Removable Batteries: Why They Matter and Which Tugas Have One

Five of the six devices in our range have a removable battery: the Tuga A6 (5050mAh), the Tuga A8 (8000mAh), the Tuga WH6 (4000mAh), the Tuga W8 (5000mAh) and the Tuga W10 (5000mAh). The Tuga A10 has the biggest battery of the tablets at 8000mAh, but it is not listed as removable. Whether that matters to you comes down to two questions: do your days run longer than one charge, and do you plan to keep the device past the point where the original cell is tired? If either answer is yes, a removable battery is worth having. If both are no, it is a feature you will never use, and the A10 is back on the list.

What Removable Actually Means

Most consumer tablets and phones have the battery glued or screwed inside a sealed shell. When it wears out, the device goes to a repairer or in a drawer. A removable battery is a pack with its own casing and contacts that sits in a bay behind a latched or screwed cover. You take it out and put another one in, the way you would with a cordless drill.

On a rugged device the cover is part of the sealing. It has a gasket and it latches or screws down, so the IP rating holds with the battery fitted and the cover closed properly. That is the one habit to learn: close the cover fully and check the latch every time, because an open or half closed cover is an open door for water and dust whatever the rating on the spec sheet says.

Removable does not always mean hot swappable. We do not list hot swap on any Tuga device, so save your work and power down before you swap, and treat anything better as a bonus rather than a promise.

Three Reasons It Matters

1. A Swap Beats a Charger on a Long Shift

Mains power is rare on a site and awkward in a van. You can top up from a 12V DC Car Charger (£26) between jobs, and most people do, but charging takes time and the device has to be in the vehicle while it happens. A charged spare takes seconds to fit and the device is back at full with no downtime at all. For a delivery round, a long day of callouts, a stocktake or a shift pattern where one device passes between two people, the spare is the difference between finishing the day and hunting for a plug socket at four o'clock.

We cannot tell you how many hours any of our devices run between charges, because it depends on screen brightness, how much the radios are working and what the apps are doing. Our guide to making a tablet battery last a full shift goes through the settings that stretch a charge. A removable battery is the fallback for when the settings are not enough.

2. A Worn Battery Becomes a Part, Not a Reason to Replace the Device

Every lithium battery loses capacity with use. That is normal, it is not a defect, and it is the most common reason a working tablet gets replaced before the rest of it has failed. Our guide on how long a rugged tablet should last covers the other things that end a device's working life, but battery wear is the one most people meet first.

With a sealed battery, a tired cell means a repair bill, a repairer who may not want the job, or a new device. With a removable one, it means fitting a fresh pack and carrying on. The screen, the seals, the processor and your software setup all keep going. We do not list a spare or replacement battery as an accessory on the site at the moment, so if you are buying with this in mind, ask us about availability and price for the model you are considering before you rely on it.

The warranty position is worth knowing too. The 12 month warranty included with every device covers defects, and the paid 3-Year Warranty (£65 per device on the A6, A8 and A10, £79 on the W8 and W10, £89 on the WH6) covers battery defects as well, but neither covers normal capacity loss. A battery that gradually holds less charge over years of use is wear, not a fault. A removable battery is the practical answer to wear; the warranty is the answer to a fault.

3. Spares Give You Options

A spare can live in the van, a toolbag or the office drawer, and a team can keep charged packs on a bench for anyone to grab. With a sealed device, the only spare is a second device.

Which Tuga Devices Have a Removable Battery

• Tuga A6, £349. 6 inch Android 15 handheld, 277g, IP67, rated for 1.5 metre drops. 5050mAh removable. A spare battery is in the box as standard.
• Tuga A8, £379. 8 inch Android 12 tablet with a 1000 nit screen, IP67. 8000mAh removable. Also ships with a removable battery in the box. The biggest removable pack in the range.
• Tuga WH6, £699. 6.5 inch Windows 11 IoT handheld, 470g, IP65, MIL-STD-810H, rated for 1.5 metre drops. 4000mAh removable. A removable battery is in the box.
• Tuga W8, £629. 8 inch Windows 11 Pro tablet, 910g, IP65, MIL-STD-810G, rated for 1.22 metre drops. 5000mAh removable.
• Tuga W10, £649. 10.1 inch Windows 11 Pro tablet, 1197g, IP65. 5000mAh removable.

