Pros
- Excellent aviation-specific tools
- Bright AMOLED touchscreen
- Lightweight and comfortable
- HSI and Direct-to navigation
- Worldwide aviation database
- Automatic flight logging
- Garmin Pilot integration
- Good battery life
- Music, Garmin Pay and calls
Cons
- No moving aviation map
- No ForeFlight integration
- Older health sensor platform
- No multi-band GPS
- No ECG
- No LED flashlight
- Newer X15 is substantially more capable
- Always-on display reduces battery considerably
- Limited appeal for non-pilots
Garmin D2 Air X10 has aged surprisingly well.
Its 1.3-inch AMOLED display still looks sharp, the 51 g body remains comfortable and Garmin's core aviation tools haven't suddenly become useless just because a newer model exists.
Direct-to navigation, HSI guidance, airport information, METAR access and automatic flight logging are all genuinely useful capabilities — particularly as convenient secondary tools or navigation backups.
But pilots should be realistic about what they're buying.
An iPad running ForeFlight or Garmin Pilot provides far more information on a much larger screen, and several pilots say that's where they spend most of their cockpit time anyway. The D2 Air X10 complements those tools rather than replacing them.
And then there's the D2 Air X15.
Garmin's newer model brings a bigger AMOLED display, up to 10 days of battery life, multi-band GPS, ECG, a flashlight, newer training metrics and considerably more sophisticated aviation connectivity. At CA$899.99, it also establishes the price ceiling against which any X10 deal needs to be judged.
Comment
by
u/dingo-philosopher from discussion
in
aviation
That leaves the X10 in an interesting position.
At a substantial discount, it's still a very good aviation smartwatch. Near X15 pricing, there is little reason to choose it.
For a student pilot, private pilot or Garmin Pilot user who finds one at the right price, the D2 Air X10 remains an easy watch to like.
Key data
Specifications
- Display
- 1.3-inch AMOLED
- Resolution
- 416 × 416
- Always-on display
- Yes
- Lens
- Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- Bezel
- Stainless steel
- Case
- Fiber-reinforced polymer with stainless-steel rear cover
- Size
- 43.6 × 43.6 × 12.6 mm
- Weight
- 51 g
- Band
- 20 mm quick release
- Water resistance
- 5 ATM
- Smartwatch battery
- Up to 7 days
- GPS battery
- Up to 24 hours
- GPS + Pulse Ox
- Up to 20 hours
- GPS + music
- Up to 8 hours
- Heart rate
- Garmin Elevate wrist HR
- Pulse Ox
- Yes
- GPS
- GPS / GLONASS / Galileo
- Barometric altimeter
- Yes
- Music storage
- Up to 650 songs
- Garmin Pay
- Yes
- Speaker/microphone
- Yes
- Calls from watch
- Yes, with connected phone
- Voice assistant
- Siri / Google Assistant / Bixby via phone
- Sports profiles
- 25+
- Aviation database
- Worldwide
- Direct-to navigation
- Yes
- Nearest airport
- Yes
- HSI navigation
- Yes
- METAR/weather
- Yes, with connected phone
- Automatic flight logging
- Yes
- Garmin Pilot integration
- Yes
- ForeFlight integration
- No
- Moving aviation map
- No
- Multi-band GPS
- No
- ECG
- No
- LED flashlight
- No
