First time I retrieved something with one was when I was testing prototypes. Took a beav out of a 1216 and the trigger was gone. I raked around for it a while, nothing. Thought to myself, maybe I will come back with a fishing magn… hey wait, I have magnets right here. Somehow that trigger was flung over 6 feet away underwater. Even with the magnets it took a bit to find because I did not expect it be that far away. Since then I have used it to find several overboard items - most recently my pliers in muck so soft I watched them hit bottom and disappear under the goo. It is a nice bonus feature sometimes.