Garmin - Lily 2 Active

Let me start by saying I have spent way too many hours researching the best smart watch for my needs. All the different options and features are overwhelming. So my hope is I can save you some time and stress if your needs are similar. I am starting to count calories and workout again with a mix of strength training, pilates, walks and running. I wanted something that could track my calories burned, step tracker, heart rate monitor and obviously simply tell time without being too big on my wrist. Also receiving reminder notifications from my phone and messages were important too. I've gotten many cheap fitness watches over the years that never lasted long so it was time to spend some more money on one. I have an android, so at first I went with the galaxy classic 6 43mm in silver. The rotating bezel was awesome and the watch had everything I needed and more, but as a female the size was way too big on my wrist and the silver color made me look like a spy kid. The bezel made it look chunky. I returned it and researched Garmin instead. Vivoactive 5 I considered but many reviews said it was not worth it. Has too big a watch face for me anyway. The forerunner 165 is great if you care about detailed running metrics at a lower cost. I ran a half marathon for a college elective and only really learned about many of the metrics from that class. So if you're big into running, I'd definitely recommend this one. Still a bit too big for my wrist though. The venu 3s I also highly considered and is a popular choice amoung smart watch users. Has all the features you need, but still was too big for me at size 41mm. This one is on the pricier side but has more features and a longer battery life. It's great for an all around fitness and lifestyle watch. If you have the money and don't care about the size as much, I recommend this one and almost got it myself. I finally landed on the lily 2 active. The smallest Garmin watch I could find at 38mm. 2 side buttons, and it had all the features I was looking for as mentioned above but could see myself using more features as time went on. I really didn't feel I needed anything too complicated. The screen is in black and white vs color, but as a previous review had said, if I want color I can just look at my smartphone. I decided to buy the lily 2 active and am so happy I did. It's the perfect small size for me and looks sleek. Even has sleep score and body battery functions, which will get more accurate as time goes on. The silver color does NOT make me look like a spy kid. The lines on the screen took a little time to get used to, but are not a big deal to me. I love that I can choose what notifications I want to receive on my watch on ALL my phone apps. If you want to see the feature comparisons in detail side by side you can search "Garmin product comparison" in your browser which I found helpful. If you have any questions I'd love to help if I can!

Garmin Lily 2 active. There’s no smaller watch with GPS. If 9 days smartwatch mode / 9 h GPS is enough for you, have a look at it.

Garmin Lily 2 active will be the smallest that fits your bill. I have the Venu 3s which is a little smaller than the Pixel 3 but lighter, but bigger than the Lily

I debated between Vivoactive & Lily 2 Active, and settled on the latter just because it’s slimmer and more comfortable. It has all the basics I need and a good battery life. It’s geared toward women but I don’t see why a guy couldn’t wear it. You can always change the band. The green looks pretty dope.

I went from Fitbit to a Garmin Lily 2 Active. Battery life is great, features are great. Price tag is comparable to Fitbit 

That’s not true.- it’s called Activity Tracking, the Venu 3 has it and I’m pretty sure also on VA5/6 and Lily 2 Active.

Garmin Lily 2 Active - the active is the only Lily with built in gps. It’s just beautiful, it wins for aesthetics and perfect on a small wrist. It won’t have all the features your Apple Watch does, but it’s worth a look.

I have the Lily 2 Active and really like it. It is very simple to use as it’s more of a basic smart/fitness watch. It’s smaller than any of the other Garmin watches and has a more classic look so it can be worn for any occasion. I have never had an Apple Watch so can’t compare the ease of use to that, but the battery life is way better than the Apple Watch. I get about 9 days of 1 charge.

I have the Garmin Lily 2 Active and love it! Great health tracking (sleep, heart rate, steps, HRV, O2 sat, stress, body battery, women’s health and more). I also use mine to track my walks/hikes, biking, cardio and golf activities. It is a smaller fitness watch and has a more elegant look to it. I have small wrists so the size is a what I like about it most. It has great battery life. I can get up to 9 days on a charge depending on how much I use the GPS.

