Garmin Lily 2 Active vs. Garmin Vivoactive 5
Naila Syifa
Updated October 2024
Garmin Lily 2 Active and the Garmin Vivoactive 5 are two stylish smartwatches catering to women with active lifestyles, but they offer distinct features and capabilities. One emphasizes a more fashionable design, while the other prioritizes more comprehensive fitness and smart features. Which one is the better choice for you?
Key Takeaways
Garmin Vivoactive 5 supports more sports and activities, but the Lily 2 Active stands out with dance fitness support. Vivoactive 5 also offers a more advanced communication feature with the Garmin Messenger app, while the Lily 2 Active is limited to text replies for Android phones. Therefore, Vivoactive 5 is richer in features, but the Lily 2 Active appeals with its stylish and feminine design.
| Garmin Lily 2 Active | Garmin Vivoactive 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 38 x 38 x 11 mm | 42.2 x 42.2 x 11.1 mm |
| Display | Liquid Crystal | AMOLED |
| Water Rating | 5 ATM | 5 ATM |
| GPS | ✅ | ✅ |
| Activity Profile | 30 | 50 |
| Meditation | ✅ | ✅ |
| Dance Fitness | ✅ | ❌ |
| Wheelchair Mode | ❌ | ✅ |
| Music Storage | ❌ | ✅ |
| Garmin Messenger App | ❌ | ✅ |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, ANT+ | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ANT+ |
| Runtime (GPS) | 9 Hours | 21 Hours |
Garmin Lily 2 Active
Small & Stylish Smartwatch
✓ Hidden Display & Patterned Lens
✓ Built-In GPS
✓ Dance Fitness Activity
✓ Meditation & Breathwork
Garmin Vivoactive 5
Casual & Inclusive Smartwatch
✓ AMOLED Touchscreen
✓ 50 Activity Profiles
✓ Garmin Messenger App
✓ Wheelchair Mode
Design & Display
Garmin Lily 2 Active
While both watches look stylish, the Lily 2 Active is especially designed with a more feminine aesthetic. It boasts a beautiful patterned lens that hides the monochromatic liquid crystal display when not in use. The watch case is small at 38 mm and has a swim-friendly 5 ATM water rating.
Garmin Vivoactive 5 has a more casual, rather than feminine, design with a larger 42.2 mm case size. The display is a 1.2" color AMOLED touchscreen, which is more vibrant and has a higher resolution than the Lily 2 Active's monochromatic LCD display. It is also rated for 5 ATM of water resistance, making it suitable for swimming or other water activities.
Go with the Lily 2 Active if you prefer a more delicate, feminine watch design, but we recommend the Vivoactive 5 if you prefer a bright and color-vibrant display.
Health & Fitness Features
Garmin Lily 2 Active
Garmin Vivoactive 5 and Lily 2 Active track a wide range of health and fitness metrics, including activity, heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep and naps, and stress levels. These watches also offer features for meditation and breathwork, providing a more holistic approach to health and wellness.
One key difference is that while both watches can measure blood oxygen levels, the Vivoactive 5 can provide all-day blood oxygen readings, whereas the Lily 2 Active only provides on-demand blood oxygen readings or during sleep.
The list of sports and activities supported by both watches is quite extensive, but the notable ones include strength, HIIT, cardio, walking, pilates, yoga, running, treadmill running, biking, tennis, pool swimming, skiing, snowboarding, and rowing.
Garmin Vivoactive 5
The Vivoactive 5 supports more types of activities with its 50 built-in activity profiles, compared to the Lily 2 Active with only 30 activity profiles. Some activities that are exclusive to the Vivoactive 5 include open-water swimming, badminton, table tennis, basketball, volleyball, boxing, and MMA.
Garmin Vivoactive 5 even offers workouts for wheelchair users. When the wheelchair mode is enabled, the watch track pushes instead of steps and provides users with disabilities with an opportunity to stay active and motivated.
While the Lily 2 Active supports fewer activities than the Vivoactive 5, it offers one exclusive activity profile that the Vivoactive 5 lacks – Dance Fitness. This activity covers a range of dance-based workouts like Zumba, hip-hop dancing, EDM, and more. If you're into dance-based fitness, the Lily 2 Active may be the better option.
Smart Features
Garmin Lily 2 Active
Garmin Lily 2 Active and Vivoactive 5 share a few common daily smart features, such as smartphone notifications, Garmin Pay contactless payments, Garmin Connect Mobile app, incident detection and assistance, live track, and music controls. The Vivoactive 5 adds built-in music storage, so you can store and play music directly on the watch without needing your smartphone.
For Android users, both smartwatches allow you to respond to text or reject phone calls with text with pre-customized quick replies. The Vivoactive 5 goes further with the ability to view images from notifications on-wrist. Remember that the Lily 2 Active's LCD is monochrome, so that could be why image viewing is not supported.
Garmin Vivoactive 5 has another advantage with its compatibility with the Garmin Messenger app, which the Lily 2 Active doesn't support. Garmin Messenger app is different from the regular text reply feature in that we can compose the message with the on-screen keyboard instead of just selecting from a list of quick replies. It is also supported on both iOS and Android phones, so iPhone users will benefit from this additional messaging capability.
Vivoactive 5 also offers Connect IQ, which the Lily 2 Active lacks. It is like an app store that allows you to download and install additional apps, widgets, and watch faces to further customize your smartwatch experience.
Battery Life
Garmin Vivoactive 5
The gap in battery life for both smartwatches is quite wide, with the Vivoactive 5 leading far ahead with up to 21 hours of runtime in GPS mode or up to 11 days in smartwatch mode.
In comparison, the Lily 2 Active only offers up to 9 hours of battery life in GPS mode or up to 9 days in smartwatch mode. While that's less than the other option, it still should be sufficient for most users' daily needs. Imagine you going out for a run in the day, 9 hours is still plenty of battery life to track your activity.
Garmin Lily 2 Active vs. Garmin Vivoactive 5
Final Thoughts
Garmin Lily 2 Active
The Garmin Lily 2 Active and Vivoactive 5 both offer impressive health and fitness tracking capabilities, but there are some key differences to consider. While the Lily 2 Active may appeal to those who prefer a more feminine design and dance activity support, the Vivoactive 5 supports a wider range of activities, including those for users with disabilities. Additionally, the Vivoactive 5 offers more advanced smart features, such as built-in music storage and compatibility with the Garmin Messenger app.
If you like to read more on smartwatches, check out our other relevant guides here:
Garmin Lily 2 vs Lily 2 Active
Garmin Lily 2 Active vs Venu 3
Garmin Lily 2 Active vs Vivomove Sport
Garmin Lily 2 Active vs Forerunner 165
Garmin Lily 2 Active vs Samsung Galaxy Watch 7
Garmin Lily 2 Active vs Fitbit Luxe
Garmin Lily 2 Active vs Fitbit Sense 2
Author
Naila Syifa
Content Manager at Synced. She crafts insightful content on the latest trends in technology, consumer electronics, and smart home gadgets.
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