Having heard about Garmin Pay for the new Vivoactive 3, I was hoping Garmin had hidden an NFC chip in the Fenix line for an update. It sounds like they didn't. This really frustrates me. 4 months after debuting their "flagship" devices with the Fenix 5 series, they bring out Garmin Pay on a device that's half the price? This makes no sense. They had to know this was in development during the creation of the Fenix 5 and could have added NFC just as a future-proof. I would have understood debuting Garmin Pay with the Fenix 6 but this feels ridiculous. There's no reason a $300 Vivoactive should have features my $700 Fenix 5X doesn't have. Am I alone in feeling ripped off by this move?
The speculation is that there will be a Plus model of the 5/5s/5x that will add nfc and likely fix the connectivity issues of the 5/5s. There was a leak of these model names as well as a few other devices on a samsung smart things website. There was discussion of this in the ANT+ thread, but the links to that info have been removed/deleted so now all we have is the speculation.
bottom line, samsung likely leaked Garmin's future plans. If you are inside your return window you may have a device to exchange for soon.
I don't feel ripped off. Technology moves fast. Sure, they probably knew about development of NFC while they were working on the Fenix 5, but probably too far down the development cycle to include it. Things moves so fast that the would not want to delay releasing Garmin Pay just to ensure it's release aligns with their "flagship" device. A watch is almost out of date as soon as it is released. I'm just pleased about the other metrics which are being back ported to the fenix 5.
Not ripped off at all. If they would have said that F5 supports payments in the future and not deliver on that promise it would be a different thing. Garmin pay was not on the list of features when I chose to buy the unit. It is always going to be the situation. Would I be happy if they had hidden the HW needed, yes definitely. But we are already getting features like the stress score that were not initially promised. (If they deliver it)
I think most people are somewhat concerned that a Plus model will include not only NFC for payments, but also fix something that clearly isn't right with the original 5/5s in connectivity. Personally I could care less about garmin pay, but I really would have loved my 5 to have had a more solid connection to the various sensors I own.
It would also be nice if Garmin could stop breaking features as they move through these software versions. It appears that our current HRV Stress logging is totally broken on 5.40 which may be an indication that they are getting things ready in the back end for 24hr stress, but i use HRV stress every morning and it not logging to Connect at the moment is a bit of a pain.
Garmin adding a "plus" model for Garmin Pay isn't a big deal to me and not a rip off, making you upgrade to the "plus" to get basic sensor connectivity working is a bit of a problem.
Of course Garmin releasing a Plus version and NOT fixing connectivity problems would probably be even worse.
For cliear: Its a sport watch, not smart watch, stupid things like NFC or payments never will be on this kind of watch.
Having nfc payments on a sport watch is not a necessity but its a nice addition. Not having to carry money or your credit card (or your phone) in order to buy a bottle of water after a run is a plus.
I agree. When I bought my Fenix 3, the smart watch features had nothing at all to do with my decision, but I ended up using them all the time and I suspect the same would have been true if NFC had been on the 5 series.
For cliear: Its a sport watch, not smart watch, stupid things like NFC or payments never will be on this kind of watch.
Dead wrong on this one. Garmin has been marketing the Fenix as a very versatile watch in addition to being a sports product. I mean, have you see the Fenix 3 commercial a few years back where the guy wears his watch outdoors and at a cocktail party? Regardless of that marketing strategy, the Fenix is my every day watch meaning that I workout with it, I go rappelling with it and I go grocery shopping and out to restaurants with it. It would not be stupid to have NFC or payment capabilities on it.
Having heard about Garmin Pay for the new Vivoactive 3, I was hoping Garmin had hidden an NFC chip in the Fenix line for an update. It sounds like they didn't. This really frustrates me. 4 months after debuting their "flagship" devices with the Fenix 5 series, they bring out Garmin Pay on a device that's half the price? This makes no sense. They had to know this was in development during the creation of the Fenix 5 and could have added NFC just as a future-proof. I would have understood debuting Garmin Pay with the Fenix 6 but this feels ridiculous. There's no reason a $300 Vivoactive should have features my $700 Fenix 5X doesn't have. Am I alone in feeling ripped off by this move?
Whilst it does not have Garmin Pay and NFC, the Fenix 5 series has a load of features the Vivoactive 3 does not have (The Vivoactive 3 is a solid watch for the right person)
Power meter support
Running dynamics
Training load and status
80 plus activity profiles
mapping and navigation
This is just some of the differences, if people are feeling cheated the Fenix 5 does not have Garmin Pay and feel the Vivoactive is cheating them and cant see the differences then they have bought a watch that is to big for them in terms of features with the Fenix 5
