Note that giving one as a gift to a newbie would require you to tell him how to get the BTC into a real wallet.
Well, the person I'm giving it to isn't into bitcoin but he is certainly smart enough to figure it out if he wanted to (which he might not). All the info needed is on Ballet's website, so there's no need for me to explain anything to him--which is fortunate, because I'm not actually going to see him in person this holiday season. Lol.
Also, I believe the Ballet and OpenDime devices both require a bit of trust that no one at the manufacturing plant would monkey with the devices allowing someone to steal deposited funds.
Yes, that's the big issue here and I'm well aware of it. That's why I started this thread, in fact. I wanted to know if anyone had ever run into any problems as far as security went. Frankly I don't think many members here have used the Ballet wallet before, and I can't say I blame them. That damn trust issue you mentioned would keep any serious bitcoiner far away from a wallet like this one.
Earlier this evening a long-time BTC investor at ZeroHedge wrote of giving OpenDime devices to his young relatives along with a note how to retrieve the BTC. Because of OpenDime's being easy to pass along (by hand) WITHOUT an on-chain record, I thought this was a fantastic idea. The devices are cheap and apparently at least somewhat durable as well as small.. Once passed around a time or two, you have nice quiet chain/set of off-chain transactions...
I will continue to be thinking of interesting ways to pass along value (BTC) in quiet ways.
I presume Ballet cards would be similar in function to all of OpenDime.
The only downside is risk of loss or theft of the card or device. Hide it well!