Breo Box is a subscription service for people who like to discover cool and useful tech, fitness, and everyday products - here's what to expect

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Breo Box is a subscription service for people who like to discover cool and useful tech, fitness, and everyday products - here's what to expect

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  • Breo Box is a seasonal subscription box full of interesting and actually useful products.
  • Four times a year, you'll receive a handmade wooden box filled with five to eight items in the categories of fitness, tech, and lifestyle essentials.
  • A single Breo Box costs $159, but the price lowers to about $137 if you commit to an annual subscription. The contents of each box seem to average around a $250 value.
  • I got to try the summer 2019 Breo Box and was ultimately impressed with the quality of the five products included. If you like trying out new products, Breo Box actually provides a great value.

Subscription boxes have become so ubiquitous - I pass by plenty on my building's doorstep each day.

Love trying new coffee? Wines? Stylish clothes? Perfume? Steaks and sausages? For every passion and need, there's a subscription box to match - but that doesn't mean they've lost their novelty entirely. Subscriptions are still a fun way to discover cool, innovative brands, try out new products, and make life easier by having things you love sent to your door on a regular basis.

Unlike most subscription boxes, relative newcomer Breo Box doesn't cater to one specific purpose, but rather just makes it its mission to help subscribers discover cool stuff. Breo Box is a seasonal subscription box filled with five to eight useful, unique, interesting products curated for the season. Spanning categories of tech, fitness, lifestyle, and home goods, the products are packed into a durable wood box and sent to your door every three months. We received the summer 2019 box and it's a good value if you like all the products inside. Plus, it makes a great gift.

Breo Box subscription options and pricing

You can choose from either a seasonal or annual subscription of Breo Box. Both deliver the same box at the same time (every three months), but with an annual subscription you'll save money in the long run. A seasonal subscription is paid out four times a year, with each payment ranging between $139-$159 (some boxes are more expensive than others). An annual subscription costs $549, and is paid out once a year, bringing each month to just $137.25. The value of each box seems to average around $250.

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You can cancel anytime, or just skip a box if you don't want to receive one for any given season.

The boxes ship once a season, during the second week of March, June, September, and December, respectively. If you want to purchase a box just once, whether to try the service for yourself or gift to a friend, Breo Box makes it easy to do that too, for a flat rate of $159.

breo box summer 2019

Summer 2019 Breo Box

I got to try the summer 2019 Breo Box, which was sent to me by the brand. Inside the box, there's a card listing the products included, and how much they would have cost if you chose to buy them individually. The contents amounted to $253 retail.

The box contained five items: an Ehko Waterproof Camera, Dodow Sleep Aid Device, OXO Good Grips Cold Brew Coffee Maker, BlenderBottle Stainless Steel Shaker, and That! Inventions Li'l Dipper (basically a heated mini ice cream scooper that can get through your rock-hard pint of Ben & Jerry's). For Breo Box, five products is on the lower end of the spectrum, but it still felt like a lot, especially considering all of the products are full-sized.

For me, many of the products in the box weren't ones that I would use in my everyday life. That said, there were some I enjoyed using and probably wouldn't have discovered without Breo Box. Here are the two standouts:

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1. The cold brew maker

The OXO Good Grips Cold Brew Coffee Maker ($50) looks like a complicated contraption, but it's surprisingly easy to use and clean. And, it made 32 ounces of cold brew concentrate - enough for me to make it through the week. I did some digging and found that this one in particular had already made it onto our list of the best cold brew coffee makers for its ease of use, relatively small size (perfect for countertops), and the included carafe, which lets you seamlessly store your concentrate in the fridge to keep it fresh.

2. The sleep aid device

The Dodow Sleep Aid Device ($60) was one of my favorite products in the box, mostly for the fact that it's so unique, but also because I probably never would have come across it on my own. Dodow is a French company with a fresh take on sleep aids. The one I got is a small device that uses a light system to help lull you to sleep. Tap the Dodow lightly and it will project a pulsing light onto the ceiling. The projected light will expand and retract over the course of either eight or 20 minutes (whatever you choose). As it expands, you inhale, and as it retracts, you exhale. After the set time, Dodow turns itself off, and you should be sound asleep.

This was an odd concept to me, but after looking into it further, it's not too complicated. By synching your breathing with Dodow's pulsing light, you bring your breathing rate down significantly, ultimately slowing down your metabolism and helping you relax. If your mind is racing with ideas and thoughts before bed, focusing on this light is a simple way to slow everything down and help you fall asleep quickly.

The rest of the box

While I really enjoyed those two products, I didn't have much use for the other three. The Ehko waterproof camera was a solid piece of tech and a good alternative to a pricey GoPro, but I didn't have an immediate use for it. Same goes for the BlenderBottle and the heated ice cream scooper.

But, it's worth considering that any of the products inside the box would make great individual gifts, so even if you don't love everything, you may still get a relatively good value from it.

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Bottom line

Breo Box is a cool concept and a service that will definitely benefit certain types of people. If you love discovering new products or being exposed to new brands, you'll probably love the boxes. If you're looking for a cool gift for someone who already seems to have everything, this is an easy but still creative option.

The downfall is sometimes you may not love all the products or want to use them at all. If you can reconcile that idea with the price, you'll likely find Breo Box to be a fun, creative service that'll bring unique and interesting finds to your doorstep.

Sign up for a Breo Box subscription, $159 per season

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Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Picks team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.

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