Rugged Handhelds for Warehouse Stocktakes and Stock Control

For most small warehouses, stockrooms and van stock counts, the Tuga A6 at £349 is the handheld to look at first. It has a Zebra 2D scan engine built into the top edge, two side scan keys that work with gloves on, a removable battery and an IP67 body at 277g. If your stock system only runs on Windows, the scanner versions of the Tuga WH6, Tuga W8 and Tuga W10 put a scan engine in a Windows device, at £779, £699 and £729. And if you scan a few dozen lines a day rather than a few hundred, a plain tablet with a separate scanner may be the cheaper answer.

This guide is about counts, goods in and picking. If your scanning happens on the doorstep, read our guide to rugged devices for delivery drivers and couriers instead.

Three Jobs, Three Scanning Patterns

Stocktakes and cycle counts are hundreds or thousands of scans in a day, often by people who do not touch the device the rest of the year. They reward a device that scans fast, reads a dusty label from an awkward angle, and runs all day, because the count does not stop for a charger.

Goods in is bursty: twenty minutes of scanning cartons against a purchase order, then nothing for an hour. The device is picked up and put down a lot, often on a pallet or a racking beam, so sealing and a drop rating count for more than scan speed. A camera helps too, for photographing damaged cartons before you sign for them.

Picking is continuous: location barcode, item barcode, quantity, next line. The device is in the hand all shift, so weight and one-handed use matter most. A 277g handheld in a holster and a 910g tablet are very different things to carry for eight hours.

Why the Scanner Is the First Decision

Every device we sell can read a barcode with its camera, and for an occasional goods in check that is fine. Camera scanning is slower, needs the label in focus and lit, and asks for two hands while an app finds the code. Our guide to built-in barcode scanners compares the options in general terms. The short version for stock work: once scanning is the job, you want a dedicated engine and a physical key to fire it. There are two ways to get one: build it into the device, or add it alongside.

Option 1: A Handheld with the Scanner Built In

Tuga A6: The Android Count Gun

The Tuga A6 is the lowest priced device in our range at £349, and the only Android model with a scan engine built in as standard.

• Integrated Zebra 2D scan engine, with two side scan keys
• 6 inch FHD+ IPS screen, 2160 x 1080
• Android 15, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, microSD up to 256GB
• IP67 sealed, rated for 1.5 metre drops, -20°C to 50°C
• Removable 5050mAh battery
• 13MP rear camera with flash, 5MP front
• 4G LTE dual SIM, dual-band Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC
• 277g
• £349

A 2D engine reads ordinary 1D barcodes and 2D codes such as QR, so it copes with supplier labels, your own location labels and the tags on returnable crates. The side keys let you scan with the thumb of the hand holding the device, which is what makes a few hundred picks in a shift workable. At 277g it sits in a pocket or the £22 Belt Holster between scans.

The battery is the stocktake feature. 5050mAh is not the largest in our range, but it is removable, so a charged spare takes over at lunchtime and the count carries on. We do not publish run time figures, so test a full shift before you buy spares.

Where it falls short: 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM are the smallest in the range, and a 6 inch screen is tight for a long purchase order. And it runs Android, so a Windows-only stock system rules it out, which is where the next three come in.

The Windows Scanner Versions

Three Windows devices come with a built-in 2D scanner as a version you choose in the buy box on the base model's page.

• Tuga WH6 with Barcode Scanner, £779. A 6.5 inch Windows 11 IoT handheld, Intel Celeron N5100, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, IP65, MIL-STD-810H, 1.5 metre drops, removable 4000mAh battery, 470g. The scanner adds £80 to the £699 WH6. It fits the £22 Belt Holster, and the £79 WH6 Charging Cradle charges it on the desk between shifts.
• Tuga W8 with 2D Scanner, £699. An 8 inch Windows 11 Pro tablet, 1920 x 1200 screen, Celeron N5100, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, IP65, MIL-STD-810G, 1.22 metre drops, removable 5000mAh battery, 910g. The scanner adds £70 to the £629 W8.
• Tuga W10 with 2D Scanner, £729. A 10.1 inch Windows 11 Pro tablet, Intel N100, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, IP65, removable 5000mAh battery, 1197g. The Newland 2D engine reads 1D barcodes plus QR, PDF417, Aztec and MaxiCode, and a UHF RFID reader is an option. The scanner adds £80 to the £649 W10.

