Hardware Wallets Review

Hardware wallets have been around for a long time. They come in many shapes and sizes. Each with benefits, flaws and limitations. This is part of a series I'm doing on making sure you BACK YOUR STUFF UP for when shit hits the fan lol because it will happen and it's going to happen at the worst possible moment. Being prepared for it matters.

What is a hardware wallet?

A hardware wallet is just like a wallet you would have online. However you access it only via a piece of hardware you own with extra security on it. These provide a physical method of accessing your wallets online and some even come with apps so you can track what is going on within the wallet.

I have personal experience with the following.
Keepkey - Now Shapeshift
Leger Nano S
Trezor
Ellipal

Out of all of these the most user friendly is Ellipal

Ellipal offers support for 35 Blockchains and 7,000+ tokens which can be found here - https://www.ellipal.com/pages/coin-list

Maybe one day we will see HIVE and LEO on this list ;) one can hope

This hardware wallet is the easiest to use and has an app that allows you to quickly glace at the tokens you hold and your accounts value at any time.

The design on this one is beautiful and it's super secure that it can take a decent beating.

---

Next up Is KeepKey

Keepkey was my first ever hardware wallet and I seriously love it. It's the first that was semi easy to setup and use. The company has recently been taken over by Shapeshift which is a trusted platform. However upon this change over the app they provide is pure garbage and I would not recommend using it. Instead simply login to the keepkey wallet via their website for access.

It's a good solid design, good durability the downfall of it now is accessing it is a bit of a pain however setup has become much easier.

This wallet supports 40 coins in total seen here https://keepkey.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003047479-What-Digital-Assets-Does-KeepKey-Support-

---

Third on the list is Trezor.

People swear by this wallet however I found it to be one of the most difficult ones to setup. The wallet also seems rather easy to bust. I honestly haven't even spent much time with it. From what I remember setup was complicated and hardware was limited in terms of yes it says I can have access to thousands of coins however the hardware is limited to just a few and you'll need to buy a new one.

Coin list can be viewed here - https://trezor.io/coins/
If you do get it I would recommend going with the T version for better quality and better access.

---

Last up is Ledger a hardware wallet I love but hate at the same time.

Hardware case this things pretty garbage it reminds me of a USB flash drive. You'll see all over their website discounts for a three pack and you most likely are sitting there wondering well why would I need more than one?

Well once you dive into setting one of these up you quickly realize how utterly pointless this wallet is. The ledger even though it supports a number of coins the wallet itself can only support at best 2-3. For example one of mine has bitcoin and Ethereum on it and outside of that I can't get any other wallets added to it unless I delete one of the two on there. Thus I need another one to put a few other tokens on. At best so far I have been able to get 4 on one of these sticks.

This is why I give this one the lowest rating. You'll end up spending more money if you want to hold wallets for more then two wallets.

A hardware wallet can be a good investment. It's another way to backup your wallets and keys for the just incase moment. It has more security measures however it has it's flaws as many are starting to put adds on the markets to try and steal information. Be aware of this and make sure you are on the correct site and links before moving forward. Once setup though it's rather setup and forget. Write your keys down, your password recovery and store in a separate place.

Overall this post is about security and making sure you save and backup often. Once you lose your crypto keys they are gone forever which could cost some of you thousands in the long run. This goes for LEO and HIVE as well. Make sure you have your keys backed up and on top of that backup backed up yet again in another location. Heaven forbid if your house catches fire and you lose your wallet and passwords etc at least your recovery is in a separate location.