Health tracking with the Garmin Lily 2 Active

Garmin Lily 2 Active is not just an elegant steps tracker, but also a reliable health tracking tool. With it, you can keep an eye on many aspects of your health and wellbeing. First of all, you can use it to monitor your heart rate in real time and see how it evolves during the day vs. when you sleep or when you workout. The watch can also detect when your heart rate is abnormal (low or high) and display alerts so that you can do something about it. You can also activate the Pulse Ox measurements to see how your blood oxygen level evolves, and have it tracked automatically during sleep or throughout the day. Keep in mind this measurement requires a lot of energy, and if you choose to enable continuous monitoring, you'll need to charge the Garmin Lily 2 Active more frequently.

The Pulse Ox measurements lower battery life

One of the most important health tracking features added by Garmin Lily 2 Active are the HRV (Heart-Rate Variability) measurements, which aren't available on its predecessors. This metric is useful in understanding how well your body adapts to your training schedule and the daily stress you're facing. People who are less stressed and happier tend to have a higher HRV, while a low HRV score indicates your body is less resilient and you need to train less, rest, or do something to lower your stress.

During my testing, I found this metric accurate in reflecting my energy level and stress resilience. During the last few weeks, I worked intensely on finishing the writing of my upcoming book. This effort took a toll on my body, and my HRV metrics were unbalanced for some time. They got back to normal only after I finished writing and spent a few days working less and focusing more on getting enough sleep and rest.

The HRV metrics are very useful

The Garmin Lily 2 Active also monitors your stress levels and shares recommendations on what you could do to lower them. The coaching part was also extended to Garmin's sleep tracking. The smartwatch not only tracks how long you sleep and how much time your body spends in each sleep stage, but also gives you recommendations on how to adjust your sleep schedule to better meet your body's needs. It can also record naps and add them to your sleep schedule.

Sleep tracking and sleep coaching are available

Garmin Lily 2 Active can also track your respiration rate and share relaxation reminders when it detects that you could benefit from some breathing exercises. To complement the picture, you can also log your weight regularly and see trends on how it evolves, log your daily fluid intake to keep yourself hydrated, and get calculations on how many calories your body burns each day.

You can log your fluid intake

Garmin Lily 2 Active is designed for women, so Women's Health tracking is mandatory. You can use this smartwatch for both menstrual cycle and pregnancy tracking. My girlfriend tested it for a few days, and she found the Menstrual Cycle tracking reliable, with useful information and recommendations for each phase. She also appreciated the log system for recording how she feels and what goes on with her body.

From a health-tracking perspective, the Lily 2 Active is a welcome upgrade in Garmin's Lily line-up. Its sensors were expanded to include HRV (Heart-Rate Variability) measurements and provide more health data and coaching than all its predecessors. At the time of writing, the only Garmin smartwatch for women that can deliver even better health-tracking is the Garmin Venu 3S.

Sports tracking with Garmin Lily 2 Active

While the Garmin Lily 2 Active also adds improvements to the sports tracking capabilities of the Lily line-up, it continues to be a smartwatch designed for women who want an active and healthy lifestyle. It's not a good fit for women who are seriously invested in high performance sports and need professional tracking of their physical activities. However, its built-in GPS tracking increases its precision when monitoring activities like outdoor running or biking, and the stats you get at the end of a workout are more reliable. This is a welcome improvement in my view, and hopefully, we won't see new smartwatches from Garmin without built-in GPS. No matter how niche they are.🙂

Sports tracking is enhanced by the built-in GPS

Like its predecessor, the Lily 2 Classic, the Lily 2 Active features a well-designed Dance Fitness tracking profile, which caters to various dance styles, including Zumba, Afrobeat, Bollywood, EDM, hip-hop, pop, jazz, and cardio dancing. The smartwatch also introduces new tracking profiles for tennis, golf, skiing, and snowboarding - activities not available on previous Lily models.

However, the range of sports that can be tracked remains limited compared to what the competitors are offering. For instance, I was unable to track a recent hiking trip with the Garmin Lily 2 Active. Ironically, during this hike, I encountered numerous women using their smartwatches to track their activities. This limitation seems particularly arbitrary, as the Lily 2 Active possesses all the necessary sensors for basic hiking tracking.

Garmin's approach to including certain sports tracking profiles appears inconsistent. I believe they should offer all sports tracking profiles across their smartwatch lineup, excluding only those activities that require sensors not present in specific models. To avoid disappointment, potential buyers should carefully review the official specifications for the Garmin Lily 2 Active, and the Activity Profiles list, to ensure this smartwatch can track their preferred activities.

Garmin Lily 2 Active can track a total of 30 activities

An area where the Garmin Lily 2 Active shines is the coaching platform you get included in the price of the product. If you want to improve your fitness level and train for your first half marathon, or simply want to improve how you look, Garmin has you covered. You can access training plans from real-life coaches that guide you to achieving your running or cycling goals, or you can follow guided workouts for improving your fitness, including yoga and pilates.

Garmin offers excellent coaching plans and guided workouts

Last but not least, I would like to mention the ANT+ connectivity added to the Garmin Lily 2 Active, which allows you to connect your smartwatch to other fitness devices like heart rate monitors, treadmills, etc. This feature increases its usefulness for women who take sports seriously and require more extensive and accurate tracking of their workouts.

When it comes to sports tracking, the Garmin Lily 2 Active is the most capable model in the Lily series. Its integrated GPS chip enables more accurate tracking of outdoor activities, while the expanded range of trackable activities makes it more versatile than its predecessors. Another positive is that it provides access to professional coaching plans and popular women-focused workouts. Overall, the Garmin Lily 2 Active is a great fitness companion for casual to moderate users. However, it may not satisfy demanding fitness enthusiasts who regularly participate in sports activities beyond its tracking capabilities.

Do you like the Garmin Lily 2 Active?

It's time to wrap up this lengthy review. I hope you found it useful and that you have a good understanding of this product, as well as its strengths, quirks, and weaknesses. If you have any questions left unanswered, don't hesitate to use the commenting options below and share them. And if you already have it and are using it, do comment with your impressions. I'm sure they'll help others interested in purchasing the Garmin Lily 2 Active. Thank you!🙂