CMF's Buds Pro 2 and Watch Pro 2 are OK, but not for me

When CMF announced its new hardware – including a new phone, a new smartwatch, and new earbuds – I was pretty excited to finally try out the brand. For the prices it's being offered at, CMF's hardware looks great and offers plenty of features for the money. While I knew all of this would come with compromises, I was still very excited to see how good some of these hardware products could be on such a tight budget.

And overall, I wasn't completely disappointed. When I ordered the new CMF Watch Pro 2 and Buds Pro 2, I imagined one of two scenarios: either I would love these dirt-cheap devices, or the compromises would really show through and I would hate them. In reality, neither of these scenarios actually happened, and I want to lay out the case for both devices and explain why They might be a good fit for some, but not for me.

Not bad in a vacuum

If I had received the Buds Pro 2 and the Watch Pro 2 without knowing any other earbuds or smartwatches, I think I would be relatively happy with both. Again, for the money, the features offered are pretty wild.

The earbuds are packed with all the latest features you'd want in earbuds (ANC, transparency, latest codecs, long battery life, solid drivers, etc.), they look good, and the case has a really neat trick up its sleeve. The wheel on the top corner lets you remotely control the earbuds without touching them, and I found that pretty fun.

And the Watch Pro 2 looks great, has an OLED screen, is lightweight, and moves smoothly through the entire operating system without much friction. Without any other options, I'd say a lot of people would look at this smartwatch/fitness tracker and find a lot to like about it. Not to mention, it looks great on your wrist.

The comparison problem

But we don’t live in a vacuum, do we? While both of these new CMF devices work perfectly and are usable, there were a few things I just couldn't overlook. And that's all because of other accessories I've tried and enjoyed and now measure other devices against.

I was pretty disappointed with the transparency mode on the Buds Pro 2. ANC was pretty good, just a few weird frequencies coming through here and there; but transparency mode still felt like I was talking with my hands over my ears. Once you've experienced transparency like the Pixel Buds Pro or AirPods Pro, it's very hard to go back.

My biggest criticism of the Watch Pro 2 was the handling of notifications. I don't demand much from smartwatches, but notifications are a very big part of the experience for me. And the Watch Pro 2 is just terrible for this task. While you can see the notifications that come in on this watch, you can't really take any action on them and you can't delete them one by one. Even if you delete all your notifications en masse, they'll still be there on your phone and will need to be dealt with there too. An absolute deal breaker for me.

Still great for the price

Again, many of you may have never had a decent pair of wireless earbuds or never used a smartwatch or something like a Fitbit. If that's you, there's a good chance you'll love the CMF Buds Pro 2 and Watch Pro 2.

What I'm trying to say is that both devices are not bad: they're just missing a few key features that I'm looking for because I've done a lot of testing. I can't undo my experiences and forget what I like; but you might be able to approach CMF's new hardware with a little more open mind than I did. And in such a scenario, you might find that you really like it – maybe even love it – based on the ridiculous price alone.