Mounting a Tablet in a Van or on Machinery

If the tablet lives in the vehicle, mount it in a locking dock that holds it and charges it, bolted to something solid. If it comes out at every job, a door pocket and a 12V charger do the job for a fraction of the money. For a handheld, a suction mount and the same charger cover it. The rest of this guide explains the choices behind that, what vibration actually does, and how to keep a tablet charged without wearing out its port.

First Decision: Does It Live in the Vehicle or Ride in It?

Work out which of these is you, because it decides how much to spend.

• It rides in the van. You take the tablet into every job and it sits in a door pocket between them. You do not need a dock.
• It lives in the vehicle. It is the route screen and job list and stays on the dashboard while you drive. That is what a dock is for.
• It lives on a machine. A digger, telehandler, tractor or forklift cab. Usually more vibration and less space.

The Mounting Options and What They Cost

A locking dock for tablets

The Vehicle Mounting Dock (£109) is a locking VESA mount with a DC power input. It bolts to a dashboard or windscreen and keeps the tablet secure and charged on the road. It fits the Tuga A8, Tuga A10, Tuga W8 and Tuga W10.

Check any arm or bracket you add is meant for vehicle use and rated for the weight: the A8 and A10 are 680g each, the W8 is 750g and the W10 is 1197g. Whatever the mount, take the tablet with you when you leave the van.

A suction mount for handhelds

The Car Phone Mount (£17) is a heavy duty suction cup mount for rugged handhelds. It holds devices up to 7 inches, works one handed with gloves on, and fits the Tuga A6 (441g) and Tuga WH6 (470g). Do not hang a tablet off one: a Windows tablet weighing over a kilogram on a long arm is a lever working the cup loose all day.

No mount at all

If the tablet only rides between jobs, a door pocket is a perfectly good home, and the A8 is sized to fit one. Add the 12V DC Car Charger (£26), which has a USB-C output and a 2 metre cable and fits all six of our devices, and you have charging on the move for £26 instead of £109. If it ends up on the dashboard more than in the pocket, buy the dock then.

Where to Put It

• Clear of your view of the road: low on the dashboard, not in the middle of the windscreen.
• Clear of airbags. Check the vehicle handbook before drilling or sticking anything to a dashboard or pillar.
• Away from the heater vents and out of the wiper sweep.
• With the sun in mind. The A8 is listed at 800 nits and the W8 at 700. The A6 is 560, the WH6 400 and the A10 350. The lower figures are harder work with the sun on the screen. The W10 does not list a brightness figure.

What Vibration Does, and What Method 514 Covers

Drops get the attention, but a vehicle mount exposes a tablet to hours of shaking, every working day. Over months, vibration can work connectors loose, fatigue solder joints, back screws out of mounts, creep suction cups and rock a charging plug in its port. Three things reduce it: mount to something stiff, keep the arm short, and avoid a heavy cable hanging off the charging port.

MIL-STD-810 is the US military standard for environmental testing. It is a collection of test methods, and vibration is Method 514. Our MIL-STD-810H guide covers the drop test. Method 514 sets out how to shake equipment to represent what it will meet in service, and two of its procedures matter for a tablet. In general vibration, the device is fixed to a shaker table and run through a profile matched to a type of vehicle, for a set time on each axis, then checked for function. In loose cargo, it is left unsecured in a container shaken to simulate the back of a lorry.

The manufacturer picks the procedure and the profile, and a van dashboard and an excavator cab are very different tests, so "tested to Method 514" without the detail is a weak claim. And a MIL-STD-810 rating on its own does not tell you vibration was tested at all, only that the manufacturer declared compliance with the methods it chose.

That applies to our own range. The A6, A8, A10 and WH6 are listed to MIL-STD-810H and the W8 to MIL-STD-810G. Our listings give the rating, not the methods run, and we do not list vibration testing for any device, so do not assume it. The W10 has no MIL-STD rating listed. If vibration testing decides your purchase, ask us before you order.

Mounting on Plant and Machinery

A digger, dumper, tractor or forklift usually shakes harder than a van, and the cab has nowhere to put a tablet that is not in the way. So ask first whether it needs to be in the cab at all. If it is for checking drawings, logging hours and photographing the job, it can stay in the site cabin and come out only when needed, which takes the vibration problem away. A shelf or a bag in the cabin costs nothing; a dock in the cabin means a Charging Dock (£49.99).

