of the achievement.

Some don’t care or don't respect the achievement and are fine to cheat – I disagree, but it’s not worth giving that a second thought to, it's not about them anyway.

 

[keeperman13]

Hello all,

I am curious to see what everyone thinks about the follow issue I have. I visited and completed several trails between my two JK jeeps. I order the badges after completing the trails but it was some time before they came in. Then as it always happens, life got busy and I ended up selling my last jeep. Fast forward to now and I have another jeep, do you think the badges belong to the driver who hit the trail or on the jeep that went on the trail. Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this matter.

I think the badges are yours. You earned them, but it makes sense to me they would not go on a new Jeep. They retire with your time with the Jeep.

But, if you put them on the new Jeep I would not hold it against you. I think it is very individual. Heck, even if you decided to leave them on the old Jeep when sold, even that makes some sense. Crazy, but I get it.

 

[roaniecowpony]

There was a book written long ago, entitled "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and it's all small stuff". I think that applies here.

Before I was able to ride a bicycle, my father would ask me to open his beer bottles with a large chrome plated cast iron "church key" that had the brewery name cast into it. When he passed, many years later, my mother asked me to start taking things I wanted from the house. I chose that "church key" opener. I know it's a worthless trinket to the rest of the world, but it's a priceless treasure to me.

Do what makes you feel good.

 

[The Fixer]

It's an interesting topic for sure. If a person buy a car with a stack of 10-second time slips, and the best they can do with it is a 13.5 at the track, it's not a 10-second car any more. The previous owner was a better driver, end of story.

Anyway, my .02 is that the badges should stay with the driver if you sell the vehicle, as you earned them. Let the next owner/driver earn those badges and create their own memories.

 

[Zandcwhite]

It's an interesting topic for sure. If a person buy a car with a stack of 10-second time slips, and the best they can do with it is a 13.5 at the track, it's not a 10-second car any more. The previous owner was a better driver, end of story.

Anyway, my .02 is that the badges should stay with the driver if you sell the vehicle, as you earned them. Let the next owner/driver earn those badges and create their own memories.

If a good driver can run your car in the 10 second range, it's a 10 second car with a bad driver. With that analogy there's be no way to measure or compare anything. The JLUR is the wrost off road vehicle available if you put a 4 year old behind the wheel. The 0-60 time doesn't exist if you put someone who can't drive behind the wheel. Not that the machine is irrelevant, but a stock rubicon could do every trail in the program. A few may require winching, stacking rocks, etc but you could complete the trail. The vehicle has the capability, the question is does the driver. Driver error doesn't make the vehicle at fault. I guess that was a long winded way of agreeing with your premise, but not the analogy itself?

 

[wibornz]

Photographer v. Camera– doesn’t work as the camera is a passive tool whereas the Jeep is an active participant. A camera captures what the photographer sees and frames, not influencing the outcome beyond its technical specifications. A Jeep on the other hand, its performance, traction, suspension, power, and reliability – directly determine whether the trail is completed. It is a partner in the achievement.

I disagree with you on this. A camera is customizable. There are different lens, different filters, there are an array of different setting. If you said that if the camera was shot in auto mode. maybe......

A photographer also has a wide range of tools at their disposal to enhance or drastic change a photo. The camera gives the photographer the tool. Just like the Jeep is the tool. It is up to the photographers and drivers to pick the right conditions to maximize the outcome.

Where the photographer comes into play is the ability to see the potential of a picture and that is what separates one from the other. The camera like a Jeep is an active part and a base camera can be heavily modified.

A Nikon z8. nice camera.

Same camera

but like a Jeep on 40s. Vastly different capabilities.

Then you get into software to edit and enhance a photo for different results.
Base photo Ho hum photo. But boy does it have potential.

In the end a camera and a Jeep both can be modded, and it is up to the driver to exploit the potential of both platforms.

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