Looking at getting a fellow beekeeper a gift for the holidays. I am looking at hive tool holders and all of them are magnetic in some way. Is there a reason it’s magnetic? It seems like this would be more annoying than practical when inspecting a hive.
Hello and welcome to the Flow forum! 
The reason they are magnetic is so that you can put the holder inside a bee suit pocket, then adhere your hive tool to the outside of the pocket. This has three possible advantages:
- The hive tool doesn’t cut a hole through your bee suit on the inside of the pocket, letting bees in
- You don’t have to fish around in your pocket with possibly thick gloves on, trying to find the tool
- You don’t have to look at your pocket to get the tool back into it - you can continue focusing on what you are doing. It is then less tempting to just put the tool down in a random place, risking losing it!
I didn’t like the weight of the one I tried, but I can see the point of them 