If it must be mounted while the machine works:

• Bolt to a proper machine bracket or an existing mounting point, never to a plastic panel and never with suction. Check with the machine's maker or hirer before drilling the cab structure.
• Use the shortest arm you can, with some damping at the base.
• Check the fixings each shift; bolts back out under vibration.
• Expect dust, wet and temperature swings. The A8 and A10 are sealed to IP68 and list an operating range of -20°C to 60°C. The W8 is IP67 and -10°C to 50°C. The W10 is IP65 with no operating range listed. Our IP ratings guide explains the sealing grades.

Charging on the Move

A docked tablet is kept charged while you drive. Without a dock, the 12V DC Car Charger (£26) plugs into the vehicle's 12V socket.

Batteries differ a lot: 10600mAh in the A6, 10000mAh in the A8, 8000mAh in the A10, 5000mAh in the W8 and W10 and 4000mAh in the WH6. The Windows devices carry the smaller batteries (4000 to 5000mAh), so check how long a shift you need before relying on one without charging. The WH6 and W10 batteries are removable, so you can swap in a charged spare battery if you have one.

Two cautions. Do not charge a frozen device: a tablet left in the van overnight in winter needs to warm up first, and our winter battery guide explains why. And a dashboard in summer sun, with the tablet charging and the screen on full, is hard on any tablet battery, so if it is not needed on the dash, put it in the pocket.

Pogo Pin Docks, Explained

Pogo pins are spring loaded contacts in a dock that press onto contact pads on the device. Drop the device in and it charges, with no plug, no cable and nothing to line up in the dark.

The advantage over USB-C is wear. A plug does not like sideways load, which is exactly what a cable gets in a moving van. Pogo pads have nothing to insert, so docking puts no sideways load on a port.

In our range, the A10, WH6, W8 and W10 all list a pogo pin connector. The Charging Dock (£49.99) is a desktop dock with a pogo pin connection, listed as fitting the A10, W8 and W10, and the WH6 Charging Cradle (£79) does the same job for the WH6. The A8 does not list a pogo pin connector, so it charges by cable.

The Vehicle Mounting Dock is listed with a DC power input; its listing does not say how it connects to the tablet, so ask us if port wear matters to you.

Using It While Driving

A mounted tablet is a route screen and a job list, not something to operate on the move. Set the route and open the job before you pull away, and deal with messages and new jobs when you are stopped. Rules on using a device at the wheel are set out in the Highway Code and on GOV.UK, so read the current version for yourself. The safe habit is simpler than any rule: hands off the screen while the vehicle is moving.

Which Device for a Vehicle?

• Tuga A8, £379. Listed as vehicle mountable and sized for a door pocket. It has an 800 nit screen, 4G LTE, GPS + GLONASS and a 10000mAh battery.
• Tuga A10, £449. A bigger Full HD screen for drawings, dual SIM 4G, a pogo pin connector and the same 680g as the A8. The 350 nit screen is the compromise on a sunny dashboard.
• Tuga W8, £629. If your routing, fleet or diagnostic software is Windows only. A 700 nit screen, 4G LTE, GPS + GLONASS, a pogo pin dock connector, IP67 and MIL-STD-810G. Its -10°C to 50°C operating range is narrower than the Android tablets.
• Tuga W10, £649. The full Windows tablet with Ethernet and HDMI. It weighs 1197g, so bolt the mount properly; 4G LTE and GPS are listed as options, so ask us to confirm both are fitted before you order if you want it for navigation; and it has no MIL-STD rating listed.
• Tuga A6, £299, and Tuga WH6, £699. The handhelds. Both fit the Car Phone Mount (£17) and a Belt Holster (£22). The A6 has 5G and a 10600mAh battery; the WH6 runs Windows 11 with a removable 4000mAh battery. For drivers, our logistics page goes into more detail.

Whichever you pick, check your routing or job management app runs on it before you build a van around it.

No VAT to add, and delivery is free to UK addresses in 7 to 10 working days. Mounts, chargers and docks are on the accessories page. For several vans, bulk discounts start at two devices (devices only, not accessories), or ask for a quote if you would rather talk it through.