I know what the M5 (or micro5) is, but I don't really know the workings of the bat. I was told by my local magic dealer that I could do many of the same effects as the M5 (which is what I want to buy) with the bat (which I haven't heard terribly great things about) Anyone who owns one or both of these please help me choose. (I like the video on ellusionist.com of M5 which involves things moving in people's hands, such as matches, nails, rings, etc)

DON'T buy an M5!!!!!

Go here:http://www.wondermagnets.com/cgi-bin/edatcat/WMSstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=0005

Thank me later,
James

I will quote from the site posted above:

One of these will noticably distort a computer monitor from over 30" away. Keep these well away from electronics, and magnetic storage medium.

Then how do you carry mobile phones, watches and credit cards on you? I am not a fat person or anything. Thanks for any help.

What does this have to do with anything? I'm confused. The 15 dollar price tag DOES seem a bit better than the near hundred for an M5. I'll have to look into these. It says that they have very sharp corners. Is it possible to sand these down at all? I don't want it poking my under my sleeve or anything. Also, how thin are these, because I don't want a giant block sticking out of my sleeve, I need something very discreet.

You gotta be careful with that....but it looks like a nice magnet.

Niva, it would ruin your credit cards and other items if you scanned with it at a distance of about 6"

Leave the bat alone!

Get a roll of flesh colored wrapping bandage at your local drug store and your all set. It's made of a cloth that sort of sticks! (no worry of sharp corners!)
Gerard

Cool, thanx everyone!

The M5 is about the same size. Sanding?
A magnet? I don't think so. There is a product called friendly plastic that melts in
hot water, you could just cover it with that.

I used to love magnets. After ruining 3 credit cards with them, and seriously messing up the color on my t.v. which degaussing did not help, I stopped loving them. I think Archangel's key bend, Mindbender spoon bend and a few coin bending routines are all you need in the PK area, but that's just me. Oh ok, throw in Banacheks p.k. pen too [his is the best bar none]
Cheers,
James
ps
That magnetic viewing film is REALLY fun though, and I think that magnetic fluid is a really good effect looking for a routine

Jordini what I meant was, with a magnetic field that large you cannot carry any electronics or cards on your person.

What do magnets do to cell phones? So far I haven't had any issues with magnets near my cell phone, but I don't have anything this powerful.

Jordini:

Although magnetic fields will not damage electronics components like transistors, resistors, diodes, capacitor & inductors. You DO NOT want any magnet, electro-magnet, or magnetic fields near your cell phone because magnetic fields will damage the IC (Integrated Circuits) in your cell phone.

The magnetic field of a magnet in motion creates an electrical current and this will damage all IC (Integrated Circuits), Volatile and Non-Volatile (Memory), EPROMs (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), SIMMS (Single Inline Memory Modules), Flash Memory and rotating Magnetic Discs inside of your cell phone.

If your IC components are magnetically shielded this will not happen but all consumer electronic devices are not magnetically shielded. To my knowledge, only military electronic devices are magnetically shielded.

Gerard

Considering that this thread was over a year old, Gerard, it's probably a bit too late to advise Jordini, I'm sure he's already bought one.
Anyway, lots and lots of tests have been done on flash memory, and none have been sucseptible to magnetic influence. All the data survived, in every test. Flash cards are very, very resilient. Most of them even survive a single hammer blow ! The M5 is powerful, but it's not that powerful. I've gone around the better part of the day with one strapped on my knee, just to see, and all my credit cards survived - at a distance of about 18", as did my cellphone and everything else. I did make the mistake of walking a little too close to the TV, but a degauss fixed it in my case. Sometimes it takes several degaussings to correct that, but it is correctable.
Not to be argumentative, but I think you're being unnecessarily alarmist.
Unless somebody does something really stupid like put an M5 in the back pocket along with their wallet (bye-bye, credit cards !) your devices are pretty much safe.
Additionally, for a magnet to induce an electrical charge, it requires a coil of wire to induce it in, and the motion of the magnet has to be in parallel to the inductor, as well as (as far as I know) inside the inductor, at least, for max effect.

BTW, which cell phones use a micro drive ? I've never heard of one. They don't store that much data to require a micro drive, usually, unless you've got some new fangled PDA/phone from Japan.. they get all the good ones !!

Somebody mentioned sanding the corners of the magnet, don't ever do that !! They are usually lightly coated with nickel, if you sand the nickel off, the magnet will chip, as they are typically very soft, ceramic and neodymium alike. The nickel is there to provide protection, and besides, the corners aren't [i]that [i/i] sharp.
The plastic spray or dip is a good idea.

