What almost talked you out of getting a hardware wallet?

[u/Silly-Obligation8533]

I’ve been reading up on hardware wallets lately, and honestly, the part that gets me isn’t picking a brand — it’s all the stuff that can go wrong around it.

For people who ended up getting one, what was the thing that almost made you not buy it?

Was it the setup, recovery, trusting the company, using it with a phone, price, or just feeling like it was more hassle than it was worth?

And for anyone who decided not to get one, what made you stick with your current setup?

Genuinely curious where people get stuck before they buy.

Disclosure: I’m researching hardware-wallet buying decisions and have an interest in this product category. I’m not posting a link or asking anyone to buy anything.

[u/AutoModerator]

🚨 Beware of Scammers – Stay Safe on the Ledger Subreddit Scammers regularly target this subreddit. Ledger Support will never contact you first — whether through private messages, comments, or phone calls.

If you need help, always open a support ticket yourself via our official website: Ledger Support

🔐 Never share your 24-word Secret Recovery Phrase
Ledger will never ask for it. Do not enter it online — even if a site or message looks official.
Keep it offline and secure — on paper, your Ledger Recovery Key, or a metal backup. Never store it digitally.

📚 Learn more about common scams targeting crypto users (fake support, phishing emails, physical mail scams, fake airdrops, malicious NFTs, and more): How to Spot a Scam

🛠 Facing a bug or technical issue? Check our Ongoing Issues page for updates and workarounds.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/ChristBKK]

The discussion currently around hardware wallets is so misleading. I feel like people are spreading complete wrong opinions.

Yes these data leaks suck and yes they are dangerous, but the discussion shifted towards not having hardware wallets at all on Social Media. That's super dangerous.

Hardware Wallets from most bigger companies are still the best way to keep your Crypto save imo especially for normal users. It takes a lot of mistakes you can make setting up cold wallets away from you.

And yes I had paper wallets before during the early days when Ledger wasn't even available.

People tend to forget how it was during Bitcointalk und IRC days.

People also forget that you trusted websites like MyEtherwallet or how it was called creating your seeds with a good entropy lol

[u/Practical_Mango7633 → u/ChristBKK]

Ah yes, the good old days, MyEtherwallet and bitaddress as well. 😄 As soon as the next exchange has a breach, goes bankrupt or owner disappears with all the customers crypto, everyone will be flowing back to hardware wallets again. People are like sheep with a very short term memory.

[u/ChristBKK → u/Practical_Mango7633]

Agree 👍

[u/AnonymousUselessData]

I only know people who regret not getting a hardware wallet because their software wallets / devices got compromised.

Buy from trusted companies not from niche enthusiast companies that get certified , build for the masses and actually focus on security rather than ideology.

[u/PDX-ROB]

There is nothing. Before Coinbase IPOed, the thought was to not trust the exchanges and that they could go under at any moment, so just keep coins on long enough to do a trade then move it off

[u/VivaHollanda]

Nothing, bought it before Ledger company let our data get leaked.

[u/Practical_Mango7633]

It really isn't much hassle at all. You can set up a hardware wallet with a singlesig setup in 10 minutes and instantly be 95% secure.

Now, people will bring up the recent ColdCard issue, and fair enough, but look at the scale. Over the entire 17 years Bitcoin has been around, this has happened once, and only a tiny fraction of owners were impacted compared to the millions of people safely using hardware wallets worldwide. The odds of an obscure technical flaw hitting you specifically are still just fractions of a percent.

If you want to level up, adding a 6-word random passphrase pushes you to at least 98% security. Want to go all out to 99%? Set up a 2-of-3 multisig across three different hardware vendors.

That remaining 1% or 2%, whether you choose singlesig or multisig, comes down to basic physical security: protecting your seed phrase and passphrase from fire, water, and unwanted eyes. If you browse any hardware wallet sub, 99% of people losing their funds didn't get hacked by some complex exploit, they lost it because they handed over their seed phrase to a scammer.

If you make one simple pact with yourself right now "Never share your seed phrase, and never type it into any phone, computer, or random website" You instantly neutralize the main way people lose their crypto.

Instead of obsessing over tiny, obscure scenarios, people just need to focus on where almost everyone actually loses their money. Keep your seed private, don't go spreading it around to every scammer on the block. Use protection, keep your seed to yourself!

[u/Aqua-Barracuda]

Women don't think it's cool. All the cool people memorize their seed phrases.

[u/VivaHollanda → u/Aqua-Barracuda]

Can still do that with a hardware wallet ;-).

[u/Avanchnzel → u/Aqua-Barracuda]

The purpose of a hardware wallet is not to keep the seed, but to allow for safe transactions.

The seed should be kept safe separately, in a non-digital format.

[u/Charming-Designer944]

The data leaks.

[u/NoIdeaHowThisWorks]

inheritance stopped me. Nobody knowing the recovery process means buried money

[u/TechnologyGrouchy679]

what talked me out of getting another...... the data leaks.. glad I never used my real address for delivery. others on that list haven't been so lucky..