Garmin Pay a flick of the wrist for those on run

FOR most fitness junkies out there, nothing is more irritating than carrying cash on the run.

Serious runners or athletes are usually armed with a Garmin and many sporty types would not wear anything else.

So it was with pure delight that I heard the newest form of payment had arrived – Garmin Pay – following behind other flick-of-wrist payments including Fitbit Pay and Apple Pay.

While these fancy smartwatches are constantly being updated, being able to pay with a Garmin is a huge win for sports-mad types. It means you can now do away with having to carry another device, cash or wallet and still pay while out and about.

ANZ customers can load their credit and debit cards on to the Garmin Vivoactive 3 device and make purchases anywhere they go while being completely empty-handed ... apart from their wrist candy.

While I’ll always run with a Garmin and am constantly eyeing off the next fancy one to hit the market, my own Forerunner 235 unfortunately doesn’t have the Garmin Pay capability.

ANZ is the third of the big banks – alongside CBA and NAB – to jump on-board Garmin Pay and it’s sure to result in many other lenders signing up to this latest form of technology.

It’s easy to use, simply upload your card deals on to the device and enter a four-digit PIN to ensure it’s secure each time you go to use it and you are off and running.

But there is one feature that is slightly clunky, each time you use it you have to hold the watch’s one button on the side and up pops the navigation menu.

It’s here when you need to tap the card icon and you’re in business. Just hold your wrist over the contactless payment terminal and ping, a transaction can be made. The four-digit PIN is only required once a day and needs to be re-entered each time you take the smartwatch off your wrist for protection from potential fraudsters.

Some other smartwatches, including the Fitbit Ionic, don’t require you to go into the payment functionality of the phone each time you use it to pay.

This is one feature Garmin could have done better.

The watch itself is great, the digital features are slick but I was a bit disappointed with the wristband; it’s thin and looks cheap, not what I expected for a watch that retails at $449.

I’m sure Garmin addicts will see more devices with the Garmin Pay rolled out in 2018, so it’s probably a case of wait and see if you want the functionality on a fancier watch than this one.

*ANZ provided the Garmin device for trial. ON THE GO: ANZ Garmin Pay.