Peter M.
2020-21 Winter Box: Meh
The Breo Box winter 2020-21 box is filled with unremarkable and downright cheap items. Starting with the most expensive item, the LSTN "The Palladium" wireless earbuds. While they sound pretty good when listening to music, the mic for using them on phone calls is terrible. The people I was talking to said it sounded like I was speaking to them from under a blanket. Also, the shape and fit of the buds could use some work. Walking around my house, the buds would fall out after about 50 steps. I've yet to take them outdoors for fear that they'll fall out on the ground or into a storm drain. Also, Breo is a little deceptive when saying on their site that the buds cost $129 when on the LSTN website they're only $99. Next is the UV sanitizer, the Lume wand. Since I'm not a scientist, I can't speak to its effectiveness, I can only speak to ease-of-use. The small surface area the Lume covers and the 10 second per area requirement limits the utility of the wand to small items like keys and phones. Doing anything larger would take an inordinate amount of time. At least Lume exists as a company. The next two items come from companies that don't exist or, at least, don't have websites. The Sohp touchless soap dispenser and the Casalink smart WiFi plugs. I went looking for the websites because, unlike the other reviewers, my soap dispenser delivered too much soap! I couldn't find any company on the web called, "Sohp". I was trying to figure out how to moderate the amount that poured out of it. It's too much! It delivers a very large glob of soap. So much that people generally pull their hand away before it's done pouring. You end up with a minor mess and a lot of wasted soap (the soap that comes in the box is just expensive liquid soap, nothing special). Also, Casalink doesn't exist. When trying to set up the outlets on a generic app, they don't connect to my Pixel phone. I went to look for the website to try and troubleshoot. There's nothing on the box that indicates how to contact the company. Also, I couldn't find a "Casalink" company on the internet. Without WiFi connection they're basically unusable. Two product fails. The last item in the box actually sounded pretty cool - except that it only works with paper cups. Like many people, I've stopped using paper cups for coffee. I use a Yeti tumbler because of the environmental impact and the effectiveness of the tumbler in keeping drinks hot (or cold). I was hoping that the cookie would go *in* the mug to heat the coffee not the mug. Nope. It's a coffee trivet. You set your coffee on it and it warms the outside of the cup, helping warm the coffee inside (they say it will work with ceramic mugs but that seems unlikely). I guess in this time of COVID and few coffee shops allowing you to use your personal mug, it's handy. Hopefully, that won't be for much longer. In a nutshell, the winter Breo box is pretty underwhelming. Save your money, get a pair of Skull Candy or Anker wireless earbuds, a Yeti tumbler, and a Method hand soap dispenser. If you're a real germaphobe you can get the Lume product off their website.



