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Garmin Lily Review: Bring Fashion to Your Fitness Watch

Garmin Lily Rating Wrist

Garmin Lily Women's Fitness Classic Smartwatch

"The Garmin Lily brings the much-needed feminine flair to a mostly male fitness watch market."

  • Stylish, classic look

  • Pulse oximeter

  • Excellent sleep and wellness tracking

  • Decent battery life

  • Grayscale display

  • No GPS on board

  • No music storage

Smartwatches are usually designed for function and not for fashion, which is why the Garmin Lily attracts attention. With its slim design and feminine color selection, the Lily was carefully designed for women. Garmin hits the bull's eye when it comes to Lily's looks, but surprisingly, the features are a bit short.

The petite size is perfect

There is little doubt that Garmin can make monstrous GPS watches, but the lily shows that Garmin can successfully downsize too. The delicate round face (34.5 mm) and the narrow 14 mm band make the Lily ideal for women. It fits my wrist perfectly and is one of the most comfortable smartwatches I've ever worn. I even prefer it over the Apple Watch SE, which has been a staple on my wrist for years.

With a weight of 24 grams, the Lily is one of the lightest smartwatches on the market. It doesn't put any strain on your wrist and is slim enough that it won't get caught on clothing. You barely even realize you're wearing it until you receive an incoming notification. Although the Lily is small, it offers around four days of battery life between charges.

Creative, classic design

The Lily has a classic design that is more like a luxury watch than your standard fitness watch. The band is delicate and the round display is framed by a thin aluminum or stainless steel bezel that is attractive and non-flashy. Even the sports models that have silicone instead of a leather strap share this classic, good look.

Although the Lily is small, it still delivers up to four days of battery life between charges.

When not in use, the lily's grayscale display disappears, leaving behind a patterned lens. The different colors have different patterns and give the watch a touch of class. The choice of colors is decidedly feminine, but reserved so that it goes well 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.

Long-lasting but disappointing display

The display is bright and easy to read, but its 16-level grayscale is a step back from the colorful OLED on the Apple Watch and Garmin Venu. The display of the lily isn't bad. It's just not as good as its competition.

The display is covered with Gorilla Glass 3, which is scratch-resistant. After three weeks of wearing the watch, the lens above the display is still flawless.

Robust wellness tracking compensates for missing functions

Like most Garmin devices, the Lily offers numerous wellness features, including stress monitoring and energy tracking of the body's batteries. It can even calculate your breathing rate and blood oxygen levels while you sleep. All of the great wellness tracking, sleep metrics, and widgets you'd expect from a Garmin watch are included in the Lily. Garmin saves a bit on activity options – there are only a handful of timed activities to choose from. While there are fewer choices than most other fitness watches, the activities included are wide enough to cover the basics for most people.

As great as it is at the spa, the Lily lacks some key 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 allows you to control the music that is playing on your phone. The watch does not have built-in memory, so you cannot download music to the watch for offline listening.

Our opinion

The Garmin Lily is ideal for a woman who wants to control her health and fitness with a decidedly feminine watch. The $ 199 price for the sports band and even the $ 249 for the classic leather model are 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 classic watch with basic fitness tracking, there is no better choice than the Garmin Lily. If you don't mind a more general look, Garmin Venu or Fitbit Versa 3 might be a better option. Both watches offer an always-on AMOLED display, built-in GPS, and mobile payments for about the same price as the Lily.

How long it will take?

The Garmin Lily has a strong feminine side, but that doesn't mean it's soft. Like most Garmin watches, the Lily is as sturdy as nails and durable. Garmin is constantly updating its watches with bug fixes and new features. If you encounter 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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