I myself found a void inbetween the Bat and the M5, I think the Bat is a little too weak for most things, and the M5 a tad too bulky and heavy, so I bought a magnet that's inbetween. I'm still developing my own original "packaging" for it, something similar yet different from the Bat, that would enable easy attachment to most surfaces or clothing.

It's funny, on Mythbusters, they tried really really hard to erase credit cards with magnets and had no luck.

Also, I still haven't gotten a magnet, but this thread reminded me I wanted one! Thanx.

Hi Mystician:

You're right. I didn't even notice the date. It looks like I'm a dollar short and a day late...

I’m not trying to be argumentative either but I know that the military shielded their electronic devices in the past. Maybe they do not have to do that anymore. I don’t know.

I did not intend to say that cell phones use a micro drives. I was trying to create a list of devices and forgot to edit the post.

As far as I know, a magnet can induce an electrical charge with just a straight wire. That was how electricity was discovered. Maybe I’m wrong but take a look at this:

Michael Faraday, an English inventor and scientist, discovered electricity one day by experimenting with magnets. He moved a big, powerful one near a wire that was hooked to a light bulb and the light bulb lit up. Each time he moved the magnet while it was close to the wire, the light bulb glimmered. Mike Faraday had discovered the "Faraday Effect": If you move a magnet near a wire, electricity will be created in the wire. And, if you move the WIRE near a magnet, same thing: electricity will be created in the wire! The process of moving a magnet to create electricity was called induction. This became Faraday's Law of Induction of Electricity.

Yes, we use coils of wires now to increase the effect but I believe that the basic principle, of electron flow, can be accomplished with either a straight wire or a circuit. All you need to create a current is either a wire, or a circuit for electronics to flow. The magnet has to be in motion.

I hope that I’m not being an alarmist but several people in other M5 threads had mentioned that their watches, hard drives, credit cards, etc. were either destroyed or erased by the M5 magnet. I don’t know that much about electronics but you seem to know a lot more about it than I do. I could be wrong but I would still be careful with large powerful magnets like the M5 around ICs and other types of magnetic storage.

Gerard

The M5 is stronger than the bat.

Tbaer:

You are correct. As far as strength goes, the Bat is in between the Raven and the M5 (Micro 5). The Raven is the weakest, then the Bat, and last the Micro 5 (M5) which is the strongest of the three. The Raven is basically a M******c P**l while the Micro 5 or M5 is a PK (Psychokinesis) gimmick.

I'm not really sure what the Bat is used for. I'm assuming that it is a M******c P**l just like the Raven but stronger.

Gerard

No on mythbusters they tried ell skin not magnets

They tested the myth that eel skin wallets can erase credit cards (which they in fact can't).

HOWEVER they then went on to see just what it takes to erase a credit card. They had a whole pile of cards which they ran over magnets, and many of them still read after repeated swipes over the magnet (which they were quite suprised about).

I wear my M5 to most close-up gigs. Love it, the only thing is I forget I have it on my wrist and I end up stuck to the car door on my way home after the show. LOL, I've done that soooooo many times.

I've found myself suddenly "stuck" to things a lot !

Gerard, technically you're right about the induction with a straight wire, but it'd be extremely weak. Almost neglible.

The Bat isn't a p***. It's more like a mini M5 with it's own "strap" system, so to speak, which is both clever and simple.

I'm not terribly surprised by Mythbuster's findings (that's a cool show, isn't it ?), but I suspect repeated exposure would do the credit cards in.

Jordini, how powerful of an effect do you need ?
If you want to be able to move things on a table, inside a glass, or make things dance or stand up suddenly, you'll probably need the power of an M5 "class" magnet.
To make rings cling to each other or influence a pendulum, you'd probably be okay with a Bat.
But honestly, if you buy the magnet yourself and use your own wriststrap or ace bandage, you save a lot of dough. OTOH, if you buy a PK kit, you get the booklet, shim material, (so-so)wriststrap, some shell coins, etc.
If you buy your own, I've found the best prices here at the link below, and that's taking into account all the competition: amazingmagnets.com, wondermagnets.com, and kjmagnetics.com. I have bought from them and they deliver on all counts.
One Caveat: Their "M5" sized magnet is only grade N35, whereas all the others are N40. I don't know why. I probably wouldn't go below N38 though. It's a quality/magnetic-strength thing. Then again, they're half the price of the others.
CMS Magnetics:
https://www.magnet4sale.com/xcart4/home.php