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Cairn Outdoor Subscription Box Review – June 2017

Andy
ByAndyJul 2, 2017 | 7 comments

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

Cairn is a subscription service that delivers outdoor gear every month. They are inspired to enrich and expand the outdoor experience by fostering connections among those who create and enjoy it.

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

The Subscription Box: Cairn

The Cost: $29.95 per month with discounts for 6- and 12- month subscriptions

The Products: “A recurring delivery of outdoor related products sent to your doorstep! Get introduced to new brands and products, including gear, apparel, nutrition/energy, skincare, and more.”

Ships to: U.S. for free, Canada for $5, and Internationally for $10

Check out all of our Cairn box reviews and the Lifestyle Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

Here's this month's issue of Cairn Scout, which features full descriptions of each item in the box, coupons from manufacturers, and some new features like tips for using your new gear, a close look at the next Obsidian box, and more. It looks like it’s printed on easily recyclable newsprint, too.

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

Here's the Cairn logo sticker this month.

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

Bonus! Included this month is a 3-month subscription to Slipstream, a streaming service that serves up adventure films! Slipstream was recently featured in Nomadik, too, so I’m set for a while. I recently saw the trailer for a film called Huayhuash, about 3 mountain bikers who tackle a famous challenging circuit in the Andes, and can’t wait to check it out.

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

DrinkTanks 16 oz Insulated Mug – Value $25.50

According to Cairn Scout and verified by my quick research, Cairn subscribers are among the first to get their hands on this new mug from DrinkTanks! This mug has dual walls and is vacuum insulated, so it’s built to keep hot things hot and cold things cold. It’s dishwasher safe, which is great, and it’s also made of stainless steel. The outer part of the mug is some sort of wrap that has a subtle pebbled texture that feels great in your hand and provides some grip. I’m really loving the forest green color!

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

DrinkTanks Hot and Cold Mug Lids – Value $10?

What better addition to your DrinkTanks mug than a pair of lids built for hot or cold beverages! These don’t come with the mugs available at DrinkTanks website, but they also don’t have a product page up yet, so I’m guessing on the value. These are made of a pretty thick BPA-free plastic. They aren’t super heavy, but they feel durable. The hot lid has a smaller, tapered opening, while the cold lid has a larger wide-mouth. A ring of rubber locks into the lid itself and holds the lid tightly against the mug.

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

Treehouse Original Drinking Chocolate – Value $3

Cairn included something to put in your mug, too! This hot chocolate mix is truly delectable. I’m a fan of dark and milk chocolate, and even though this says it's a 72% cacao level, it’s not nearly as bitter as most 72% cacao bars I’ve had. It’s only got 4g of sugar in the pack, too. I’m not sure what passionate stirring looks like, but I think I did an OK job of getting it mixed up. It dissolves really quickly and I’ll admit I drank the entire mix in minutes. The final product had a slight hint of coffee to it, too (maybe that was just me though).

Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box! Check out my review of the June 2017 Cairn box!

Hydrapak Bottle Bright 12 Pack – Value $8

Finally, we have a package of Bottle Bright tabs from Hydrapak. Bottle Bright is a quick and simple solution to cleaning all sorts of things at camp or at home. You can pop one of these in hard-to-clean drinking vessels, stainless steel mugs (where would you find one of those I wonder…), coolers, hydration packs, and more. It cleans with no chlorine and is biodegradable. I have a stainless coffee mug that needed some attention and one tab got it sparkling clean in minutes, despite me trying to scrub it with a bottle brush multiple times. I’m super impressed with these!

Verdict: Cairn was great this month. The curation is perfect, with each item working in tandem with the others and all the items being new discoveries for me personally. The mug and lids are probably new to a majority of subscribers, and I think most people will really enjoy them. This month’s value adds up to about $46.50, which is well over the $25 investment!

 

What do you think of Cairn? Did you get the same box, or different items this month?

Andy
Andy
Andy is a professional photographer and a vinyl record collector. He loves coffee, gin, craft beer, and playing disc golf. Getting mail is one of his favorite things and he buys a new record every week but tells his wife it's much less often.

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7 comments

anna

After loving the last couple of boxes, I made the difficult decision to drop this box when they raised the price.
Whew!
Not regretting that decision now!

The cup isn’t a bad thing, but it doesn’t seem very special. Now there are a lot of ‘faux-Yeti’ mugs on the market.
The lids would be disappointing to me since neither of them close.

You were lucky to get a color you like, Andy. I saw a couple of posts from men that got more ‘girly’ colors than they would have selected. Not that there is anything wrong with men liking pink! Surprised Cairn randomly sent colors since they had been priding themselves on doing customized boxes based on the subscriber.

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Cassie

Yeah I got the ugliest brick color! Its like a brown with a bit of red. Super bummed! Would have been way happier with pink or teal or blue!

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Miranda B

I may be in the minority, but I was not impressed this month.

Going from a hammock to a cup was such a deflation of my expectations. How many cups and mugs and water bottles can a person have lol? I understand this is a high-end cup, but a cup’s a cup.

And then you get a couple of lids, and from the Instagram feed for Cairn several people have reported their lids are already cracking. The bottle wash is good, but for $30 I’d hope to get something more interesting in the outdoor theme.

Oh, and then some of us did not get a hot cocoa, which I would have loved as I’ve tried that from the Powell’s box, but instead it was a granola bar, albeit made from used beer-making grain groats, but all the same.

And those with Nomadik just received the three-month free Slipstream deal a couple of boxes ago, so it’s not that special (even though I have to say I am in love with the films–it’s a great change from Netflix or Hulu and it does inspire me to want to get out and enjoy nature more often).

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Andy

Hey Miranda! Did you end up getting the hammock box? I remember you were excited after seeing the last review.

I can’t speak to everyone else’s items but I can say that I’ve used my mug a couple of times, and I’ve washed the lids (by hand) and haven’t had any cracking issues yet. Hopefully they hold up because I do like the mug.

As for the cocoa, I’ve learned that Cairn may include different items based on your user survey. I can’t remember the survey exactly but I believe there may have been a section that talked about snacks or dietary requests – maybe people got different snack items based on that?

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Jen

Right there with you.

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Kris

If signup today will I receive this box??

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Andy

I don’t believe so. On their site it looks like new subscribers will get the July box. Sorry Kris!

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