I tried the cheaper bearings in hubs and pivots about 2.5 maybe 3 years ago and they didn’t last very long.
Looser tolerances and poor build quality = excellerated wear, I did have one of my bearings fail on a rear pro 2 after 12 months due to being ridden in horrendous weather conditions and all year long, one of this forums members was using them.
However the other 4x bearings were fine so we just replaced that one bearing, which for me makes sense.
What you have to understand about chromium bearings is that they will rust, the better the quality of material the slower it occurs, however even in my work shop with SKF FAG/INA or even standard bearings they will rust sitting on a workbench doing nothing.
If there is air in a bearing then you have the capacity for condensation when there are temperature fluctuations, if bearings will rust in a heated workshop then condensation will cause excellerated rust.
Also the grease in normal bearings is primarily a rotational grease at a 25% to 35% grease fill, it has almost no weather proofing qualities, you need a good water proof grease specific for bearings that will not harden too quickly, if the grease hardens you will end up with a siezed bearing.
I’m not an expert everything I know about bearings is from experience testing and just curiosity really.
Northwind what hubs were your bearings for? most of hopes bearings are SKF or INA/FAG except for the specialist size they run in the pro 3’s.