Overview

Cairn is a monthly subscription box service that specializes in outdoor gear, snacks, apparel and skin care products. If your an outdoors freak and/or a gear hoarder then this might be a fit for you. I’ve been a subscriber for a couple years of there original subscription box program. Like most subscription box program every month a box shows up with a surprise collection of gear on the inside.

Price $27.45 – $29.95 per month (Original Monthly Box) or $199 per quarter (Obsidian Box Quarterly Box) Pros Quality gear with a mix of well known brands and young brands

Consistent delivery

Simple and good reward program Cons Occasionally receive items that you’ll most likely already own

Value of items in box can sometimes not present any savings compared to buying them yourself online Rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (4 out of 5 stars)

Quality

The gear received has always been good quality. You’ll find many recognizable brands mixed in with lesser known companies. They’ve partnered with Klymit, Cotopaxi and Hydro Flask in past boxes. Part of the joy of these boxes is getting unique cool gear that you haven’t heard of and in many cases this is the case. That’s a plus in my opinion. I received a Pocket Bellows and initially thought it was dumb until I tried it. It’s now in my fire kit at all times. The overall branding and packaging is great as well.

Performance

Box delivery is always consistent and you’ll receive an email with tracking code about 2-3 days before your boxes arrives so you can track it. After receiving your box you’ll typically receive a survey on the box. If you complete the survey you’ll get 25 points that you can redeem for merch or additional boxes from the Cairn website. An additional box is 250 points so you’ll have to do a lot of surveys for it to add up or refer a few friends for 200 points. The Cairn website has improved a lot in the past year as the company has matured. You can easily build your profile, specify your presences and apparel sizes so the gear you receive is better tailored to you.

Value

The majority of the time you’ll find that the value of the gear you receive is higher than the cost of the box, especially if you buy the box subscription for a longer period of time. This is based on the MSRP of the items versus the cost of the box. It’s possible if you were to shop for each item individually and get sale prices that you could beat the Cairn box price some of the time. You can make your own interpretations of this but for me it doesn’t bother me that much. Part of the allure of a subscription program like this is getting the gear as a surprise. I’ve received many pieces of gear that I wouldn’t have normally purchased simply because I didn’t know it existed. I’ve received one box in the past twelve months that left we feeling bummed in my investment.

I’ve seen reviews for other subscription box programs and this appears to be one of the better options for value and quality gear. In each box you’ll also receive discount codes for the companies represented in the box and others that are not. Some will give you the best discount online that you’ll find while others are not worth using compared to prices you can find through some thrifty online searching. These discounts can also be found on your online profile on the website.

Manufacturer Information

Manufacturer Cairn Description Based in Bend, Oregon. A monthly subscription box program that specializes in outdoor related gear, food and apparel. MSRP ($USD) $27.45 – $29.95 per month (Original Monthly Box) or $199 per quarter (Obsidian Quarterly Box) Website Link www.getcairn.com

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