Some questions regarding how these hardware wallets work:
1. Is there a way to check the balance of a public address, so that I can look at my balance without having to plug these hardware wallets into a USB?
2. If no, can I look at the balance if I plug into the USB of an offline computer?
Thanks for the help! Mainly wanted to better understand how secure these hardware wallets are compared to paper wallets.
There is another very easy and fast method for "long term" monitoring of activity without risking private keys. I use Trezors and Electrum for the record. I simply open my Trezor and generate the MPK (master public key) for the wallet. Now you can use the MPK in Electrum and quickly and easily monitor your wallet contents with NO danger of a private key being leaked or stolen by malware. You don't even need to have your Trezor around for monitoring a wallet using MPKs and Electrum. The MPK won't ever change and Electrum calls such a wallet a "watching only wallet". Safe, fast, sure fire.