Garmin Lily 2 Review

Garmin Lily 2 Review

The Garmin Lily 2 is Garmin's second smartwatch made exclusively for women released in January 2024. The small size, lightweight design, pretty colour options, and nice activity tracking features make it an enticing option for many women, myself included.

I bought a Garmin Lily 2 with my own money (not a sponsored review) and tested it out for over 60 days, and here are my honest thoughts:

The Garmin Lily 2 comes in two versions, the standard Lily 2 and the Lily 2 Classic version. If you are wondering what is the difference between the Garmin Lily 2 and Garmin Lily 2 Classic. Well, there are 3 main differences: the Classic is marketed as a more premium option with a higher price tag, featuring leather or fabric bands compared to the Silicone band on the Lily 2.Also, the Classic version comes with Garmin Pay built in, while the standard does not. Garmin Pay is a feature that allows you to add compatible cards and payment methods onto the watch for quick hands-free purchases on the go.

Note: Garmin Pay can be a handy feature if you live in the USA where there are many major participating banks such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Truist Bank, and more. But, this feature is virtually unusable inmost other countries (here is the Gamin Pay Participating Banks worldwide list). For example, Garmin Pay is not readily useable in the UK, Mexico or Canada(where I am) as the major banks in those countries are not participating. Thus, if you bank with RBC, CIBC, BMO, Scotiabank, TD, Simplii, PC or other well-known banks (using some popular Canadian banks here for example) your cards and payment methods cannot be added to Garmin Pay to use. I mention this as it is something to consider if you are located outside the USA and are debating on buying the more expensive Lily 2 Classic just for the Garmin Pay feature, as it may not be useable for you.

Feature Highlights

The Garmin Lily 2 has a variety of features, some standouts for me are the:

• Greyscale LCD display with touch screen operation
• 1.0” x 0.84” | 25.4mm x 21.3mm display, with a Gorilla Glass 3 lens
• Connected GPS (piggybacks off a smartphone's GPS to track outdoor activities)
• Sleep tracking, stress monitoring, step tracking, move reminders, blood SpO₂
• Women's health monitoring
• Android and iOS compatible
• Battery life up to 5 days as a smartwatch
• View smartphone notifications and text message replies (text reply for Androids only)
• Tracks a variety of workouts & activities (ex. Walk, yoga, dance, run, elliptical)
• 24 Hour heart rate monitoring (Elevate 4 heart rate sensor)
• Basic watch features (12/24hr time, stopwatch, timer, alarms)
• Water resistant up to 5ATM or 50m (can be worn in the pool, and tracks swimming)
• Lightweight (24.4g) slim design with an 14mm Quick Release band

Garmin Lily 2 Price

The price for the Garmin Lily 2 will vary depending on where you live, any current sales, and where you choose to buy it from. As of writing this, here are the current prices I found for Canada and the USA from Amazon and Garmin:

Get them here👇:

• Garmin Lily 2: $339.99 CAD | $249.99 USD
• Garmin Lily 2 Classic (fabric band): $379.99 CAD | $279.99 USD
• Garmin Lily 2 Classic (leather band):  $399.99 CAD | $299.99 USD

Furthermore, I noticed about a 20% price increase on the new Garmin Lily 2 compared to the Garmin Lily(1) original version and I did not like that guys, especially as I don't think the few changes in this new version justify a price hike up (Lily vs Lily 2 Comparison video). Nonetheless, the Lily 2 is still one of Garmin's lower priced more affordable smartwatch options. With the Lily 2 being so new, it has not gone on sale much yet but, if you are on a budget or are looking to snag it for the lowest price possible it may be worth it to wait until it is on sale during one of the big annual tech sale days like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday or Boxing Day for example, to grab it for a discounted price.

