Garmin Lily 2 vs. Lily 2 Active: Key Improvements

Naila Syifa

Updated October 2024

The newly launched Lily 2 Active bridges the gap between the stylish and lifestyle-focused original Lily 2 with the more fitness-focused models in Garmin's smartwatch lineup. But what exactly are the new upgrades the Lily 2 Active introduces over the standard Lily 2? We'll answer that question by examining the two models across 4 key aspects.

On our list

#1 Design & Display

#2 Health & Fitness Features

#3 Smart Features

#4 Battery Life

Key Takeaways

The Lily 2 Active improves upon the original Lily 2 with a larger case, 80% longer battery life, a plug charger, built-in GPS, a new Garmin Pay feature, 13 additional activity profiles, and more advanced fitness and health monitoring capabilities like health snapshot, nap detection, cadence, and HRV status.

	Garmin Lily 2	Garmin Lily 2 Active
Dimensions	35.4 x 35.4 x 10.1 mm	38 x 38 x 11 mm
Display	Liquid Crystal	Liquid Crystal
Water Rating	5 ATM	5 ATM
Built-In GPS	❌	✅
Activity Profile	17	30
Meditation	✅	✅
Dance Fitness	✅	✅
Sleep Tracking	✅	✅ with Nap Detection
Health Snapshot	❌	✅
Smart Notifications	✅	✅
Garmin Pay	❌	✅
Connectivity	Bluetooth, ANT+	Bluetooth, ANT+
Runtime	5 Days	9 Days
Charging Method	Clip Charger	Plug Charger

Garmin Lily 2

Small & Stylish Smartwatch

✓ Hidden Display & Patterned Lens
✓ 17 Activity Profiles
✓ Connected GPS
✓ Dance Fitness Activity

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Garmin Lily 2 Active

Stylish Smartwatch for Active Women

✓ Hidden Display & Patterned Lens
✓ 30 Activity Profiles
✓ Built-In GPS
✓ Garmin Pay

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Design & Display

Garmin Lily 2

Garmin Lily 2 Active retains the overall design and aesthetics of the original Lily 2, including a hidden liquid crystal display, patterned Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lens, and a metal case. Both also share a 5 ATM water resistance rating, which means they can withstand water pressure equivalent to a depth of up to 50 meters.

A minor design difference between the two models is the Lily 2 Active's 38 mm case size, which is slightly larger than the 35.4 mm case size of the Lily 2. However, this doesn't translate to a larger display area for the Lily 2 Active, as both watches have the same display size of 1.00” x 0.84” and the same pixel resolution of 240 x 201.

Health & Fitness Features

Garmin Lily 2 Active

Garmin Lily 2 has the most essential health and fitness monitoring features, including heart rate tracking, Pulse Ox blood oxygen on-demand spot check and during sleep, respiration rate, stress tracking, sleep metrics, and Body Battery energy monitoring.

The Lily 2 Active retains all of these health and fitness features while adding a new health snapshot feature, which captures a comprehensive overview of your body's key health stats within a 2-minute session, a nap detection for more accurate sleep statistics, cadence metrics for running, and HRV status for monitoring heart rate variability.

In addition to the 17 activity profiles originally available in the Garmin Lily 2, the Lily 2 Active adds 13 more activity profiles to choose from – Indoor Track Running, Golfing, Disc Golf, Indoor Biking, Standup Paddleboarding, Rowing, Pickleball, Tennis, Padel, Skiing, XC Classic Skiing, Snowboarding, and Snowshoeing.

This way, the Lily 2 Active accommodates more recreational sports beyond the basic activities covered by the Garmin Lily 2, like running, biking, pool swimming, pilates, yoga, meditation, dance fitness, strength, and more.

The Lily 2 Active also introduces a built-in GPS, which can track outdoor activities more accurately. This is a huge improvement from the original Lily 2, which relies on connected GPS from a paired smartphone.

Smart Features

Garmin Lily 2 Active

Garmin Lily 2 Active now features Garmin Pay contactless payment, which allows you to make secure payments with your watch. This is something that the original Lily 2 lacks.

However, the rest of the daily smart features are shared between the two, including smart notifications, text response for Android phones, smartphone music controls, incident detection, assistance, and livetrack.

Battery Life

Garmin Lily 2

Garmin Lily 2 Active is rated for up to 9 days of runtime in the default smartwatch mode, which is an 80% increase in battery life compared to the original Garmin Lily 2 with 5 days of runtime.

The Lily 2 Active also uses a newer Garmin plug charger, while the Lily 2 is still using the older proprietary clip charger. Charging convenience may vary for different users, but the plug charger has broader compatibility with other Garmin smartwatches.