CROWDFUNDING REVIEW – Today I want to introduce you to a new multi-tool from CJRB. The Pocket Breeze is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. Let’s take it for a spin.
What is it?
The Pocket Breeze is a new utility knife/multi-tool from CJRB, a company known for their folding and fixed knives.
What’s in the box?
- CJRB Pocket Breeze utility knife
- Lanyard
Design and features
The CJRB Breeze looks a lot like a fidget spinner but unfortunately, it won’t spin. It’s approximately 3.1 x 1.18″ (800 x 30mm) and is made of either titanium, titanium + aluminum or steel and is available in several colors.
While it looks like a small utility knife, the CJRB Breeze features 4 tools in 1:
- Utility knife/Box cutter
- Bottle opener (the curved cutout shown above)
- M6/M8 bit driver
- Ruler (1.5 inch)
The frame of the CJRB Breeze has beveled edges and is held together with 4 screws. The sliding button that deploys the blade has a concave shape to make it easier to slide.
The utility blade can be locked in place with the screw/lock on the back side. You’ll also need to completely unscrew the lock to replace the blade.
The size of the CJRB Breeze is perfect for me because it fits in my pocket and it’s not too bulky. The titanium & aluminum version shown above is relatively lightweight, while the steel version is pretty heavy.
Using it as a utility knife is pretty straightforward. You just press and slide the button to deploy the blade. Reverse the action to retract the blade. Fully deploying the blade does feel a bit jerky because there 3 “stops”: closed, midway deployed, and fully deployed.
The CJRB Breeze pocket tool utility knife does not come with any bits, but I was able to test the bit driver function with one from my tool kit.
While I wouldn’t want to rely on this tool for all my bit driving tasks, it does work in a pinch.
Replacing the blades
Here’s the part where we come to a slight gotcha with the CJRB Breeze pocket tool. Replacing the blades. The replacement process is pretty easy. You just unscrew the lock and remove the button. Just make sure you’re doing this over a table cause there are 2 tiny springs that will fall out and roll away if you aren’t paying attention. Lose one or both and you’ll find that the tool will no longer work as well.
But the real gotcha is with the utility blade itself. The CJRB uses SOLLEX Mozart 60mm utility blades. While they look like regular utility blades that you can buy at Walmart or Amazon, they have 4 holes that are needed for the button and lock. The problem is that I am not finding this style of blade on Amazon or any other big box store when I did a search. That might make it inconvenient when it comes time to replace the blade. Also, as far as I know, only one blade comes with the Breeze. Yes, you can flip it for 2x the use…
What I like
- Small size
- Rugged construction
- Bit driver
What I’d change
- Springs are too easy to lose
- Utility blades might not be easy to find
Final thoughts
The CJRB Breeze pocket tool is a well-made utility knife with extra functionality that turns it into a lightweight multi-tool (sorta). As long as you don’t mind the fact that you have to use somewhat special blades for it, and you have to be careful when you replace the blades, this utility knife should serve you well for all your box cutting needs for years to come.
Price: $29.00
Where to buy: Kickstarter
Source: The sample for this review was provided by CJRB.
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What? No bottle opener? How can it be called a multitool without a bottle opener? Everybody and their brother includes a bottle opener. They’re on hats, flip-flops, belt buckles, you name it… Now that I think about, yeah, I don’t need ANOTHER bottle opener. 😉
It does have a bottle opener which I mentioned in the functions. GOSH! 😉
Those 4-hole utility blades appear to be identical to the ones from Olight. They are available there to complement the Otacle EDC Utility Tool.
Bob, thank you for sharing that!
I guess those 4-hole blades are typical European. All my utility/hobby knives, all purchased in the Netherlands and Germany, use these blades. I once got a pack from a Chinese shop and those did not have the extra holes, and consequently did not fit.
Interesting since I don’t think I’ve ever seen utility blades with holes like that. But I haven’t really paid all that much attention until now.
Well, neither did I until I got those without holes 🙂
As respected professor Andrew Tanenbaum used to say: “The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from”.