Garmin has just revealed a new smartwatch, heart rate monitor and serious changes to the Connect app in a big CES announcement

Garmin has revealed 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 model with different colorways and Garmin Pay NFC payments enabled) are “petite, fashionable” slender watches weighing from 20.6g with a  fabric or leather strap, designed to look like slim traditional women’s watches. They feature a ‘hidden’ display, with the 240 x 201px screen showing a simple wallpaper-style pattern until tapped. 

This is very different to the Forerunners, Fenix and the rest of the best Garmin watches, which tend to trend towards having 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 on-watch GPS, so it’s much better for runners and cyclists. 

The Lily 2 sports up to five days of battery life and plenty of features common on Garmin’s cheaper watches, including women’s health and cycle tracking, sleep scores, Body Battery (but not the more advanced Training Readiness score) and a pulse oximeter to check your blood oxygen levels. 

The Lily 2 is available now from the Garmin website, costing  $249.99 / £249.99 for the Lily 2 and $299.99 / £249.99 for the Lily 2 Classic, with Australia prices TBC. 

 HRM-Fit heart rate monitor 

Garmin’s HRM-Fit is its newest addition to the best heart rate monitors line, said to be “created for women” featuring a clip-on design tailored to fit medium and high-support sports bras. 

Like other Garmin heart rate monitors, it’s designed to connect to Garmin smartwatches and Edge cycling computers to transmit accurate real-time workout information. It’s said to pack “up to one year of battery life” and costs $149.99 / £139.99, with AU prices TBC. 

Garmin Connect

This is exciting. Garmin Connect is bringing major changes to its app, in a move rolling out to beta users from today. Joe Shrick, Garmin’s VP of fitness, calls this change “a simplified design” bringing “more relevant insights to each customer to inform and inspire them.” 

New categories will include Today’s Activity, In Focus, At A Glance, Events, Training Plans and Challenges. It’s unknown right now how the layout will differ from the existing list of My Day, Challenges, Calendar, News Feed, 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 may help onboard new users, it may draw criticism from established users should it remove too much of that depth.

Fitbit recently had a similar problem, with its new design drawing criticisms for getting rid of some legacy community features, and rolled out five much-needed fixes shortly after. 

We’re covering all of the latest CES news from the show as it happens. Stick with us for the big stories on everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

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