Buying Rugged Tablets for a Small Team

If you are buying rugged tablets for a small team, pick one model, buy one unit and run it on real jobs for a fortnight, then order the rest in a single batch so the volume discount applies to all of them. Add a spare once you reach five devices, set every unit up from the same short checklist, and buy the accessories in the same order so nobody is improvising with a cable in the van.

Standardise on One Model

Give everyone the same device. The hardware is no better for it, but everything around it gets simpler:

• One set of accessories. Whichever model you choose, the same car charger, screen protectors and mounts or docks fit every unit of that model, so you buy in multiples.
• One setup. You work out the apps, accounts and settings once, write them down, and repeat them.
• One spare. A single spare covers the whole team, and when someone leaves, is off sick or cracks a screen, any unit goes to any person.

When Two Models Make Sense

Some teams do have two shapes of job: drivers who need something in a pocket, and site staff who need a screen for forms. Then run two models, but keep them in the same family so the setup is as close as possible, and check your apps on both. In our range the Tuga A6 handheld (£299) and the Tuga A8 tablet (£379) both run Android 14 and both take the same 12V DC Car Charger. The same logic applies on Windows 11 with the Tuga WH6 handheld alongside the Tuga W8 or Tuga W10. Two models is the limit.

Choose for the Hardest Job, Not the Average One

Pick the operating system first, because your software decides it. If everything the team uses runs in a browser or has an Android app, Android is the cheaper route, as long as you check each app on a trial unit first. If one program only runs on a Windows PC and everyone needs it, that settles it. If only one person needs it, see below. Our guide to Android or Windows for trade work explains how to check.

Then size the device to the most demanding job on the team. If one person reads drawings or PDF plans all day, everyone gets the 10.1 inch, because a model that fails for one person is not a standard. If nobody does, the 8 inch is cheaper, and the A8 is the one built to fit a van door pocket. Per device, our range is:

• Tuga A6, 6.78 inch Android handheld, £299
• Tuga A8, 8 inch Android tablet, £379
• Tuga A10, 10.1 inch Android tablet, £449
• Tuga W8, 8 inch Windows 11 tablet, £629 (£699 with a 2D scanner)
• Tuga W10, 10.1 inch Windows 11 tablet, £649 (£729 with a 2D scanner)
• Tuga WH6, 6.5 inch Windows 11 handheld, £699 (£779 with a barcode scanner)

Across a team the gaps add up. Five A8s cost £350 less than five A10s before any discount, and £1,250 less than five W8s. If only one person needs the Windows program, give that person a W8 and the rest A8s, and accept two setups: on five devices that saves about £1,000. A mixed Android and Windows fleet needs a spare for each platform unless the Windows work can be covered another way. The scanner variants are for people who scan all day; see our barcode scanner guide.

Buy One First

Before you order for the team, order one. Give it to the person who will be hardest on it and run it on real jobs for a fortnight. Install every app the team uses and check each one runs on the device; do not assume. Keep the box and look after the unit: if it does not fit, you can return it within 30 days of delivery in its original condition and packaging, with all accessories, and you pay return postage unless it is faulty (conditions on our delivery and returns page). You have lost a fortnight and some postage, not a few thousand pounds.

There is a cost. The discount is worked out per order, so one unit now and four later earns less than five together: on the A8 the difference is about £76 across the five. If you already know the model, skip the trial. If not, £76 is cheap insurance.

How the Volume Discount Works

Our bulk orders page has a calculator, but the tiers are simple. The discount applies to devices only, is worked out on the total number of devices in the order, and comes off automatically at checkout:

• 2 devices: 3 percent off
• 3 to 4 devices: 5 percent off
• 5 to 9 devices: 8 percent off
• 10 or more: 10 percent off

Three things follow. Mixed orders count: three A8s and two A6s is five devices, and all five get the 8 percent. A spare counts too, so a team of nine buying one spare moves the whole order to 10 percent. Accessories and warranty plans are not discounted and do not count toward the tier. On ten A8s the 10 percent discount saves about £379, more than ten car chargers cost (£260).

