Roughly 5 years ago I had my xM1 installed. Everything worked fine up until the last week, when I went to use it but couldn’t get a read. I’m no stranger to RFID/NFC so ran the usual battery of tests with the RDV4 but had no luck getting anything out of it.
I went to my GP to get it removed which went fine and it all came out in one piece easy enough. I put it under the scope and could see a hairline crack, snapped a few pics then rotated it which made the bottom section fall out.
Now, the chip would have had a rough life with scuba diving, lot’s of flying (unpressurised up to 14k, skydiving etc), gym, chopping wood, shooting etc. Also it was implanted on my right hand blade (primary hand) so would’ve had lot’s of flexing and bumps as well.
Given that, it worked up until the last time I used it, maybe 6 months ago or so. The only thing I’ve done since then which I personally think might have caused the failure is I had a hand tattoo which went right over the chip. This was the first time since getting the tattoo that I’ve tried to take a read so it kind of fits.
Naturally I also can’t say for sure when it happened, or even if it was damaged during removal but I think that’s unlikely given it had recently stopped working and the GP used plastic forceps and didn’t make the incision directly over the implant.
It looks like the epoxy did it’s job and there looks like fairly minimal fluid transfer. Anyway thought you would like to know as I saw the only other physical chip failure mentioned on here was also an xM1 and from the other pic roughly failure in the same area.
Let me know if you want the chip back for some research. My other chips are both fine (NeXT and xSIID).
Wow thanks for the complete breakdown and clear photos! We don’t need it back, the photos are good enough. My top concerns would be blade installation and tattooing overtop. Both present higher than normal risk, especially since the blade or “knife edge” of the hand has some very unique tissue layering, with almost exclusively high density tissue. This makes proper depth control more difficult in this area during installation and transmits forces more efficiently, while limiting the amount of “cushion” typically provided by lower density tissue in other more conventional installation locations.
For example, if the glass was not at sufficient depth, and the tattoo needles were digging in a bit deeper than normal, it is possible the glass got “knicked” by the tattooing process and cracked. Impossible to really know for sure though.
We’d be happy to offer a 50% discount on an xMagic to replace it if you’d like, as part of a warranty coverage option. I’d highly recommend it go into a more typical location though
No worries, thanks, I’ll grab an xMagic and put it in a better location this time.
I’m highly inclined to think it was the tattoo needle pounding it. I forgot to mention it to the artist so it wasn’t rolled out of the way while he was working on that area. Would be an interesting experiment anyway to see how they handle a tattoo gun.
So I guess PSA, take care if you’re tatooing over your implants
There have been some other “experiments” in this area.. I think 2 other tattoo guns run overtop of x-series implants, but these were installed in other locations and even if it were the same location, every installation / body / circumstance is basically unique. I think “proper” testing would start with a series of tattoo guns, needles, and controlled testing with tissue analogues to check for depth of penetration per tissue type etc.
Easier to simply say “Tattooing overtop of an implant is not recommended”.
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Thanks @amal. Also for anyone reading else reading this thread, imo there’s next to no chance fluid is ever going to contact the actual chip. I disassembled it under a scope and it’s hardcore embedded in the epoxy. It took me half an hour and a scalpel to even see it.
guessing the actual failure chip wise would have been me pounding it with the proxmark trying to get a read with the ant/wiring shorted.
Yeah… It’s posts like this that make me really want to get the Spark 2 buried in my right knife edge out. Unfortunately none of the hand surgeons said they’d do it unless it was “broken and or causing discomfort”.
Honestly surprised the xg3v1 in my other knife edge made it 5+ years to remove without breaking. I abused that sucker. Never again on the knife edge for me…