User Experience

I found the Lily 2 comfortable to wear, it was lightweight, caused my sensitive skin no irritation, fit my 7-inch wrist nicely and looked great on in my opinion. The Lily 2 being a watch made for women does fit smaller wrist sizes (fits wrist sizes 4.3" - 7.1" | 11cm - 18cm). And it does fit smaller wrists than many other smartwatch options. I have this in the colour Metallic Lilac, and it did come out in some other colour options as well for my non-purple lovers out there.

I enjoyed the Lily 2 having a variety of useful daily metrics and fitness features such as stress monitoring, hydration tracking, weather forecast, VO₂ max, and more that I could use.

While wearing the Lily 2 I found the greyscale was clear, contrasting, and overall looked good against the darker Lilac background. I do prefer colour displays but, found I got quickly used to the greyscale format. The LCD here was also easily readable indoors in a variety of dark and bright lighting situations.

The Lily 2 is touch screen and has no physical buttons but has one under-display "button" for operation. I found it took me about 1.5 days to get comfortable using the controls, different swipes and taps to navigate it. I regularly did things like start an activity, track my water intake, set alarms, etc. Overall I did not find it too hard to use but it took some getting used to, and there were no set buttons with specific functions or shortcuts for easier use. If you are planning to get this for yourself or someone not very tech savvy or used to smartwatches, keep in mind there will be a learning curve. For reference, I'd say it would be tricky yet manageable for my mother to use. She is someone who knows how to operate a smartphone well but is otherwise not very tech savvy when it comes to other devices like a computer, smart TV, smartwatches etc. I estimate it would take her approximately 5-6 days of use and many questions before she'd be able to use it confidently without instruction.

I also found the touch controls responsiveness quite hit or miss. I'd often find myself having to tap, swipe, press the button, and the display multiple times to get to where I wanted it to go due to the Lily 2 not noticing my first attempts. The controls do need more refinement in my opinion. This was also an issue I noticed with the original Garmin Lily, so it is disappointing to see it hasn't been fixed on the new Garmin Lily 2.

Fitness Tracking

When it came to fitness tracking on the Lily 2 I found it tracked my calories burned, steps, heart rate zones, breath rate, distance travelled, and active minutes quite accurately during my workouts. I used this during a variety of activities such as cardio, dance, HIIT, walks, Pilates and more. I also noticed it tracked my heart rate changes pretty well during more taxing activities like interval walks/runs, and HIIT where my heart rate would fluctuate from higher to lower rates quickly. To my delight, it performed very, even with it having Garmin's older Elevate 4 heart rate sensor. I also liked that after a workout you can see a nice snapshot of your workout on the watch (ex. calories burned, workout duration, average heart rate) and that even more detailed workout information like graphs, estimated Sweat loss, max heart rate and more metrics are available in the Garmin Connect App.

However, a metric that needs improvement would be the SpO₂ blood oxygenation tracking, as the results were often off, coming up too low <95%. And keep in mind the average SpO₂ value for most healthy people is between 95%-100%. For reference, I asked my doctor to check my SpO₂ during a recent appointment and the value was 99% when taken with their professional equipment but, showed up as 94% when tested on the Lily 2 during that time. Note: I even tested this SpO₂ metric by putting the Lily 2 on some other people of different ages, genders and skin tones than myself and found the same results, with the SpO₂ measurement coming up too low <95% approximately every 7/10 times used.

Sleep Tracking

The sleep tracking on the Lily 2 was quickly calculated in the mornings. Within a minute or so of waking up my sleep results were available. I like that there is no need to sync the watch to my phone for it to process the data first (which you need to do on many smartwatches). The Lily 2 accurately tracked the time I fell asleep and woke up, as well as providing a spot on insightful sleep message. However, when it comes to the 4 sleep stages being tracked the deep sleep, light sleep, REM sleep, and time awake, I found them off, with the time awake duration always showing up too short. This is another area for improvement, honestly guys, sleep tracking is not Garmin's strong point in my experience so I'd take the sleep stage results with a grain of salt.   