You can compare all three Garmins side by side on their website, which I have found useful when I’m interested in a new watch. I’ve been a Garmin user for years and don’t plan to switch to any other brand. I have the Lily 2 Active and really like it. Use mine for walking, cardio, biking, golf and health tracking including women’s health. But like the other comments have said, Garmin watches are fitness trackers first, smart watch second. As an Apple user, you won’t be able to reply to text or calls as Apple won’t give Garmin those rights. I have heard some series will allow you to use Siri through it, but I have read mixed reviews on how well that works. So just depends on what your priorities are!

Definitely don’t get the Lily or Lily 2. The Lily 2 Active does have built in GPS so it might be okay for your needs. However, I had it for about 7 months and changed to the Venu 3s which is 100% better. The Lily series is a basic fitness watch that is not worth the price when there are other watches at the same price point that give you way more features. I also have small wrists and the slightly larger size of the Venu 3s if just fine for me and honestly not noticeable when wearing it. I’ve been using Garmin Pay on my watches over the years and it works great. (Saw someone said it doesn’t work for them, but I’ve never had an issue) If you haven’t already, you can compare watches side by side on Garmin’s website which is very helpful! But I’d recommend a watch in the Vivoactive, Forerunner or Venu series.

Definitely don’t get the Lily or Lily 2. The Lily 2 Active does have built in GPS so it might be okay for your needs. However, I had it for about 7 months and changed to the Venu 3s which is 100% better. The Lily series is a basic fitness watch that is not worth the price when there are other watches at the same price point that give you way more features. I also have small wrists and the slightly larger size of the Venu 3s if just fine for me and honestly not noticeable when wearing it. I’ve been using Garmin Pay on my watches over the years and it works great. (Saw someone said it doesn’t work for them, but I’ve never had an issue) If you haven’t already, you can compare watches side by side on Garmin’s website which is very helpful! But I’d recommend a watch in the Vivoactive, Forerunner or Venu series.

Definitely don’t get the Lily or Lily 2. The Lily 2 Active does have built in GPS so it might be okay for your needs. However, I had it for about 7 months and changed to the Venu 3s which is 100% better. The Lily series is a basic fitness watch that is not worth the price when there are other watches at the same price point that give you way more features. I also have small wrists and the slightly larger size of the Venu 3s if just fine for me and honestly not noticeable when wearing it. I’ve been using Garmin Pay on my watches over the years and it works great. (Saw someone said it doesn’t work for them, but I’ve never had an issue) If you haven’t already, you can compare watches side by side on Garmin’s website which is very helpful! But I’d recommend a watch in the Vivoactive, Forerunner or Venu series.

At certain angles in direct sunlight, it can be hard to read due to the etched lens and the grayscale font. But, if I just turn my wrist a little when this happens to put it at a different angle, then I can see it fine. I have no issues reading it indoors.

I have the Lily 2 active and like it. I got it for its size as I also have small wrists. It’s a basic but good fitness watch! Otherwise I would recommend you go on Garmin’s website and you can compare watches side by side and find the one that is best for you!

The Lily 2 Active came out October 2024 so it’s actually pretty new! For me, it has everything I need. For activity tracking, I use mine for cardio, walking, biking and golfing. Then I obviously use the health tracking (steps, sleep, HRV, body battery, womens health etc). Everyone is different on what they want out of a fitness watch but this one is perfect for me! Sometimes I miss having a colored screen, but the whole point of the Lily series is it’s elegant look so I think that would take away from it. Plus I really don’t go through the watch much. If I want to look at my health stats, I typically use the Garmin app on my phone since everything is easily found on the main screen of the app. If you want a colored screen, the next smallest watch would be the Venu 3s. You would get more features too, but it’s more expensive and the watch band is larger as well. I like that I can wear this for any occasion and keep tracking my health so it’s worth the trade off for me.

