Garmin wins big at CES, launches new products and updates Garmin Connect
Ready to run with the 47mm Garmin Epix Pro
We covered many Garmin wearables in 2023 and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) also recognized Garmin's efforts last year with six CES 2024 Innovation awards. The Garmin Venu 3, Epix Pro, and MARQ Golfer Carbon Edition were all selected as awardees in various categories.
Also: CES 2024: What's Next in Tech
Looking ahead to 2024, Garmin announced the Lily 2 smartwatch, HRM-Fit clip-on heart rate monitor, and a redesigned Garmin Connect experience coming soon to the smartphone app and website.
Garmin Lily 2 series
The Lily 2 is designed for those who want a smaller wearable that coordinates well with your style and fashion while still providing all of the essential Garmin health and wellness features. The Lily 2 series is available as the Lily 2 and Lily 2 Classic with prices starting at $249.99 and $279.99, respectively.
The Lily 2 watches have metal cases with a 35mm diameter and patterned glass lenses with a touchscreen display. A variety of colorways and band materials are available with the Your Watch, Your Way customization feature found when you order from the Garmin website directly.
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Garmin health and wellness features include Body Battery, sleep score, fitness tracking (including popular forms of dance), workouts and sports with connected GPS functionality, and women's health tracking. Garmin Pay is also available on the Lily 2 Classic watch.
HRM-Fit
While wrist-based heart tracking has improved significantly over the years, chest and arm straps provide better accuracy. Garmin's new HRM-Fit heart rate monitor is designed for women with its unique clip-on design that attaches to medium and high-support sports bras. Chest straps are not always the most comfortable monitors to wear so this new monitor is designed to provide accurate heart rate tracking without the discomfort of a chest strap.
The HRM-Fit has a clip on either end of the monitor to help hold the center heart rate sensor against the front of your body. It connects to Garmin smartwatches, Edge bike computers, and compatible fitness equipment. A benefit of using an external heart rate monitor like this is that you can capture and store your workout data (steps, calories burned, intensity minutes, and heart rate) without having your watch in range since there are some sports where a watch is not practical.
The HRM-Fit is available now for $149.99. The replaceable battery can provide this heart rate data for up to a year.
Also: The best Garmin watches you can buy
Garmin Connect redesign
One of the primary reasons that I use Garmin watches is the fantastic Garmin Connect experience found on smartphones and via the website. We've seen some minor improvements in Garmin Connect over the years, but Garmin will soon be rolling out beta versions of its redesigned app and website that provide a simpler and more customizable home page.
The same Home, Challenges, Calendar, News Feed, and More tabs are present along the bottom, but the data shown on the pages looks to be improved with a cleaner look that also provides key data like a countdown clock to your race, training plan status, challenge status, and much more. The press images of the redesign look great and I will soon be opting into the beta to test out the new functionality with my various Garmin devices.
The panels look to provide easily glanceable details that were previously only seen when you tapped into each metric. The At a Glance functionality should make using the app much more efficient with fewer manual interactions required to check your stats.