Why pay £779 for a scanning handheld when the A6 does the same job for £349? Software. If your warehouse or accounts system is a Windows program, only behaves in a desktop browser, or needs a mapped network drive, the WH6 runs it as it is. That is a £430 premium over the A6 for the operating system, so be sure you need it. Our Android or Windows guide has a five minute test.

Between the three, pick by how the device is carried. The WH6 is the picking handheld: it goes in a holster and is used one-handed. The W8 and W10 are tablets, better suited to goods in at a bench, where the bigger screen shows the whole purchase order and the device is put down between cartons. At 910g and 1197g, neither is something to hold up for a full picking shift. The W10 has RJ45 Ethernet and HDMI on board for a wired network or an external screen; our guide to when a work tablet needs real ports goes into that.

Option 2: A Plain Device and a Separate Scanner

If your scanning is light, say a goods in check twice a day and a monthly count, a built-in engine is nice but not essential, and a separate scanner alongside a plain tablet can be the cheaper route.

A Bluetooth scanner pairs with the tablet and types each scan into whatever field is active, the way a keyboard would, and most stock apps accept that without setup. One scanner can be shared between several tablets. Against that: two things to charge, a pairing that sometimes needs redoing, and a separate unit to leave on a pallet. We do not sell Bluetooth scanners, so we will not quote prices for them. Do your own sum: a plain Tuga A8 at £379 or Tuga A10 at £449 plus the scanner you choose, against £349 for an A6 with the engine already in it. For one user, the A6 usually wins. For a bench with a shared tablet, the separate scanner starts to make sense.

A wired USB scanner is the cheapest option of all if you already own one from a till or an old PC. Every Android device in our range has a single USB-C port, so a USB-A scanner needs the £8 USB-C to USB-A OTG Adapter. The WH6, W8 and W10 have a USB-A port and take it directly. A cable ties the scanner to the tablet, which suits a goods in bench far better than a picking round. Test that your app accepts the input before you commit.

Working the Prices Out

Prices are as listed, with no VAT to add. On the Windows devices the built-in scanner costs £70 to £80 and buys you one device to charge, no pairing and a scan key under your thumb, so if you are buying a Windows device for stock work anyway, the scanner version is usually the right call. Buying for a team, the discount applies automatically and you can mix models: 3% at two devices, 5% at three or four, 8% at five to nine and 10% at ten or more. The bulk orders page has the detail.

The Rest of the Spec Sheet, in Stock Terms

Sealing and drops. Warehouses are dusty rather than wet, and the usual accident is a drop from a racking beam or a forklift step. The A6 and WH6 are rated for 1.5 metre drops, the W8 for 1.22 metres, and no drop figure is listed for the W10, A8 or A10. All of them are dust tight; IP67 on the A6 adds a rating for immersion, which IP65 on the Windows models does not.

Cold stores and dead spots. The A6 lists an operating range of -20°C to 50°C, the WH6 and W8 -20°C to 60°C; the W10, A8 and A10 list none, so ask before you take one into a chiller. Racking is hard on Wi-Fi, so walk the warehouse with the device on trial and find the dead spots before the count, not during it. The A6, WH6 and W8 have 4G built in as a fallback; the W10 lists it as an option.

NFC. Every Tuga model lists NFC. It is not a replacement for a barcode scanner, but it is a handy way to tag a bay, a cage or a returnable asset with a chip that reads with a tap even when the label has worn off. Our guide to what NFC on a work tablet is for explains where it fits.

Which One, by How You Work

• One person counting, picking and receiving on an Android or web-based stock app: Tuga A6, £349, plus a spare battery and the £22 Belt Holster. Check your app runs on Android 15 and accepts the scanner's input before you order.
• A team of pickers on Android: an A6 each, with the team discount, and a Tuga A10 at £449 in the office for stock reports on a 10.1 inch screen.
• A Windows stock system, picking all day: Tuga WH6 with Barcode Scanner, £779, in a holster, with the £79 WH6 Charging Cradle on the desk.
• A Windows stock system, mostly goods in at a bench: Tuga W8 with 2D Scanner at £699, or the W10 version at £729 if you need Ethernet, HDMI or UHF RFID.
• A handful of scans a day on any system: a plain tablet and the scanner you already own through the £8 OTG adapter, or a Bluetooth scanner shared across the bench.

Whichever you pick, test it on your own stock system first. A scan engine is only useful if your app takes the scan the way you expect, and we cannot promise that for software we have not seen. Every device comes with a 12 month warranty, and delivery is free to UK addresses in 7 to 10 working days. For a quote or a proforma invoice, use the contact form.

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