A few weeks ago when I posted the review of the new Joby Gorillapod Magnetic, I had a few people express concerns about keeping the flexible, magnetic tripod in their camera bags – in close proximity to memory cards.
A couple of those questions came as comments on the review post, and a Joby rep responded in the comment thread with the following:
“As for the questions in the comments, as with all magnets, we don’t recommend prolong exposure. But there shouldn’t be a problem with the every day tossing of things into your bag.”
I thought that sounded like pretty good advice, as I had experienced no incidental issues with the magnets and memory cards. However, I thought that this issue might be deserving of a little further testing.
So, I stuck an SD card with photos on it between two magnetic feet of the Gorillopod Magnetic. I figured this was about the worst-case scenario for a memory card.
Then I left it alone for a couple of weeks to let the magnetic juices really sink into the SD card.
The results?
No problems whatsoever. The images remained on the memory card unharmed.
Now, I’m not offering any scientific proof that the Gorillapod Magnetic will or won’t do to your memory card. And, I think Joby’s previous advice is a pretty good rule to follow.
“. . . there shouldn’t be a problem with the every day tossing of things into your bag.”
I sure wouldn’t try this extreme test with files that haven’t been backed up. But casual use in reasonable proximity to memory cards doesn’t really concern me.
You can find the Gorillapod Magnetic at places like B&H Photo, Adorama and Amazon for about $25.
It’s not surprising that the magnets didn’t affect the memory card. The data on them is not stored magnetically, but electronically, so the most dangerous thing to them is actually static electricity. What you really have to worry about is your portable hard drive. Those still use magnetic storage, and may be susceptible to the magnets in the Gorillapod Magnetic.
Thank you for doing this test, though. Hopefully, it will ease people’s concerns.
@Jacob – Good points. Thanks for chiming in.