Lily 2 Battery Life

The Lily 2 has a quoted battery life up to 5 days as a smartwatch but, I did not get those results. With my usage doing things like 3 days of connected GPS walks/runs(25-50 min each), using daily alarms, timers, viewing smartphone notifications and more, I got on average 3-3.5 days of battery life with this watch. I've had to charge it at least twice a week, and it charged at a respectable speed (from 0-100%) in about 1 hour and 45 mins. I think most people wouldn't be too bothered by having to charge this watch a few times a week. However, guys, I find the battery life a bit disappointing as it is much lower than the typical long Garmin battery life I've become accustomed to. For example, the Garmin Venu 3S, Garmin Forerunner 255S and Garmin Venu 2S last over a week on one charge in my experience. Note these are my battery life results, you may get something higher or lower depending on your individual usage as we all use our watches differently.

Women's Health

The Garmin Lily 2 has a women's health widget, as well as a separate pregnancy tracking widget for women. I used the women's health option and with it you can use the watch and/or your phone's Garmin Connect app to track your period flow intensity, your daily mood, symptoms, ovulation status, sex drive, discharge, get your period prediction date (found in the phone app only and very accurate in my experience) and more metrics can be logged. I found Garmin's women's health to be a helpful tool for allowing me to easily keep track of my menstrual and overall health on a daily basis. It's also easy to use and looks quite cute in the Garmin app.

Cons

Alright guys so, I did notice some cons while using the Lily 2. Some cons I've touched on already such as the SpO₂ being off coming up too low, the touchscreen responsiveness issues, and Garmin Pay not being readily useable outside the USA. Another con is the grayscale display on the Lily 2 can be hard to read in sunlight outdoors at certain angles, even at max brightness. An example can be seen in the image below. Also, I don't love the Lily 2 material choice from Garmin, it sports an aluminum bezel/case that can easily scratch or dent. It's not nearly as durable as the tougher stainless steel material, and fiber-reinforced polymer casing which is used on Garmin's more expensive watches. I even noticed some light scratches on mine after using it for only 60 days! And I've been careful with it, so I think the Lily 2 will easily show some signs of wear and tear, and won't be the most durable over time.

Final Thoughts & Rating

After using the Garmin Lily 2 for over 60 days, I've concluded that this is a great intro fitness tracker for those with small wrists looking for a stylish, lightweight, small, low profile entry-level option to track workouts, sleep, daily metrics and activities, at an attainable price point.

However, I would categorize this more as a fitness tracker not so much a smartwatch as it lacks built-in GPS, music functionality, custom watch faces, a barometric altimeter, floors climbed, a colour display, a gyroscope, more in-depth performance metrics, and more features that should be standard on smartwatches in 2024 in my opinion.

So, considering the price, the quality, the performance, the comfort, the colour, the features and everything like that I would give the Garmin Lily 2 a 7.5/10 and a thumbs up 👍🏾. I do recommend the Lily 2 to others.

Other Options To Consider

If you are not sold on the Garmin Lily 2 here are two different options that are still lightweight and stylish that you may enjoy more:

1. Garmin Venu 2S: For those who want a colour display, a larger display, built-in GPS, music download ability, longer battery life, floors climbed, animated workouts, more activities to track, higher durability, more fitness performance options, and if you are okay with a slightly bigger watch and paying a bit more. The Garmin Venu 2S may be a better option for you.

1. Fitbit Luxe: For those who want an even smaller fitness tracker with a AMOLED colour display, jewelry like design, that tracks a variety of activities and metrics with better sleep tracking than the Lily 2, at a lower price point, and for those who like the Fitbit Eco-system. The Fitbit Luxe could be a better choice for you.

I have done full video reviews for these both watches as well! Which can be found on my YouTube AbbyBReviewing here:‍ Garmin Venu 2S Review and Fitbit Luxe Review. _‍

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“Thanks for reading and check out my YouTube (Garmin Lily 2 Review HERE) for a closer look and more in-depth video review”