I'm seriously considering the purchase of a Phantom 3 Professional.  More than "considering", really.  I fully intend to get one in a week or so.  But, I've got a nagging concern...  Because this post is so long (sorry), I've marked a big section with blue text.  If you don't want to be bothered with the "why" of all this, you can safely ignore the blue part.

I'm betting there is at least some crossover between the biohacking community and the drone piloting community, so I'm hoping someone here can speak to this with some first hand knowledge.  I've got a 3mm x 1mm N52 titanium nitride jacketed neodymium-iron-boron disc magnet implanted under the pad of each of the four fingers of my left hand (self-implanted, for the curious).  If you're someone who has never heard of this and is wondering why the heck someone would do this, I'll talk briefly about it below.  These are tiny but strong magnets.  Obviously, short of cutting them out (which I would not consider as I value them greatly), I've got no way to remove them while calibrating the compass of the P3.  So the question is, do I have a snowball's chance in you-know-where of managing to calibrate the compass?  Maybe hold the left hand at arm's length and only use my right hand during the calibration?  I can calibrate a cellphone compass this way without issues, but all my reading about the P3 makes me think that this compass may be more sensitive than a phone's.  I've got four passive RFID chips (aka glass tags) implanted as well (two in the left hand, one in the left forearm, and one in my left side just below the armpit), but they all operate at very different frequencies than the P3 does, so I don't imagine they will cause any issues.

As to the why of having implanted magnets...  Magnets vibrate in electromagnetic fields.  Not visibly, but they do.  Electricity flowing through wires/electronic components leaks an EM field around said objects.  Because the fingertips have so many nerve endings, the microscopic vibrations of the magnets are detectable to the implantee.  Different frequency values (Hz) have different "textures".  Amperage plays a role, too.  You'll see tons of different adjectives used by different people.  Sometimes textures, sometimes colors, sometimes favors.  It is essentially a sixth sense, and humans just haven't made words to describe the sensory input yet, so we substitute vaguely appropriate words.  Neuroplasticity allows the brain to begin to understand that this isn't really "touch" after a short while and the experience grows more nuanced and refined with time.  A person with magnet implants experiences a part of the world that someone without magnets can't.  Sure, you can use equipment to detect the EM, but with a magnet, you actually experience it.  It's impossible to describe properly to someone without magnets, so I apologize that what I'm saying here isn't really conveying what it is.  It's like trying to describe the color blue to a blind person.  I thought I understood before I had mine implanted, but I was wrong.

Because I imagine someone will ask these questions, I'll be pre-emptive and answer them:  I can safely handle hard drives, credit cards, cellphones, tablets, laptops, etc. without causing them any harm.  I can make a compass point at my fingers if I get them within an inch or so of the needle.  Small ferrous objects like paper clips will stick very loosely to my fingers.  Strong magnets stick quite readily to my fingers and loosely to the areas where the chips are (they contain a very tiny amount of iron).  And, yes, it hurts quite alot to implant them (tons of nerves that you cut through to get them in place; I actually had nightmares about it for a few weeks after; though most people use anesthetic while self-implanting, I did not).

Oh, and the RFID tags...  might as well answer a few questions about those, too.  All four are 2mm x 12mm cylinders encased in bioglass.  In my left hand, I have an xNT (NTAG216 - NFC chip; tiny amount of onboard storage and can interact with NFC devices, also serves as an electronic ID) and an xEM (EM4102; strictly an ID chip).  In my left forearm is a Destron Fearing LifeChip (those who keep livestock may be familiar with these chips; electronic ID as well as a thermistor to read out body temperature with an appropriate reader).  Since proper placement in humans had not been determined (at the time, likely less than 10 people in the world had them implanted, and no one knew what places in the body would work), this chip does not give reliable temperature readings (turns out the temperature in your arm varies wildly based on ambient temperature).  The one in my side is another Destron Fearing LifeChip, and it gives excellent readings.  I was the first to use this location and I suspect it will be the standard going forward (wish I could take credit for it, but Amal Graafstra was the one who suggested the location to me; look up chip implants on YouTube and you'll see him, whether it's in national news coverage or some off-the-wall "chips are the Mark of the Beast" video).

Yeah I think you'll be right. If you hold your left hand away you'll have almost 2 meters separation. Just monitor the mod values before take-off

I have a magnetized cover on my phone case and had that in my pocket when performing a calibration before. No obvious issues.

The other option is obviously just to get someone to do the calibration for you . You don't need to be performing it every flight and it seems wise no to.

so you can experience EM through a sense?

This sounds awesome, tell us more! How does that affect your daily life? What, how .. don't even know what to ask Examples please

Personally I would have someone else do your calibrations with you being at a distance from the operation. Why risk issues? By the book you are not supposed to have anything metal or phones on you during compass calibration to remove any chance of interference. JMHO

well I guess a pair of "Faraday Cage" gloves would sort this unusual request
try google they are like 15 bucks.

