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I vote for the Watch, by far. My AirPods Pro's only use is to going out on a walk with the dog, where they're paired to my Series 5 and I can listen to my entire music library. But to be honest, I could as well take any other Bluetooth earbuds, and at home or while working, my AirPods stay stuck in a drawer while I listen to music through my Sony's WH1000XM4s. The Watch is always on me and very helpful with the notifications.

It doesn't help that I had to replace my AirPods Pro 3 times, due to the rattling issues, so I don't think highly of them, and do not intend to replace it with another set of AirPods (that's one reason I went for the Sony for full size headset and didn't even consider the AirPods Max).
 
A decision I couldn't make, both are incredibly useful.. I guess the AirPods are cheaper and a good start but I would definitely start saving for the watch as soon as you have the AirPods :)
 
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