Cobo Vault specifications

What’s in the box?

• Hardware device, SD card for updates and battery

• Protective case

• Cobo Tablet for seed storage and letter tray

• Charging dock and USB-A to USB-C cable

• Screwdriver

• Warranty card

• Mnemonic tablet instructions

• Quick guide

Cobo Vault overview

The Cobo Vault is one of the more heavy-duty solutions available on the market. The device itself is air-gapped, meaning that it doesn’t come into contact with other machines at any point. 3G/4G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC are not supported, and therefore can’t be used as an attack vector. 

Even when it comes to charging, the battery must be detached and charged via a separate dock. And to update the firmware, users need to insert an SD card (loaded with the update) into the back of the device.

The only input the Cobo Vault receives from the outside world is through its camera, which it uses to scan QR codes from a smartphone app. With this system, users can still spend the funds they hold on the device without using any cable. But when compared to other devices, creating transactions with Cobo Vault is slightly more cumbersome. The use of a camera bears some similarities to the SafePal wallet.

Unlike many hardware wallet providers – who only provide a paper recovery sheet – Cobo provides a sturdy metal case to slot letters into. These letters can be arranged such that they form a 24-word seed phrase, allowing users to reliably back up their private keys.

What makes it stand out the most, however, is undoubtedly the “vault” itself. The display and battery are stowed away inside a metal case that protects the components from high degrees of physical damage, adhering to military standards.

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Cobo Vault pros and cons

Pros

• The large screen allows the user to make use of a full keyboard.

• The device never comes into contact with any other device, greatly reducing attack vectors.

• The device is wiped if physically tampered with.

• Open-source firmware.

Cons

• One of the most expensive devices on the market.

• Sending funds from the device can be a bit clumsy.

Cobo Vault pricing

As of writing in February 2020, the price of the Cobo Vault is $490.

To be sure of the integrity of a hardware device, it should be ordered only from the manufacturer or official resellers. Cobo offers a feature where users can authenticate their device once received, to ensure it has not been tampered with during shipping.

Closing thoughts

When hardware wallet producers qualify their products as vaults, we don’t generally take this in the literal sense. With its solution, however, Cobo has taken the concept a step further. The Cobo Vault is an offline (and waterproof) crypto wallet stored in a military-grade case.

At a price of almost $500, the Cobo Vault doesn‘t come cheap. But few wallets we’ve reviewed so far seem to eliminate digital and physical attack vectors as the Cobo Vault do. Usability and portability suffer as a result, but it has evidently been designed for users that want a robust and long-term storage solution – especially for large amounts of cryptocurrency.