I appreciate the replies so far.  Thanks!  Unfortunately, Faraday cages don't block magnetic fields of this type, so the gloves, while initially sounding very promising, will not work for this application.  That did lead me to reading about permalloys, which can redirect magnetic fields, but don't seem at all practical to get in glove form.  I'm likely going to try using only my right hand and if that doesn't seem to be doing the trick, I'll have to have someone else do it.

A couple of examples of use of magnetic implants were requested, so here are a few.  I can get my fingers near a wire carrying current and "feel" the current in it.  I can definitely tell if an electrical line has current flowing through it.  That only works if there is something pulling current, though, so, for example, if I have my computer powered up, I can feel the current in the cord, but if it is off, I feel nothing.  The feeling is something like how a static electricity field feels, but more pronounced.  I can feel some components standing out against the background feeling under the keyboard of my laptop, to the point where I can trace the shape of the components themselves, with one component in particular feeling, well, hot (as in temperature, but without the temperature, if that makes any kind of sense).  Different devices can feel very different from one another, but they only emit an EMF when they're powered up.  The microwave we use at work to heat up lunch has a very gross feeling field.  I know it doesn't make sense when I say that, but trust me, it does feel that way.  I reminds me of the taste of vomit and the color red kind of rolled up with the buzzing of a bee, along with a sort of sickly sweetness.  Weird, right?  My hair clippers feel awesome to me; they just seem to exude strength somehow.  At first they felt alarmingly dangerous to me for some reason, but that passed with time and exposure.  And that's from a good 12 inches away from actually touching them.  Some things can be sensed from several feet away, some only from a few millimeters away, dependent on how much power they're using and how well shielded they are.  The area where all of the network equipment, telephone equipment, and breaker box is mounted in the back room of where I work can be sensed from five or six feet away, particularly in my pinkie finger for whatever reason, with some components being stronger against the background field.  Most devices have a tingly, fizzy, soft field around them that I've come to regard as pleasant.  Sometimes I can feel the cycling of the spark plugs in a vehicle I'm driving (at least, that's the theory of what some people feel while in a vehicle with an internal combustion engine), but that's only some vehicles.  Of course, I can feel the field around other magnets, too.  A neodymium magnet (aka rare earth magnet) has this infinite smoothness around it.  Like glass, but millions of times smoother, like nothing you've ever felt before.  I mean PERFECT smoothness, completely frictionless.  And because they physically attract my fingers, they have this sort of "hole in space" feel, like they're pulling everything in around them into some infinitely small point in their exact center.  Like a black hole, and likely because I make that connection, I associate the feeling with the color black.  The mind forms a mental image of all of these fields, like you can almost see them with your eyes, but that's just how the brain works, I guess.  Without consciously wanting to, I often find myself running my left hand along any object that might have a field, much in the way one naturally looks around or listens to sounds as a part of normal unconscious observation of the world.  My magnetic sense has very neatly incorporated itself with my other "natural" senses in filling out my personal observation and awareness of the world around me.  Honestly, if you're flying drones because you want to see the world from a new perspective, getting a magnet implant might be a thing you should think about.  Don't just go cutting yourself open, though, and popping any old magnet into your body.  You need the right sort of magnets that have a bioproof coating, they need to be put in the right place at the right depth below the skin, and caring for them correctly as they heal is essential.  Depending on where you live, there may be professionals (some body piercers or other body mod artists, for example) that can do it for you.  You'll pay a pretty penny for one done professionally.  It can be done at home, but it is essentially surgery, so that route isn't really for the faint of heart (or entirely sane).  Self implanting requires extensive research to be successful and reasonably safe (between the magnets and chips, I've read hundreds of pages of medical texts and studied myriad diagrams of blood vessels, nerves, tendons, etc., watched surgical training videos, suturing training videos, etc.).  But then again, you haven't really lived until you've cut yourself open with a #15 scalpel on one of the most sensitive areas of your body, inserted a magnet, then used genuine medical suture to stitch the wound shut, tying perfect surgeon's knots, all one-handed and without anesthetic.  It's a character building experience, let me tell you, and you get a sixth sense out of the deal.  Most people only get one.  My four (soon to be more; and the new ones are larger and stronger) are definitely an exception.

Wow, I wrote another wall of text.  I would still welcome any more input on this, but I'm going to refer people to Google if you want to know more about magnet implants themselves.

Aviin,   all of this sounds very interesting  and it may will be something that really excellent uses in the future for the Blind  or...... well,  who knows?  You are a trailblazer and a experimental scientist, like many of the people I have come across in this forum, with a very strong sense of curiosity about things and how they work or may work.   

ScottyT Posted at 2015-7-24 12:24
Yeah I think you'll be right. If you hold your left hand away you'll have almost 2 meters separation ...

Hi SottyT  are you referring to a Rokform case. I use one at it has a 10lb magnet in the case but I've been removing it before I fly my P3. Do you find it necessary to remove? I haven't tried it out of fear. Thanks