I had the Lily 2 Active for about 7 months, then got the Venu 3s instead a few months ago. I also have small wrists and liked the look of it, but I found it really lacked customization and I missed having a colored screen. It’s a pretty basic fitness watch, which may be fine for some people. I got back into running this summer and wanted to do run/walk intervals and it didn’t have this feature which seemed like a pretty basic feature. I ended up giving it to my mother in law as she is trying to lose weight, but she isn’t an active person and just does walking. As far as what you want: it will find your phone, you can read notifications from your phone (can’t reply), you can control the music that is playing on your phone (advance or go back songs and adjust volume, but you won’t be able to control it during an activity which I was annoyed by. I can with the Venu 3s), it is waterproof (I believe up to 50 meters), the GPS is accurate (been a Garmin user for years and the GPS has always been great!), Health tracking was pretty accurate, but don’t read too much into the sleep tracking as its not great with Garmin no matter what device you have, I have an iPhone as well and had no problems with connecting to it, you wont be able to use any third party apps on it as it wont connect to the Garmin Connect IQ store (one of the “customization” complaints I have), the band can easily be switched out, I got up to 9 days of battery life depending on how often I used GPS. It might work great for your needs, but just know that it’s pretty basic. I absolutely love the Venu 3s. It’s way more customizable and has way more features. It’s slightly larger, but I honestly didn’t even notice the difference when I switched. I got the one with the soft gold bezel and dust rose band and it’s beautiful! I can still wear it for any occasion.

I disagree. Not all women “train like men” and need all those metrics. The Lily series is a great option for women who have small wrists and are just looking for basic fitness tracking. I am a woman and have the Lily 2 Active. I am not “insulted” by it as you troll on many posts about the Lily series. Please don’t speak for all of us women. Our needs are all different and unique. Men and women alike.

I can understand how that’s frustrating. I like the Lily 2 Active and it has what I personally need, but the price tag is frustrating when the Vivoactive series costs the same but has way more features. I do find that insulting.

I have the Garmin Lily 2 Active and love it! It’s a smaller fitness watch that is more elegant looking than your typical fitness watch. I have small wrists so it doesn’t look huge on me and I can wear it for any occasion. I can get up to 9 days on a charge depending on how much I use the GPS for tracking outdoor activities.

Garmin Lily 2 Active is probably smallest/slimmest model with GPS built in. For paddle boarding/kayaking, maybe you could attach a device to the board or paddle instead?

I just got a Lily 2 Active and it's been great so far! It has all the main health and fitness features including HRV and GPS. Also, it's smaller than most other watches which was a big selling feature for me. Edited to add that it does not have music storage but you can control songs playing on your phone from the watch.

I picked up the Garmin Lily 2 Active on sale for $250 2 weeks ago. I'm coming from Fitbit, so for me an upgrade just had to have built in GPS tracking and be small/pretty enough for me to wear all the time on slim wrists. Lily 2 Active is the smallest Garmin with built in GPS (afaik), but I'm guessing due to size it doesn't have as long battery life as the others. Nor does it have as many features as others in their line up. But for my purposes, it working pretty well. And I'm actually finding it more comfortable than my old Fitbit Luxe - even though the Luxe is smaller. Also nice to has some actual tangible buttons on the watch.

Actually not all Garmin's have built in GPS which is quite shocking actually, the Lily does not unless you look at the Lily Active 2. The Vivomove watches and the Vivosmart 4 and 5 also do not have built in GPS.

Actually not all Garmin's have built in GPS which is quite shocking actually, the Lily does not unless you look at the Lily Active 2. The Vivomove watches and the Vivosmart 4 and 5 also do not have built in GPS.

Not at all a good choice for anyone who is serious about training, this is a fashion watch.

Do not even consider the Lily - insult to women. The Venu3 is a good choice if you insist on going wth Garmin but the Apple Watch is a better choice. Maybe you should ask her what she would prefer.

The Lily is what Garmin thinks women want - they put GPS into the Lily 2 Active - still an insult to women. I don't count steps lol I understand that many find it a valuable metric but personally I see no meaningful value in it.

