Garmin Lily 2 Active review: a substantial update to Garmin’s most stylish smartwatch

The most stylish smartwatch in our guide to the best Garmin watches has received a major upgrade. The Garmin Lily 2 Active brings built-in GPS, enabling wearers to accurately track outdoor workouts from the watch without relying on their phone.

The addition of physical buttons makes it easier to operate, even with sweaty hands or while wearing gloves — something I tested during a few sweaty runs, and I certainly appreciated not having to fumble with the touchscreen.

The Garmin Lily 2 Active is the successor to the Garmin Lily 2 and Garmin Lily (originally released in 2021), and also adds support for pairing with heart rate straps. Plus, it features a range of new sports profiles, including activities like skiing, snowboarding, SUP, and padel.

While it maintains the more refined, clean and classic look of the Lily series, the Lily 2 Active now offers more functionality. So, I strapped it to my wrist and wore the new women's smartwatch for my runs, walks, and other daily activities. Here's how it got on.

Garmin Lily 2 Active review: price and availability

The Garmin Lily 2 Active is priced at $299, which is only $20 more than the Lily 2 Classic and $50 more than the standard Lily 2. Considering the added features, including built-in GPS, expanded sports tracking, and physical buttons for easier use during workouts, this price increase feels justified for what you’re getting.

You can choose from three color options; the model I tested features a purple band with a silver case, while the other options include cream with a gold case and dark green with a matching dark green case.

Garmin Lily 2 Active review: design

The Lily 2 Active keeps the chic, minimalist design that the Lily series is known for, featuring a 38mm aluminum case and a durable Gorilla Glass 3 display. This type of glass is specifically designed to resist scratches and withstand everyday wear and tear.

The Lily 2 Active is just slightly larger than the original Lily 2 — 3mm wider and 1mm thicker — but still compact and lightweight (29g vs 24.4g) for those who prefer smaller watches.

I’ve tested a fair amount of the best running watches over the years and this is the one design I’ve found I barely notice on my wrist, whether that’s during longer runs, high-intensity workouts, or in bed.

The LCD display is not full-color but it does feature a strong contrast, and I found the screen easy to view both indoors and outdoors. I took the Lily Active 2 on a very sunny morning run and had no issues reading the screen, even in direct sunlight.

One downside of the watch is it lacks an always-on display, meaning you have to raise your wrist or tap the screen to check the time or view your data. While this helps save battery life, I found it a bit frustrating when I wanted to quickly glance at the time or capture a photo of the watch for my Strava posts, as you have to interact with the watch to activate the display.

Garmin Lily 2 Active review: health features

Garmin has expanded the health tracking capabilities in the Lily 2 Active, adding more sport profiles, 24/7 heart rate monitoring, SpO2 tracking, and Garmin’s Body Battery feature, which helps you gauge your energy levels throughout the day.

It's a feature exclusive to newer Garmin models and one that I find to be particularly useful when gauging what kind of workout I'll do depending on how low or high my body battery number is, so it was nice to see this added to the Lily 2 Active.

The watch tracks stress, sleep, menstrual cycles, and pregnancy. While it doesn’t have an altimeter, which is what tells other Garmin watches how many floors you’ve climbed and offers live elevation stats during activity tracking, it still provides elevation data after an activity and when your activity has synced with the Garmin Connect app.

I noticed when comparing the heart rate and distance tracking with my Garmin Fenix 7 during a 5K run that the results were nearly identical, proving that the Lily 2 Active can hold its own against more expensive models.

For those who value safety features in a smartwatch, it includes incident detection and emergency alerts, sending your location to your emergency contacts if something goes wrong while you're out recording a workout.

When you hold down the top button during an activity, the watch can send your location to emergency contacts — something I found reassuring during solo runs. It's a feature that's not dissimilar to Check In on Apple Watches.

Garmin Lily 2 Active review: smartwatch features

The Garmin Lily 2 Active supports notifications for calls, texts, and app alerts, which can be customized to your preferences. This is a really helpful feature to be able to use if you spend a lot of time running or cycling outdoors where you can just glance at your wrist to see important messages or calls without pulling out your phone.

You can choose between several notification settings, including options like Show All, Texts Only, Calls Only or a combination of calls and texts. I liked having this kind of control over my watch's notifications, as I prefer to limit notifications to essential alerts like texts and messages and avoid distractions from emails or other app alerts.

The watch supports music controls, so you can easily adjust the volume or skip tracks without touching your phone. However, it doesn't have music storage. So, while the GPS is great if you want to do location tracking without your phone, you'll still need it if you want to listen to music.

Like others in Garmin's range, the Lily 2 Active supports Garmin Pay for contactless payments. It's useful and saves you carrying around cards, but, again, if you already need your phone for music, then you'll have access to Apple Pay or Google Pay on your device anyway.

Garmin Lily 2 Active review: battery life

Another notable improvement in the Lily 2 Active is its battery life. With up to 9 days of usage in smartwatch mode, it surpasses the 5-day battery life of the previous version. But exactly how long it lasts depends on your usage and other tweaks to increase the battery.

Having said that, I was incredibly impressed with the longevity of the Lily 2 Active. During my testing, I went a full two weeks without needing to recharge, even after logging GPS-tracked runs.

Happily, the watch now uses a standard Garmin charging cable, replacing the older clip-on charger. This is a convenient upgrade from the Lily 2, especially if you have other Garmin devices in your household, allowing for easy sharing of chargers.

Should you buy the Garmin Lily 2 Active?

The Garmin Lily 2 Active is a significant improvement over the original Lily model. With built-in GPS, a variety of new sports modes, and excellent battery life, it's a well-rounded device for those who want a capable smartwatch in a sleek, fashionable package.

While it lacks an always-on display mode and onboard music storage, it's a watch with a lot to offer and only $20 more expensive than its predecessor, which didn't have GPS functionality, so even if you don't plan a lot of outdoor workouts, it's still better value.