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>when you're actually scanning it can be a bear to get it just right //

So it uses some sort of direct contact rather than NFC? [Perhaps to make it less easy to clone?]

The direct contact for rides and purchases is there to prevent accidental activation -- you have thousands of people walking around with these bands in close proximity. In contrast, when pulling up to the gate at one of hotels, you just wave your wrist a foot away from the sensor out of your car window and it turns green and opens the gate -- no awkward stretching required.

I can't definitively say that you MUST touch but you have to get very close, if not always touching. It also has to be oriented correctly (mouse ears up), there's not too much wiggle room on any of the readers (turnstile, room, handheld). I did assume it'd be a simple swipe but it's more, touch and hold for a second. Sometimes it's almost instantaneous, sometimes I had to take it off to get it to work right.

I don't see how orientation would matter.

After the first day we realized if we wore the band a certain way then it was easier to flip the wrist to hold for a connection. The shape is kind of weird and hard to understand the proper way to wear it. I could have been wearing the wrong way from what was intended for all I know though.

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