Garmin Lily 2, Small and Stylish Smartwatch, Hidden Display, Patterned Lens, Up to 5 Days Battery Life, Mulberry

As someone who reads reviews, even for the smallest of purchases, I had the WORST time finding one from someone who knew what they were getting when they bought the Lily 2. So, I'm writing this on the understanding that no one will likely ever see it, since this watch has been out for more than a year. Having been a Galaxy watch owner since the 4 came out, I upgraded to the 7 this year, simply because it's cheaper to keep upgrading than it is to buy new. While these watches work well and have a lot of features, I'd started to wonder if I even needed one anymore. I've never used the majority of the features offered and find myself only really wanting the practical ones, like notifications, "find my phone," timers, answering calls from my watch when my earbuds are in and my phone is in another room, and the actual clock. I also liked some of the health features like heart rate and fitness tracking. All the other stuff had just become noise that had overwhelmed me to the point that I wasn't even using the things I did like. In addition, I find traditional smartwatches ugly and clunky, no matter how pretty the band, because I have a slender wrist and they're all huge. So, when I received a full refund for my Galaxy Watch 7, after it malfunctioned, I decided to try something else. Enter the Lily 2. I scoured the internet for reviews on this watch, because while simpler, it's actually not cheaper than the alternatives and I was unfamiliar with Garmin. Every review I read included negatives for things like lacking GPS, not offering a lot of customization, and battery life. Many recommended larger and more complicated Garmin watches instead. The thing is, I don't WANT these features, ESPECIALLY when the trade-off is a larger watch. Yes, the Lily 2 Active has GPS and a longer battery life, but I don't go anywhere without my phone and my Galaxy Watch had to be charged nightly. GPS is not a benefit to me, nor is longer than a 5 day battery if it makes the watch only 2mm smaller than my Galaxy Watch. Other recommendations were actually even BIGGER. At 35mm, this watch is so small, it looks closer to actual watch size on my wrist. The lack of customization is what makes it so pretty. The white lights are clear, bright, and simple, in place of gaudy bright colors and photo backgrounds. When it's blank, you just see the gold swirls, instead of a dark screen. It's absolutely beautiful with the off brand leather band I bought. For what it is SUPPOSED TO BE, this watch is amazing. I'm not missing a single feature I wanted and the smaller size is such a treat after five years of clunky, ugly smartwatches. The display and wrist motion sensors are accurate, the display clear and easy to read, even on a smaller screen. The connectivity and app are great. The "find my phone" feature is LOUD, which is wonderful. The heart rate and step trackers seem pretty accurate, as someone who is by no means a fitness guru. I'd wager they're more accurate than the Galaxy, since fitness is Garmin's specialty. It has options for things I may or may not use, like menstrual tracking and hydration. If I don't, it's easy enough to remove them. I absolutely love this watch. I'll never buy another traditional smartwatch again.

I just got it, so this is probably a seriously premature review, but I’ve been so excited about getting this I really just can’t wait to tell others about it. I have been an Apple Watch user for several years. All significant devices I own are Apple-watch, cell, laptop, tablet. I love being able to connect them all together and being able to use them interconnected. However, I’ve just been kind of tired of using the Apple Watch the last year or so and haven’t been wearing it as much as I used to. It’s bulky, uncomfortable, and it just doesn’t track as much health data as I’d like without having to use my phone. I know that this Garmin watch is going to be less connected in a sense that it’s not part of the Apple iOS, of course. But what drew me to making the switch is the difference in tracking capabilities as far as health concerns are related. I have a lot of health issues and I’m hoping this watch will help me keep a better eye on things. I like that it just automatically tracks sleep, steps, stress, pulse ox, body battery, etc. I know that Apple Watches track some of these things as well, but not all of them. I like that this watch has a lot of features without being overwhelming-which is something I found myself struggling with recently on my Apple Watch. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice having so many options, but it was just too much for me. I wanted something a little more simplified without feeling like I was losing a lot. Another thing that drew me in was the shape of the watch head. The square of the Apple Watch was just uncomfortable for me from the get. I like that this is much more watch like in shape and size, and it’s so much more comfortable already. I have serious sensory issues, touch being one of my biggest issues. The Apple Watch, no matter what band I had on it, always seemed to bother me to no end. While I can feel this one on my wrist and it still bothers me to an extent, it’s still more comfortable and manageable than my old watch. This in and of itself is a huge upgrade. I bought several band options to use for different occasions and such, but haven’t tried them yet, so I don’t know if they’ll be helpful in my quest to not be so overloaded in my senses when wearing this watch. I wear a little medical bracelet for POTS and I really thought it would be annoying to wear both on my wrist, but so far it’s actually made wearing the bacelet more comfortable because it isn’t sliding up and down my wrist as much. They also look nice together because of the colors. I wear all gold jewelry so I knew this watch was the best option because it’ll look nice with whatever I’m wearing. The battery life is another thing that really spoke to me as well. I think many Apple Watch users can agree that Apple Watch batteries, no matter how much you try, will not always keep a battery past a day or two, sometimes three. This is supposed to last twice that. It may not seem like much because some watches last even longer, but for me that s a nice improvement. Oh, and set up? Holy cow. So quick. I barely had time to register in my brain that I was pairing a new watch before I got the notification it was paired. The set up only took a few minutes-preferences, watch face, etc. It was such a smooth and simple process between the watch and the app. Based on first impressions I’m happy with my decision to order this watch and I look forward to seeing how well it’ll serve its purpose.