And the one that does not:

• Tuga A10, £449. 10.1 inch Full HD Android 14 tablet, 680g, IP68, MIL-STD-810H. 8000mAh with quick charge, not listed as removable.

The A6, A8 and WH6 list "Removable battery" as a line in the box contents; the W8 and W10 list the battery as removable in their specifications. Either way, the device ships with one battery fitted. Check with us if you want a spare from day one.

Capacity Is Not the Whole Story

It is tempting to rank these by the milliamp hour figure, but a battery feeds a device, and the devices are very different. The A6's 5050mAh drives a 6 inch screen and a phone class processor. The W10's 5000mAh drives a 10.1 inch screen and an Intel N100 running full Windows 11 Pro, with Ethernet, HDMI and USB-A on board. The same number of milliamp hours will not give the same day. Windows devices in particular tend to ask more of a battery than Android ones, which is one of the reasons we steer people to Android unless a specific program needs Windows. Our Android or Windows guide has a five minute test for that decision.

The practical reading is this. If you need Windows and you need to be away from power all day, the removable battery on the WH6, W8 and W10 is not a nice to have, it is how the day gets done. If you are on Android, the A8's 8000mAh pack is the one most likely to see a full shift on its own, with a swap as insurance, and the A6 is the one where you will most want a charged spare in a pocket.

Cold Changes the Arithmetic

Batteries deliver less in the cold, and a device that comfortably lasted a summer day can run short in January. The A6 is rated for -20°C to 50°C, and the A10, WH6 and W8 for -20°C to 60°C; the A8 and W10 do not list an operating temperature, so treat them with care in a frost. Our cold weather battery guide covers why this happens and what to do about it. The point for this guide is that a spare battery kept warm, in an inside pocket rather than the glovebox, is a better cold weather plan than a bigger battery left out in the van.

Looking After Spare Batteries

A spare pack is a lithium battery, so the usual common sense applies.

1. Store it part charged, not full and not flat. A pack left completely empty for months may not recover.
2. Rotate the spares so they wear evenly rather than one dying while the other sits unused.
3. Keep it out of heat. A dashboard in July is the worst place for a battery. A door pocket or the office is better. Our guide to using a tablet in summer has more on heat.
4. Protect the contacts. Keep a loose spare in a small bag or the pocket of the Rugged Carry Case (£34, fits the A8, A10, W8 and W10) rather than loose with keys and screws.
5. Check the cover gasket when you swap. Grit on the seal is how water gets in. Wipe it and make sure the latch closes fully.
6. Dispose of old packs properly. Lithium batteries do not go in household waste. Most councils and many retailers take them.

Charging the Device Itself

A removable battery is a fallback, not a substitute for charging. Every Tuga device charges over USB-C. The 12V DC Car Charger (£26) fits all six and has a 2 metre cable. The Charging Dock (£49.99) fits the A10, W8 and W10 for desk use, the WH6 Charging Cradle (£79) does the same for the WH6, and the Vehicle Mounting Dock (£109) holds the A8, A10, W8 or W10 on a dashboard with DC power in, so the tablet charges on the road. All of these are on the accessories page. For a sole trader, a car charger plus the removable battery covers most days. For a team, a dock and a shelf of spare packs is tidier, and our guide to buying for a small team goes into spares and setup.

When Not to Worry About It

Plenty of people never swap a battery. If the device goes back on charge every night and your days are a normal length, a sealed battery will not cost you anything. That is the honest case for the A10: the biggest Android screen in the range, IP68 sealing, MIL-STD-810H testing and an 8000mAh battery with quick charge, at £449. If drawings and plans are your work, do not rule it out because the battery stays in.

The removable battery earns its place at the edges: the long shift, the winter day, the device you want to keep for years, and the team that cannot have a tablet out of action. If that sounds like your work, pick from the A6, A8, WH6, W8 or W10, and ask us about a spare when you order.

Prices are as listed, with no VAT to add. Every device comes with a 12 month warranty, and delivery is free to UK addresses in 7 to 10 working days. If you are still deciding between models, the Which Tuga? picker asks four questions and gives you a recommendation.

Compare head to head: A6 vs A8 · A8 vs A10 · A10 vs WH6