Ledger Nano X Review

The Ledger Nano X was Ledger's flagship hardware wallet when it launched in 2019. It added Bluetooth support and a larger battery to the older Nano S design, making it the first Ledger device that could connect wirelessly to a smartphone. At the time, this was a genuine differentiator.

Why it's hard to recommend in 2026

The Ledger Nano Gen 5 exists at approximately $179, which is only about $50 more than the Nano X. For that extra amount, you get a touchscreen, a faster interface, and an EAL6+ secure element chip instead of the EAL5+ chip inside the Nano X. The security chip difference matters: EAL5+ has a lower attack resistance certification than EAL6+, meaning it has passed fewer independent evaluations against adversarial attacks. The Nano X is essentially the older, less capable version of the Gen 5 at a price that makes the Gen 5 a better value in almost every scenario. I covered this in detail in my video After 7 Years, Why I Won't Buy Another Ledger Wallet, which goes through every reason my recommendation for Ledger changed over time — including how the Nano X aged compared to what replaced it.

Two-button navigation

The two-button navigation on the Nano X is the main UX issue. Navigating Ledger's interface using only two physical buttons for all menu interaction takes noticeably longer than the touchscreen on the Gen 5, Flex, or Stax. For a device that you'll use every time you want to confirm a transaction, this adds up. The small OLED monochrome screen also makes it difficult to verify long addresses — you're swiping through characters rather than seeing the full address at a glance.

Bluetooth: the main selling point

Bluetooth connectivity is the Nano X's main selling point over the older Nano S Plus, and it works reasonably well with the Ledger Wallet app on iOS and Android. The connection is stable in most environments, and the built-in battery means you can use the device without a cable. This is genuinely useful for mobile-first users who don't want to use a cable every time.

Ledger's track record

The same concerns that apply to every Ledger product apply here. The firmware is closed source. The company's track record has enough incidents over the past 6 years to take seriously: the 2020 breach that exposed 272,000 customer home addresses, the 2023 Connect Kit supply chain attack that drained user funds, the 2023 Recover subscription controversy that confirmed the device can technically extract your seed from the secure chip, and a 2026 breach through a third-party order processor. No funds have been lost through the hardware itself, but the frequency of incidents from a company handling security-critical infrastructure is notable.

Recovery Key not included

The Recovery Key is not included and costs $40 extra. Given that the backup method here is a standard 24-word seed phrase written on paper, and the Recovery Key is the product designed to give you a more durable alternative, the Nano X ships without a complete backup solution.

The Nano X made sense when it launched and had no real competitors at its price. In 2026, the Nano Gen 5 makes the Nano X hard to justify unless you can find it on sale at a meaningful discount, or you already own one and it's working. If you're considering the upgrade to the Gen 5, I put together a full setup tutorial for the Nano Gen 5 showing the full experience from unboxing to first transaction, which makes it easy to see what you'd be getting.

Verdict

The Ledger Nano X is a 2019-era hardware wallet with Bluetooth and two-button navigation, priced at around $149. It has the same broad Ledger ecosystem as the newer models but uses an older EAL5+ secure element chip instead of the EAL6+ chip in every current Ledger model. At only about $30 to $50 less than the Nano Gen 5 (which has a touchscreen and EAL6+), the Nano X is difficult to recommend for new buyers. Existing owners have no reason to upgrade immediately if the device is working, but for anyone buying new, the Nano Gen 5 is the better investment.