Garmin lacks watches that are designed for woman that provide rich data sets and instead makes the Lily which lacks robust training data - it is a Fashion watch. Women train just like men and want robust training data on a watch that does not look cheap and in the tackiest of colours. The Lily 2 Active is a step up from the Lily 2 but is still as what one other poster said - a watch you take to the office so your step count stays accurate, it isn't a watch you train with. It is dainty and feminine of course but it fails on so many level to be an actually viable fitness watch. Garmin designs and makes watches to suit men.

Saying that the Lily is an insult to women is not an insult to you or anyone who uses that watch personally it is a statement about how Garmin views women. You are correct in that not all women train like men but they can train like men so why shouldn't they have a watch that is designed for them that has all those features? The Lily is clearly designed for women and Garmin purposely chooses to give it basic fitness features. There are no aesthetically pleasing small watches with all the training features that are designed with women in mind. Garmin has made a pretty watch but failed to give it the more robust features that many women want and to get the data they want they are stuck with ugly oversized watches with tacky colours. That is what makes the Lily an insult to women.

Fenix 7s was too bulky on me, Lily active 2 was hard to read, Vivoactive looks plasticky almost toy like, Venu 3s looks more premium, so that was what I went for. No regrets

My wrist is 15cm and Venu 3s is perfect. I had a Lily active 2, but it lacked features

I got myself a Lilly 2 Active for a very similar use case. I mostly boulder, run and dance (Ballroom, swing etc.) and it's held up well so far. I love the battery life span and that it isn't too distracting in day to day life (touchscreen and design) For me it's the perfect combination of sleek and practical. Not as fiddly as a touchscreen only watch, but still low profile and not too bulky on my wrist. ^^

I have had the lily 2 active for about two weeks. Has enough information for my activities and goals. It’s one of the cheaper options.

I just upgraded to the Lily 2 Active. I compared a lot of the watches, Garmin and other brands, the Lily 2 Active is the prettiest with serious fitness features and a built in GPS.

I just got one of these, too! Also, it’s nice looking.

TL;DR Yes, overall, this IS a good switch from the Apple Watch if you're prioritizing battery life, fitness tracking, and a cute, dainty look. When my SO and I started a weight loss journey early this year, I encouraged her to get a Lily 2 -the Classic, because she's frugal and was unsure if she'd like it or use it. Recently, she said to me, "This is something that I never thought I needed, that I now can't imagine not having." She jokingly calls herself "Princess Luddite" (she's not, really). She's an executive, and the size & style of the Lily was a huge plus, as well as the reasonable cost. She loves that most people simply see it as a watch, not a fitness or smart watch. Battery life IS terrific on Garmins. GPS use will run down the battery, but my Venu is still a multi-day smart watch unless I'm using the GPS all day long, like skiing or sailboat racing. The Classic is missing the onboard GPS, which the Sport has. That should do the trick nicely for tracking your outdoor runs, as it does on my Venu 3 for my cycling, skiing, and more -no need for your phone to be with you. Specs say that it does control smartphone music, but neither of us does that. We use Tidal, which is not compatible. Spotify is compatible, IDK about Apple Music. She isn't much of a fitness person. However, as a walker, she particularly enjoys the step tracking and sleep tracking features. Lily tracks her sleep better than my Venu, which seems iffy on my falling asleep (could be me!). Sleep tracking might be the weakest feature on Garmins in general. Notifications/message reading work well with all of my messaging apps (I'm not sure about Viber, but it should work the same), and are customizable as you desire, so you're not overwhelmed with unimportant ones. Bands are easy to change; she wears a more posh, dressy, jewelry-like, less sporty-looking band. I change my bands and watch faces for everyday casual wear vs more formal events. She hasn't mentioned any durability concerns or wear in 2 years of daily use, even from gardening. She's mainly in an office, so not really beating it up. The Sport has nearly all the activity tracking features available on my old Fenix 5, as well as on my Venu 3. It's not missing much, TBH. Apple compatibility appears comparable. As Android users, we just have access to messaging response options that Apple does not allow, but all the notifications should be the same on an iPhone. She doesn't use any third-party apps, but they should work, I guess?

Surprised no one said lily 2. I have it and its very feminine

I personally think the battery life alone makes the lily 2 a better option than the AW!