First of all, this is an elegant smart watch. It’s a lot smaller than many options and good for a small wrist, and I love the gold background to the screen as well as the ivory color of the band. It’s simply beautiful on. I like that when the screen is off it isn’t a stark black blob on my wrist. The sleep tracking and body battery have been helpful tools for me, and I enjoy the data. So is the stress monitoring. The battery life is up 3-5 days depending on my usage, which is not bad. The cons: I get a lot of my steps pushing a stroller or a grocery cart and it’s not accurate. This is a problem with every fitness tracker on a wrist, so to be fair I don’t know if any competitors are any better. Occasionally (rarely but has happened) it loses connection with my phone, so my call/text notifications don’t come through and I miss them. The weather almost never comes through unless my phone is unlocked with the app open (which defeats the purpose). Edit to add: Now I’ve been using it for a couple of months and I’m even more aware of the limitations. Sometimes I can’t get the screen to wake up with turning my wrist or tapping. There are no buttons, so I look like a crazy person twisting my wrist over and over and tapping a million times with no effect. This was updated with the newer version of the watch—they added a button, so I can’t be the only one that has faced this on the old version. It’s also become pretty hit or miss if I feel my watch notify me of texts. So much for not carrying my phone around the house. I still love the sleep data. It’s awesome. And the battery life is great—I had a low use week and got 7 days somehow. Usually I get 5.

Best smart watch I've ever owned. Fits comfortably and perfectly and is exactly the right size for a watch. The Garmin app is miles past the Fitbit/Google app in terms of usability and features. I have a small wrist and appreciate the size of the watch on it. The battery life is fantastic, I charged it to 100% and let it go fully to used up and it was nearly seven days. The alerts are easily customizable as is the screen layout. The health information it provides me is super useful. Can't recommend highoy enough.

Wanted a simple watch to keep track of steps and activity. Love the design and it’s small on the wrist and not too bulky making it perfect. Have the option of receiving messages but I wanted this to be more for activity so I removed the settings. Very classy but also active watch

Returned this after trying it out for almost a month. I really wanted to love this because it looked so cute! My issues were that the sleep tracking was incredibly inconsistent, you have to set your sleep and wake times and then it will track sleep based off of that. If you work night shift like me you never go to sleep and wake up at the same time so it would just not track my sleep at all and sometimes would say I was asleep when I wasn’t. The battery life was horrible, I was lucky if it lasted 3 days but it was usually 2 when it’s advertised as ~5 days. The fitness tracking was also horrible, if you don’t have cell service you can’t start an activity so good luck tracking your hike if you don’t start with cell service. Also when you do start your hike it will start a timer once it finally catches on that you’re doing an activity and then the only thing you can see on the watch face is the timer, not the actual time. So on your multiple hour hike you’ll have to end the activity to be able to see what time it is or pull out your phone. There were also several times I would look down during the middle of the day and my watch would just be in sleep mode??? Also the button on the bottom malfunctioned quite a bit and just nothing would happen when I pressed it, this probably happened once or twice a day. I reached out to Garmin support about all these issues and they were no help. Thankfully I realized I hated this product while I was still within my return window so I could get my money back. I’d save your money for something better.

