Garmin Lily : Bring Fashion to Your Fitness Watch

Smartwatches are generally designed for function, not fashion, which is why the Garmin Lily stands out. With its sleek style and feminine color choices, the Lily has been carefully designed for women. Garmin hits the mark when it comes to looks with the Lily, but surprisingly it lacks a bit of functionality.

The small size is perfect

There is no doubt that Garmin can make monstrous GPS watches, but the Lily shows that Garmin can successfully reduce its size as well. Its small round face (34.5 mm) and its thin 14 mm band make the Lily the ideal model for women. It adapts perfectly to my wrist and is one of the most comfortable smartwatches I have worn. I even prefer it to the Apple Watch SE, which has been a staple on my wrist for years.

Weighing 24 grams in feathers, the Lily is one of the lightest smartwatches on the market. It doesn’t weigh down your wrist and is thin enough that it won’t snag on clothes. You barely realize you’re wearing it until it buzzes you with an incoming notification. Even though it’s small, the Lily offers about four days of battery life between charges.

Classic and creative design

The Lily has a classic design that looks more like a luxury watch than your standard fitness watch. The bracelet is delicate and the round screen is framed by a thin aluminum or stainless steel bezel which is attractive and not flashy. Even the sporty models, which have silicone instead of a leather strap, share this classic and elegant look.

When not in use, the Lily’s grayscale display disappears, leaving behind a patterned lens. The different colors have various patterns and add a touch of class to the watch. The color choices are decidedly feminine but understated, so it will coordinate with a variety of outfits. You can wear the Lily to work or for a night on the town and no one will know it’s a fitness tracker.

Durable but disappointing screen

The screen is bright and easy to read, but its 16-level grayscale lags behind the colorful OLED on the Apple Watch and Garmin Venu. The Lily’s display isn’t bad; it’s just not as good as its competition.

The screen is covered with Gorilla Glass 3, which is scratch resistant. After wearing the watch for three weeks, the lens on the screen is still pristine.

Robust wellness tracking makes up for missing features

Like most Garmin devices, the Lily is packed with wellness features, including stress monitoring and body battery energy tracking. It can even calculate your respiratory rate and blood oxygen levels while you sleep. All of the great wellness trackers, sleep metrics, and widgets you’d expect from a Garmin watch come together in the Lily. Garmin skims a bit on the activity choices – there are only a handful of timed activities to choose from. While there is less to choose from than most other fitness watches, the activities included are broad enough to cover the basics for most people.

As great as it is when it comes to wellness, the Lily lacks some essential features. Don’t bother setting up Garmin Wallet, as you can’t use NFC contactless payments with the Lily. It also doesn’t have a built-in GPS and instead uses your phone’s GPS to calculate distance and pace. Another disappointing area is music. The Lily has a music widget that you can use to control the music played on your phone. The watch lacks built-in storage, so you cannot download music to the watch for offline listening.

Our catch

The Garmin Lily is ideal for a woman who wants to control her health and fitness with a decidedly feminine watch. The price tag of $ 199 for the sports group and even the $ 249 for the classic leather model is well worth it if you prefer fashion over features.

Is there a better alternative?

If you are a woman looking for a very feminine or classically styled watch with basic fitness tracking, there is no better choice than the Garmin Lily. If you don’t mind a more generic look, you might find the Garmin Venu or Fitbit Versa 3 a better option. Both watches offer an always-on AMOLED display, built-in GPS, and mobile payments for roughly the same price as the Lily.

How long will it last?

The Garmin Lily has a strong feminine side to it, but that doesn’t mean it’s soft. Like most Garmin watches, the Lily is as tough as nails and built to last for years. Garmin continually updates its watches with bug fixes and new features. If you have a problem, Garmin offers a one-year warranty.

Should you buy it?

Buy the Lily if you are a woman who wants a fitness tracker that looks like a luxury watch.

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