Garmin has unveiled the Garmin Lily 2 smartwatch and Garmin HRM-Fit heart rate monitor at CES 2024, along with a revamp of its popular Garmin Connect app.
The Garmin Lily 2 and Lily 2 Classic (a variant of the model with different color combinations and Garmin Pay NFC enabled) are “small and modern” slim watches weighing from 20.6 g with a fabric or leather strap, designed for look like traditional women’s slim watches. They feature a “hidden” screen, with a 240 x 201 pixel screen that displays a simple wallpaper-style pattern until touched.
This is very different from the Forerunners, Fenix and the rest of the best Garmin watches, which tend to have always-on displays. The Lily 2 seems to have moved away from that in a conscious choice to create a less connected hybrid aesthetic like the Instinct Crossover or Nowatch.
The Lily 2 differs from its predecessor, the original Garmin Lily, in that it (thankfully) has GPS on call, making it much better for runners and cyclists.
The Lily 2 has up to five days of battery life and many features common on cheaper Garmin watches, including women’s health and cycle tracking, sleep scores, Body Battery (but not the readiness score for more advanced training) and a pulse oximeter to check your blood oxygen levels.
The Lily 2 is available now from Garmin’s website and costs $249.99 / £249.99 for the Lily 2 and $299.99 / £249.99 for the Lily 2 Classic, with Australian prices to be confirmed.
HRM-Fit Heart Rate Monitor
Garmin’s HRM-Fit is their latest addition to the line-up of best heart rate monitors, which is said to be “built for women” and features a clip-on design designed to fit medium and high-support sports bras.
Like other Garmin heart rate monitors, it’s designed to connect to Garmin smartwatches and Edge bike computers to transmit accurate training information in real time. It is said to have “up to a year of battery life” and costs $149.99/£139.99, with AU prices to be confirmed.
Garmin connection
This is exciting. Garmin Connect is bringing major changes to its app, in a move that will roll out to beta users starting today. Joe Shrick, Garmin’s vice president of fitness, calls this change “a simplified design” that brings “more relevant information to each customer to inform and inspire them.”
New categories will include Today’s Activity, Focus, At a Glance, Events, Training Plans, and Challenges. It’s unknown at this time how the layout will differ from the existing list of My Day, Challenges, Calendar, News, and more, but the concept of a simpler app sounds interesting: Garmin Connect is often praised for its granularity and statistical depth. . While a more streamlined design can help onboard new users, it can draw criticism from established users if it removes too much depth.
Fitbit recently had a similar problem, with its new design drawing criticism for getting rid of some legacy features from the community, and shortly afterward it rolled out five much-needed fixes.
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