Apple Watch Series 10: A Runner's Review – Road Trail Run

Design

This isn’t going to be a long review (I hope!), and I absolutely do not want it to be a spec regurgitation (you can find infinite versions of that on YouTube). But I will highlight two design features that are meaningful upgrades in my eyes.

First, the thinner profile is a surprisingly nice touch. Apple quotes the Series 10 at 9.7mm as 10% thinner than the outgoing Series 9 at 10.7mm. I had both (the Series 9 was handed off to my wife), and while the old profile never bothered me, the Series 10 is noticeably sleeker and makes life easier when tugging at the sleeves of my running jacket. It’s a small change, but a real one.

On the flip side, while my wrist can still reasonably handle the new 42mm profile (the smallest size available), I don’t love that Apple keeps creeping up in size every year. Someone, please, think of the small-wristed!

Second, this is both hardware and software, I suppose, but the speaker can play music and podcasts out loud. I never in a million years thought I would care about this—I never once wished to play media on my previous Watches—but it’s actually genuinely useful. It lets me listen to podcasts when I’m running through the suburbs early in the morning without needing headphones. It’s definitely not loud enough to drown out city noise or reduce situational awareness, but if you live somewhere quiet (as I do at 5 a.m.), it works just fine and eliminates the hassle of pairing Bluetooth headphones.

Okay, I promised two things, but here’s a bonus: the bands still fit! In a sincerely appreciated move from Apple, the same bands that fit the first-generation Apple Watch still fit the Series 10. Awesome.

Fast Charging

Again, I’m not here to recite Apple’s website, but let me put fast charging in a real-world context. I run about 70 miles per week, give or take… eh, 20? But let’s just say I run an hour per day at my paces. An hour of running—with GPS and the screen on, LTE in the background, but no music streaming—takes approximately 10–15% of battery. Maybe 20% if more background activity is happening. That’s not an insignificant percentage, but it’s totally mitigated by how absurdly fast this Watch charges.

My routine:

• I wake up at 4:30 a.m. and, while drinking coffee, charge the Watch from whatever percentage it was at wake-up (usually about 50–60%, since I wear it for sleep tracking) to the recommended 80%. This takes no more than 20 minutes.

• In those 20 minutes, I’ve changed, had coffee, prepped, and am ready to head out the door with more than enough battery.

• I finish my run, shower, work, and go about my day. By the evening—say, 7 p.m.—I throw it on the charger for another 15–30 minutes, and it’s back up to 80%.

Even if I run twice in a day, I don’t feel the need to charge in-between.

Don’t get me wrong—you cannot feasibly go on a trip longer than 36 hours without a charger and expect to have battery life left, especially if you’re running. But if you’re like me and are in an office or otherwise near an outlet most of the day, it’s a non-issue.

Running

That’s what we’re here for, right? The GPS accuracy on Series 10—while not dual-band—is quite good. I have a Coros Pace 3, and they regularly record routes within 1% of each other, regardless of GPS settings. Frankly, I don’t even use dual-band on the Pace 3 to preserve battery. In an urban setting, you’ll get the usual GPS wackiness (that’s just a function of the technology, not the receiver), but outside of skyscraper-heavy areas, I have no issues.

Heart rate accuracy is also very good, but it’s highly band- and fit-dependent. Unlike Garmin or Coros, where most users keep the stock band, the Apple Watch encourages swapping bands frequently. I have “liquid silicone,” nylon, metal, and leather bands, and none of them fit exactly the same. A band that’s even slightly too loose can throw off heart rate readings pretty easily. If accuracy is crucial to you, the default Sport Band is easy to adjust and works great for running. Just be aware that if you decide to sneak in a run while wearing a Leather Link band, you might see some inaccuracies. It’s not the sensor—it’s the fit. Get it tight, and the heart rate will be right. (There’s your rhyme for today.)

Now, let’s talk about the (lack of) buttons. Is it a disadvantage? Yes, compared to Garmin or Coros, it is. Is it a dealbreaker? No, but—and it’s a big but—you may need workarounds.

For example, if your runs include a lot of stoplights, you can turn on auto pause (which works well) or manually pause by pressing both buttons simultaneously. That works fine, and I rarely miss data because of it.

Splits, however, are trickier. If you’re doing workouts that require manual splits (e.g., not just relying on auto-lap every mile), the Apple Watch assigns a screen double-tap to take a split. Have you ever tried double-tapping a watch while running a hard 400? It won’t work, and you’ll get frustrated. Instead, I recommend third-party apps like Stryd (if you use a footpod) or WorkOutdoors (if you don’t), which allow you to reassign the two-button press to take splits.

Display Screen

Speaking of the screen—it’s brighter, and it’s great. My 42mm  has a resolution of 374 by 446 pixels up from the Series 9’s resolution of 352 by 430 pixels with the display area increasing by 85 sq mm.

Having tested memory-in-pixel (MIP) screens on the Coros Pace 2/3 and Garmin 245/255, as well as AMOLED screens on the Garmin 265/965, I find the Apple Watch by far the easiest to read while running, especially in anything other than bright sunlight (where MIP is at its best). On dark, early morning runs – the majority of my sessions these days – an MIP needs to have its backlight on (and again, credit where it’s due – Coros’s Night Mode is extremely helpful here).  Even in its dim state, the Apple Watch’s display is sufficiently bright, and I don’t even have brightness maxed out. On AMOLED Garmin models, I found wrist-flick detection unreliable, and the screens weren’t bright enough at off-angles (especially on the domed 265). Not so here.

Syncing with Strava—once requiring third-party workarounds—is now seamless. No excuses.

Conclusion

This ended up longer than I intended, but I just wanted to present my case for the Apple Watch Series 10 as a more-than-viable running watch. I wore it for a recent marathon PR (2:20:41 at Houston) and much of my training leading up to it.

Is it perfect? No. If I’m doing a technical workout—say, a 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 fartlek—I’ll often grab my Coros. But for easy runs, long runs, and tempo runs? No hesitation.

Every time I see runners getting shouted down for using an Apple Watch, I get a little disappointed. It has compromises—every watch does—but Apple is putting real effort into sports tracking, and it’s paying off.

I’ll keep wearing my Series 10… until they make an Ultra Mini, that is!

Michael is a patent attorney and graduate of Northwestern University Law School. Prior to law school, he competed collegiately at Washington University in St. Louis (10,000m PR of 30:21). Michael’s PRs include a 67:43 half-marathon (Chicago Half-Marathon) and a 2:20:41 marathon PR at the 2025 Houston Marathon. Michael continues to race on the roads, and is chasing a sub-2:20 marathon and potential OTQ in the future.

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The Apple Watch was a personal purchase.  RoadTrail Run has affiliate partnerships and may earn commission on products purchased via shopping links in this article. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content. The opinions herein are entirely the authors’.