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.