So today I got my first hardware wallet, the Nano Ledger S. The technology out of the box and the first minute or two going through two helpful youtube videos to get me started, which you can find below, I was already seeing the value of not only taking the risk away from an exchange hack or close-down, but just fascination of the encryption and security involved in this cool little gadget.
I got mine from https://www.cryptohwwallet.com/ (not getting any money for saying this), and if you put the discount code juangalt, you get 5% off your purchase. There is a bit of a delay to get it at the price I did (69 dollars, free shipping) but I called their customer service and talked to Joseph, who is the owner and totally awesome, he put a rush on my order! Oh, and he got me a Monero T-Shirt to boot!
With this little guy I was able to store Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Ethereum Classic companion apps, and other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. Here are the current altcoins supported:
Bitcoin
Ethereum / Ethereum Classic
Litecoin
Dogecoin
Zcash (z-addresses are not supported)
Dash
Stratis
and now..... Ripple!
You can send and receive payments, check your accounts and manage multiple addresses for each currency from the same device.
First though, before you follow the directions in the videos below, you need to download the Ledger Manger, Ledger Wallet for Bitcoins and Altcoins and Ledger Wallet Ethereum. From the Ledger Manager, you can download the rest, then you are ready to roll.
One of the hangups I had dealt with is when it asks you to enable browser support, when using this site you have to say no, and then it will sync with the site's view of your Nano Ledger.
Try a few small transactions and get comfortable. And make sure to make triplicates in multiple locations of your 24 word passcard!