The Lily is Garmin’s smallest smartwatch/fitness tracker to date, and its first model designed specifically for women. It features an attractive, patterned face and a 14mm band that’s much slimmer than most smartwatch straps, so you can wear it alongside other jewelry. More than just beautiful, the Lily can track health stats such as your blood oxygen saturation, calories burned, energy level, heart rate, respiration, sleep, steps, stress, and workouts. It also offers more typical smartwatch features such as phone notifications, music playback controls, and various widgets. It lacks a color, always-on display and several other features you get with Garmin’s Vivoactive 4/4S, but it also costs significantly less. And while it isn’t quite as value-rich as the similarly priced Fitbit Versa 3, the Lily is an excellent choice if you’re looking for a fitness-focused smartwatch that prioritizes style and won’t break the bank.
The Classic model comes in dark bronze with a matching band, gold with a black band, or gold with a white band. The Sport model comes in gold with a white band, rose gold with a tan band, or midnight orchid (a plum color) with a matching band. T-bar lugs connect the Lily’s slim 14mm band to its button-free 34mm case, and a matching metal clasp finishes off the look.
It is very simple to setup and navigate. To set up the Garmin Lily, just plug it into a power source and wait for “Hello!” to appear on the screen. Then download the Garmin Connect app (available for Android and iOS), tap More > Garmin Devices > Add Device, and follow the on-screen instructions. In testing, the app immediately found the watch and asked if I wanted to connect it. When a six-digit code appears on the Lily’s screen, enter it in the app to pair the watch with your phone via Bluetooth. The app then asks for permission to display phone notifications.
Lily reliably displayed notifications from phone apps, and alerted me to incoming calls. Android users have the added benefit of being able to reply to texts from the watch itself, though you can only select from a list of quick messages.
The calendar and weather widgets are helpful. The former shows any upcoming events on your schedule that day, and the latter shows the current conditions as well as a three-day forecast.
While the Lily doesn’t feature onboard music storage like the Vivoactive 4, its music widget lets you control the playback and volume of tunes. I had no problem pausing and skipping Spotify tracks with it.
Finally, but perhaps most importantly, the Lily offers a nice safety feature that lets you quickly send a notification with your whereabouts to your emergency contacts if you get into trouble. To do so, tap firmly and rapidly on the screen until the device vibrates three times. You can also request assistance from the controls menu using the star icon. The watch will then vibrate and display a five-second countdown timer before notifying your emergency contacts. I once accidentally triggered this feature, but was able to cancel it in time.
The Garmin Lily’s attractive, female-focused design is its biggest selling point, but it also offers an impressive set of health-related features for its small size. It can measure your blood oxygen saturation level on demand and as you sleep, monitor your breathing and stress, keep tabs on your heart rate 24/7, and send you alerts for unusually high and/or low heart rate readings. It also has lots of useful widgets that let you quickly view your health stats and fitness metrics, including your steps, calories burned, and weekly intensity minutes.
Garmin Lily Is a perfect gift for your mother, partner and sisters.