My wife has a lily 2. No lactate but yes vo2. She loves it, and its very small and feminine which was important to her. Much more limited though in features and functionality overall but the big stuff is there. I am way more data focused though so I like all the features that my Venu 4 has. Highly recommend you just get a more feminine case cover/band instead of getting a less capable model for the aesthetics. Honestly, you won't feel/notice it after a while and even the more masculine watches have covers in all kinds of styles as well as bands. For example here is one for the [Venu 4](https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Venu-41mm-NOUKAJU-Protective/dp/B0FVF6J7BR?sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&aref=QLoDxxZmAn&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&psc=1) and pair that with a band like [this](https://www.amazon.com/HQzon-Compatible-Vivoactive-Replacement-Forerunner/dp/B0FS5V78JX?sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY) and you have a venu 4 lily 2. Plus all the new watches have the torch built in and its a game changer. It doesn't look like the 265s has it.

The lily 2 sounds perfect for you - it is stylish, will look good on your wrist and has health features. If you think you're unlikely to be active I'd personally go for the lilly. Issue comes if you decide one day to get active the lilly may not cut it Vs other Garmin watches. Health features on the lily 2 include heart rate, sleep, stress tracking, women's health.. etc

I have a Garmin Lilly 2. I wanted something that looked more like a conventional watch. It tracks the basics heart rate, step, workouts. I like that I can also log my blood pressure readings in the app. Doesnt have GPS but I just use my phone for that for outdoor walks.

I use a Garmin Lily and I got it 3 years ago. About 6 months ago one of the little strap loops broke so I replaced the strap. The battery still lasts 4-5 days and it's smaller than the chunky masculine watches that have more capacity. I like the Garmin app, and during the time I've had it they've updated the watch software so it now gives me a VO2 max estimate as well as all the other stuff it tracks, so I'm pleased I'm actually getting more features over time. I expect to get several more years' use out of this one, and all being well I'd likely get another Garmin after.

I can't comment on the ring, but I can recommend Garmin lily for sleep tracking. I wear a Garmin Lily during the day and for sleep, and switch to my Garmin Forerunner 745 for workouts. I like that the watches talk to each other through Garmin connect so I never miss steps or double count steps.

The Garmin Lily is the only model that supports the dance activity in the watch. You can record an activity as Cardio and then change it later to dance on your phone. Garmin offers a full range of products and it's a daunting lineup to find exactly what's best for you.

Except for the Lily 🥲 that thing dies so fast I feel like I barely get to wear it 

I had an Apple watch and different types of fitbit before but now i’m using the Garmin Lily and i like it. I chose it because it’s not too big or bulky and it does look a little bit more like a classic watch. It also depends on what type of infos you want to tracks. The app is also free to use.

I've tried fitbit luxe and garmin lily. My opinion is that fitbit was better at tracking movement/exercise and easier to navigate the menstrual tracking. Everything was very intuitive about the fitbit. The menstrual tracking part did glitch on me bc i didnt log consistently. I would have bought another fitbit but they discontinued the one I liked... they have a slim fitbit that basically just has a screen for stats, so while there is a screen it isn't overwhelming. The garmin lily watch and app is not as intuitive to me. I didn't know garmin had a menstrual tracking section/cant find the section. Garmin also doesn't track climbing well at this price point. It barely registers climbing,swimming,or yoga as an exercise automatically. The fitbit was better at realizing exercise is happening. I currently use my garmin more as a watch than a fitness tracker 😔 What's important to me was: 1) not bulky, aesthetically pleasing 2) reasonable low price, bc my fitbit got smashed up while climbing and im expecting my garmin to get smashed up. 3) silicone band so it doesn't catch on anything climbing and break my hand or somethin 4) tracks heartrate 5) waterproof Tldr; dont recommend garmin lily, fitbit might be a good budget option if you want to try out a fitness watch. Neither are good at tracking climbing specifically, I've only really used the heartrate/activity tracker for both.

