What is it?
Dave Asprey Box launched around 2016 and featured a variety of Dave Asprey’s favourite new biohacks priced at $100, but all the products tend to reach the $300-400 dollar value mark. The subscription box comes out every quarter, and you’ll be billed for them automatically around a week before they’re shipped to you. I’ve been receiving the boxes for around two years now and wanted to write a review about my experiences with them.
The boxes vary each time in terms of what they stock but usually contain items designed to combat modern problems that most biohackers face in relation to air quality, EMF radiation, Keto diets and junk light. The items will appeal to those more experienced in the biohacking sphere, so before purchasing, I recommend studying more by reading Dave Asprey’s book HeadStrong or Ben Greenfield’s Boundless to learn more about this aspect of biohacking, so you understand a little bit more about the reasons as to why some of these products were released.
There’s been disputes as to whether the boxes are worth the money or not, and I wanted to write a short blog post as to my thoughts. Shipping varies for those in the UK, starting from around 25 dollars but for the larger, bulkier boxes will be between 65-75 dollars. This is expensive, but in comparison, taxation is a lot lower, ranging from 5 dollars-25 dollars, which is nowhere near as bad as what the taxation of the boxes would have been and a lot cheaper than what they would be if you ordered everything separately.
Pros:
- In the end, you get more than what you pay for. Regardless of whether you like what’s in the box, which is extremely subjective, the total value of what’s inside the box is always cheaper than if you were to go out and have each individual item shipped to you.
- European/Australians/people outside the US save an absolute ton. I think the biggest advantage about the Dave Asprey Box lies in taxation. The level of tax on each box as customs has always been between the £5-20 mark as opposed to the £70-80. I would most likely be charged if I ordered each item individually from their respective websites in the US. It serves as a great opportunity for those living outside the US to get the newest biohacks at a far lower price in total compared to beforehand. Many EU members have to pay astonishing tax and shipping from the US. For example, if I wanted to buy the Hypo Air direct from the website from the US, I would’ve had to pay $150 plus the $30 international shipping and additional taxation, meaning the $100 Dave Asprey box is already saving you a load of cash.
- You get to be the first mover and even have some products before they’re released to the general population, which is a huge bonus for those who are always passionate about getting the newest and latest biohacks. Such examples of these have been from Dave’s company Trudark, which released its night light as part of the biohacking box before it was made available to the public.
- You get additional discounts off the products in the little manual he provides with each box. This gives big additional savings for those interested in buying either more of the product or more advanced versions of the product. For example, with the Hypo Air Filter, you can get 10 percent off the larger devices.
- Customer service has been fantastic for me. Personally, I experienced quick delivery on all items despite Covid19.
- Also, everyone who purchases a subscription will be entered in a competition to win additional biohacking gear.
- It can be a fun experience to learn new things. This might seem a bit cheesy, but having the ability to try the latest biohacking technologies for me has been extremely entertaining. Especially living in the UK where our “biohacking” innovations are not nearly as grand as those done in the US, it gives me an opportunity to receive items that are really hard to source and unique in comparison to what I’m usually used to.
Cons:
- Not everything is for everyone, which seems to be the case with disappointed members of the box subscription on the Dave Asprey Box forum. You can get an occasion where none of the box items appeals to you. Of course it’s about patience. You’re still saving money in the long term, and you can still learn to use and adapt to the items that the box provides. At the end of the day, it is really about being as open-minded as possible to new technologies and understanding that sometimes somethings just aren’t useful for us.
- Sometimes there have been faults with the items in question. For example, the Truedark Bulb that came with the fall box turned out to be faulty and the True Dark night light had some quality issues, but the customer service team has been quick to replace them.
- I found a few items to be utterly useless, most notably Dave Asprey’s “Placebo Pill”, which turned out to be just an empty pill… Again, it’s subjective how you react to each individual item, but this one seemed just very lazy.
Conclusion :
Overall, having been a subscriber to the biohacking box for two years now, I’ve really enjoyed the experience. I’ve learnt a lot about very innovative technologies that would’ve cost me a lot more to source and order on my own due to shipping and taxation. I recommend the Dave Asprey Box to anyone who wants to learn more about innovations in the health industry and has an open mind to learning more. Anyone with ridiculous expectations that each box is going to be perfect should try and reduce them as there will be some subscription boxes that will be a bit disappointing and fall short, but that’s part of it. It’s subjective and different. People have different wants and needs, so it’s impossible to find a random assortment of biohacking items that will please everyone. If you’re open-minded and willing to take in a bit of disappointment occasionally, then the Dave Asprey Biohacking box is for you.
The Rational Biohacker 