Paying on Invoice

If the order needs to go through the books, ask for a quote or proforma invoice through our contact form and pay by bank transfer. If you expect to buy regularly, an approved trade account lets you order on invoice and pay by bank transfer without asking each time. Either way the price on the site is the price you pay: no VAT to add, and delivery to UK addresses is free in 7 to 10 working days with no minimum order.

Accessories: Buy the Kit at the Same Time

Every device comes with a USB-C cable and a UK power adapter, and the four tablets (A8, A10, W8 and W10) include a hand strap. Beyond that, order what each person needs with the devices. Accessories are list price whatever the quantity, so be selective. From our accessories page:

• 12V DC Car Charger, £26. USB-C output on a 2 metre cable, fits all six devices. Buy one for each vehicle.
• Tempered Glass Screen Protector (2 pack), £14. Fits all six. Treat it as a consumable and keep a few packs in the office.
• Belt Holster, £22, and Car Phone Mount, £17. For the A6 and WH6 handhelds.
• Vehicle Mounting Dock, £109. A locking VESA mount with DC power input for the A8, A10, W8 and W10. Only for vehicles where the tablet lives on the dashboard; if it comes out at every job, a door pocket and the £26 charger are usually enough.
• Charging Dock, £49.99, or WH6 Charging Cradle, £79. Pogo pin desk charging for the four tablets, or the WH6, where devices come back to one place overnight. One per device that charges there.

Set Every Device Up the Same Way

With two to ten devices you can usually manage without mobile device management (MDM) software; the enterprise guide explains why it only starts to pay at around 20 to 30 devices. You need a checklist, written on the trial device and followed on every unit:

1. Number each device. A label on the back, and a list of serial numbers and who has which. Register the warranty as each one arrives, not when it breaks.
2. SIM and data. The A6 has 5G, the A8, WH6 and W8 have 4G LTE, the A10 takes two SIMs, and the W10 has Wi-Fi and Ethernet with 4G LTE as an option. Order the SIMs before the devices arrive.
3. One work account per person, not a shared login, so a lost device can be locked without locking everyone out.
4. A screen lock on every unit. The A6 and W8 have a fingerprint sensor, the A6 adds face unlock, and the W10 offers a fingerprint reader as an option. On the others, a PIN.
5. Install the apps in the same order, sign in, and set photos and documents to sync to wherever the business keeps them, so a device can be swapped without losing work.
6. Do a pretend job on each device before handing it over.

Spares, and What Happens When One Breaks

Every device comes with a 12 month warranty against defects. If one fails, it goes back, and for a team that is a person who cannot work until it returns. So once you are at five or more devices, buy one spare of the same model, set it up like the others, and keep it charged in the office. It counts toward the discount tier. The WH6 and W10 have removable batteries, so a charged spare battery can cover a long shift. We do not list a spare battery as an accessory, so ask through the contact form about availability and price before you rely on it.

For the longer term, we sell a 3-Year Warranty on every model, per device (£65 on the A6, A8 and A10, £79 on the W8 and W10, £89 on the WH6): 36 months of defect cover including battery defects (normal capacity loss excluded), with UK carriage paid both ways on accepted claims. It is not available on the A8, WH6 or W8 at the moment. Business fleets of five or more devices, on any model and sole traders included, can ask for a Total Care quote. Details are on the warranty page.

A Worked Example

Take a hypothetical heating firm with five engineers, whose browser based job management app has been checked on a trial unit, that settles on the A8. The order:

• 6 x Tuga A8 (five engineers plus a spare) at £379, with 8 percent off: about £349 each
• 5 x 12V DC Car Charger at £26, one per van
• 6 x Tempered Glass Screen Protector (2 pack) at £14
• 1 x Vehicle Mounting Dock at £109, for the one van where the tablet stays on the dashboard

That comes to about £2,415, with no VAT to add and free UK delivery. The five devices alone would still sit in the 8 percent tier, so the spare costs about £349. If the firm had chosen the A10 for drawings, add £70 per device before discount. If one engineer needed Windows for a service program, the answer is one W8 and five A8s rather than six W8s, and you would decide whether that one Windows user needs a W8 spare of their own.

If you are still choosing, Which Tuga? narrows it down with four questions, and the bulk orders page prices up whatever mix you land on. For staged deliveries, or a quote to show whoever signs it off, get in touch.