I have a Garmin lily and it's great - having notifications is actually good for me because then I don't need to pick my phone up and check for them and get sucked into scrolling

I have a Garmin lily and it's great - having notifications is actually good for me because then I don't need to pick my phone up and check for them and get sucked into scrolling

After one too many bad experiences with Fitbit customer support, I've been switching to the Garmin ecosystem. I have a Garmin Lily that's easily lasted me twice as long as the Fitbit Charges I used to get and still going strong.

I used a Garmin Lily before and while it was okay I now have a Vivoactive 5 and it's much better. It's more accurate and i can easily start the activity, create intervals, and rest periods. i was also thinking about getting the garmin swim which is more swimming focused in the end the vivoactive won because it's more of an all-rounder and for the price i prefer something i can wear all the time.

Lily is a "wear it to the office to not lose your step count" watch. I do this with a Vivosmart 4 band. Never track anything more serious with it than walking the dogs in case I forgot to charge my Forerunner (which is my daily watch). Of course you can use it to track a run in a pinch (say you are on a business trip and only brought your Lily/band.

Garmin. I have the Lily for aesthetic reasons and it doesn't have as many features as the more industrial looking ones do, but I don't need it to do a lot. Just track my routes, my pace and heart rate, etc. Basic stuff. Anyway, I love it.

About a week without the O2 saturation monitoring, 3 days ish with.  It works well swimming and even the HR monitor seems to stay pretty accurate. A little annoying to work the touch screen while it's wet.  It does not have built in GPS so you do have to carry a phone if you want your location recorded.  Not all models are ANT compatible which is my biggest beef with it. But I was planning on buying a bike computer anyway 

I have the Lily. Your sister is more hardcore. Do not get her the Lily.

I made the move from a Fitbit Charge 5 to Garmin Lily, then Garmin Venu 3S. It's fantastic! I have no issues after updates, battery life is so much better, I'm really happy with the Garmin product. But, it sounds like you want something more basic. Perhaps the Garmin VivoSmart 5 fitness tracker band would be ideal?

All the products seem great to me too, and based on what I've read they are great. When I chose the Lily, I wanted to go with a lower cost option to try out the brand. I also have small wrists. And, the lily is attractive. I decided to switch to the Venu because it has GPS built in, so I no longer need to rely on a connection with my phone as I did the Lily. I don't train for marathons or anything like that, so the Venu works very well for my needs. I also prefer the smaller size of the 3S because my other models are wider than my wrist and it looks weird. My purchase decisions boiled down to excluding watches that had far more substantial features than what I was looking for, would look like I was wearing a brick on my wrist, or were way out of my budget. I found filtering this way narrowed down my choices tremendously. Of course, your individual criteria are going to be different. My bottom line opinion is that you are very likely going to be really pleased with whatever model you choose. If you like how the Fitbit senses when work outs start, get a Garmin that has its own GPS. You can compare models on garmin's website. Tap on the "compare" button for each watch your interested in.

I had an elevate 5 in my venu 3s and an elevate 4 in my forerunner 955 which is actually my current watch. I've noticed no difference between either of them

I personally didn't find Elevate 5 more precise nor accurate than the 4. I've upgraded fenix 7x to fenix 8, so I had a chance to compare. Actually the main purpose of this switch was to improve the accuracy of hr tracing. I also was convinced that results of chest strap and elevate sensor are very different from each other.

People have to stop comparing these. These are for two different people. I would never wear an Apple Watch based on battery life alone. I specifically got the Garmin for a wrist based gps and mapping tool to track and orient myself. You buy an Apple Watch to use smart features and be connected to your phone. Garmin has never been in that market. It’s a whole company based on gps systems for outdoor activities . You buy an Apple Watch to have Apple ecosystem. you can’t use half the feature of the fenix on an iPhone bc they only want you to use their watch… Garmin are all specifically made for their audience even down the the model . Apple watches are just to keep you plugged into your phone and have no bearing on actual outdoor activities despite calling it ultra. The Millitary has been orienteering with Garmin wrist based gps systems forever. You’d never catch an Apple Watch on patrol in Afghanistan. 😂