See my original review on the original Lily as well! All remains true on Lily2. Original lily purchaser and user since feb 11, 2021. Lily2 purchaser and user since Nov 25, 2024. I did NOT need to replace it yet. However part of the band holder wrap was thinking quite a bit so i just decided to upgrade since replacing the band might be tough and it was almost 3yrs old. It has held up well for every day active hike/walk/backpack wear. Great small wrist tracker! I've shown both lily and lily2 in my photos. The face is 1mm larger on lily2 and it still works for me. I have them both on my wrist here as well. The lily2 has tiny style features like how the band connects to the face. It looks cleaner and the band is replaceable. I wanted to go with one of the colorful nylon bands they offered this time but realized I hike, backpack, walk,etc with this watch so it needs to withstand sweat. The band has a yellow tone when comparing to others but on me it appears just a nice cream. I enjoy the neutrality of it. If you have a small wrist this is for you. However hopefully not looking for oodles of bells and whistles either. There is tracking ability, heart rate co2, alerts, all the normal things. But you cannot use the lily2 for GPS or a speaker to take a call. They do have an upgrade this time for it. Battery power is great in my opinion it was before and still is. I havesome alerts come through each day but not oodles. Filtering what you want on your phone versus the lily2 will help with battery life. Switching from lily to lily2 was seamless as well. All my previous settings carried over. At $200 each of these on sale were a good buy. But the upgraded versions at 300 and refusing to go on sale is just too much. Make the plunge if you have a small wrist and have never felt 100% with your tracker.

If you are just getting into the fitness and health metric tracking game, a $250 watch is likely not for you. There are many other brands/models that are priced appropriately for beginners. You don't want to spend a lot of money on a fancy tracker that you won't use for very long, or one that has features that aren't necessary for your goals. This is not my first fitness tracker. I got serious about health and fitness about a year and a half ago, and I decided to get a fitness tracker a few months in. After using that device for ~8 months, I was ready for something different as the company that sells it keeps doing more and more to make the app and overall user experience worse. (IYKYK) My friends have Garmin devices, so I gave these a looksee. This will show my age, but I've only been familiar with Garmin a dashboard GPS capacity. I didn't even know they made these fitness trackers until I was informed by said friends. Even though I am not a beginner, I didn't want to spend $300 or more on a tracker. That is just not necessary, in my opinion. They all track the same basic metrics. I ultimately decided on the Lily 2 since I was initially drawn to how it looks like a normal watch, not a big, bulky, square, ugly eyesore. It looks nice on your wrist and doesn't scream fitness tracker. So that this review isn't 100 paragraphs long, I will note the pros and cons after almost one year of usage. Pros: - Attractive design - Midrange price point - App with a wide range of features that are standard - Ability to edit activities as needed and add comments/notes - Smart technology that doesn't apply new logic to old data (i.e. changing your daily step goal from 5000 to 10000 on Jan 15th does not mark previous days as goal not met if you didn't hit 10k. only affects data from Jan 15th onward.) - Emergency alert features - All the metrics you'd want to see (except one, noted below) And now for the cons, which are what led me to give this three stars. These are pretty big deals, in my opinion. Cons: - Proprietary clip- style charger that is extremely trying on the patience at times. You have to place it JUST RIGHT for this watch to charge. I also discovered that even though the triangle pops up that indicates it's charging, it might not be. GRRRRRRRRRRR. - No way to restart the watch without having said charger handy since you need power to reboot. - The watch frequently becomes unresponsive. I have it set so that the display will light up when I turn my wrist. This works 98% of the time. However, the button on the watch face that you use to access various menus and start your activity frequently becomes unresponsive. You push it and don't feel the haptic response. I have had to stand there for several minutes waiting for this watch to respond to my touch before starting an activity. I don't know how often it stops responding when I am working out, but my concern is that it's not capturing data accurately during that time. - Manually logging an activity, such as walking, does not also include step count. There is no way to edit your step count for a day. I understand that the number of steps in a mile will vary for everyone. However, this watch could apply some basic logic such as "1 mile = 2000 steps". - No Heart Rate Variability is displayed anywhere in the app, and this is a huge one for me. Apparently the app uses HRV when determining your "Stress" level and assigns an arbitrary number to that. I think that I sleep great and feel refreshed, but then the app says that my sleep score is poor because, yeah, I slept long enough, but didn't bring my stress levels down enough. These are not actual cons, but just things that I find unreliable for any fitness tracker and mostly ignore. These are things that need to be determined with more advanced technology in a clinical setting. - Sleep score - Stress level - Fitness age - VO2 Max Bottom line: I will continue using this watch since the cons don't outweigh the pros to the point where I am done with it. I will use this watch until it reaches end of life. And, then I am buying something other than a Garmin.