I am still enthralled whenever I see a high-power magnet, like when I was a little child burning bugs with a magnifying glass...
I wonder if a magnet has any place in a kit. I think yes. I have been mulling it over for years, yet the only situation I can come up with yet is of course the keys down the grated hole. But when is that going to happen. Probably never.
Then I saw a guy drop his keys into a deep grate-covered hole. He was able to pull the grate off and climb down into the slime and muck to retrieve them. It was about a seven foot deep pit! He was filthy when he got out. I instantly thought "That guy is sure persistent, but he would be clean as MacGuyver if he had used a magnet and string."
Now I am more conscience of when I have to hold my keychain more carefully (as my photon light is on it besides my keys), and it is actually quite often. It amazes me how often I am standing over non-solid ground. The last time was at night I was using my photon to look out into the water at frogs. By the way, the red photon light was not bright enough to see any of them. But, point being, I was standing on a tiny wooden bridge my keys could have easily bounced off and into the water if I had dropped them. Plorp!
Grade N45 magnets are the most powerful.
Look at the round ones with a hole in the center. Nifty!
I think I might get the 19 lb pull force and the 60 lb pull force. What do ya'all think?

Just be careful not to wipe off the info in magnetic strips on credit cards, electronic/magnetic keys, and such.


(back to lurking...)

Also keep the magnet away from a compass. With a magnet that strong you could actually change the polarity on the compass needle.

Those magnets are great. Get some of the smaller ones too. With 19 lbs pull force let alone 60 lbs you will have a hard time if your keys happen to fall through an iron grate. You will probably not be able to get the magnet through the grate.
I have a 12 lbs magnet (without hole)for EDC and its almost impossible to pull it from a steel surface if it happens to stick to it. The 60 lbs magnet may actually pull your pack to nearby steel objects or vice versa over an amazing distance. When I got mine I was really surprised how powerful they are.

I use a magnet to magnitize the sewing needles I put in my PSK. Before I store them I place them on a piece of paper floating in a bowl of water. I then use a red marker to indicate which end of the needle points north. I got the idea from reading how POW's in Germany would make escape compasses by placing thin pieces of metal on the magnets at the back of camp PA speakers.

I EDC a real compass and have a button compass back-up in my PSK, the magnitized needles are just my "back-up to the back-up"!

Mike

A (somewhat) more compass friendly version developed for marine use:
http://www.nauticalia.com/uk-info/products_in_action/recovery_magnet/3101.html

not disputing the credit card theory--------but on an episode of mythbusters they showed that its near impossible to remove info stored on a typical card with your "average magnet"

-just a thought?

How would you store the 60 pound test magnet in anything? I mean I think it would be hard to walk around town when you are magneticly drawn to every metal object....just my 2cents

What was the exposure time they used? I haven't used it on a credit card but it will work on floppy disks. Those thin magnets like you used to get from fast food places will do the job on floppy disks if you leave them overnight.

I'm also afraid of wiping my usb drives by accident - but they are cool!