On a construction site the tablet is usually doing three jobs: showing drawings, recording what has been done, and recording what has gone wrong. The site itself is trying to stop all three.
What kills devices on site
- Cement, concrete and cutting dust. Disc cutters, sanding and mixing put fine abrasive dust everywhere. It gets into ports and under screen edges, and it scratches glass when wiped off with a sleeve.
- Rain and puddles. British sites are wet for a good part of the year. A tablet left on a pallet in a shower, or dropped in a puddle, needs to come out working.
- Drops from height. Scaffold lifts, ladders, the cab of a machine. Concrete slabs do not forgive.
- Cold mornings in the cabin and the van. Consumer batteries sulk in the cold and can drop to nothing on a winter start.
- Being shared. Site tablets often get passed between people, left in the welfare cabin and thrown in the back of a pickup. They need to survive people who do not own them.
What actually matters in a spec
Screen size, if you read drawings. This is the big one. An A1 drawing on an 8 inch screen is a lot of zooming. On 10.1 inches at Full HD it is far more workable, and PDFs, spreadsheets and BIM viewers all benefit.
IP68 sealing. Dust tight and rated for immersion beyond IP67. Our IP68 vs IP67 guide explains what the numbers actually test.
MIL-STD-810H drop testing. Not a guarantee of anything, but a device built to those tests is in a different league from a consumer tablet in a case.
Operating temperature. The Android models are rated from -20°C to 60°C, which covers a January morning and a July roof.
Android unless you are forced otherwise. Most drawing viewers, snagging tools and job management apps run on Android or in a browser. The Windows models cost noticeably more, so only buy one if a piece of desktop software leaves you no choice.
What we would pick
For site managers, supervisors and anyone who spends the day reading drawings, the Tuga A10 at £449. It has a 10.1 inch Full HD screen at 1920 x 1200, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage expandable to 2TB by microSD, IP68 sealing and MIL-STD-810H testing, in a slim 680g body. Dual SIM 4G helps on rural sites where one network is patchy, and an 8000mAh battery gets through a shift.
One honest caveat: the A10's screen is 350 nits. Indoors, in the cabin or under a roof it is perfectly good, but in direct summer sun it is harder to read than the A8.
That is why the Tuga A8 at £379 is the better buy for many trades. Its 800 nit sunlight readable screen copes outdoors, it has glove mode, a 10000mAh battery and the same IP68 and MIL-STD-810H rating, and it fits in one hand and a van door pocket. If you mostly take photos, fill in forms and glance at drawings rather than study them, save the £70 and get the A8.
For a longer comparison, see our best rugged tablets for construction post.
Accessories worth adding
A Tempered Glass Screen Protector 2-pack (£14) is the first thing we would add, because grit and sleeves are hard on glass. A Shoulder Strap (£19) keeps the tablet on you and your hands free on scaffolding, and a Rugged Carry Case (£34) is worth it for tablets that live in the back of a van. For a site office, a Charging Dock (£49.99) means the shared tablet always gets put back on charge. See the accessories page for what fits which model.
Questions from site
8 inch or 10 inch?
If you read drawings for a living, 10 inch. If you mostly photograph, snag and sign off, 8 inch, which is also brighter outdoors.
Can we kit out a whole site team?
Yes. Bulk discounts apply automatically: 3% at 2 devices, 5% at 3 to 4, 8% at 5 to 9 and 10% at 10 or more, and you can mix models. Details on the bulk page.
Do we need Windows for BIM?
Usually not for viewing, as most BIM viewers have an Android app. Authoring is a different matter and belongs on a laptop or desktop.
What if it fails?
Every device has a 12-month warranty and UK email support, plus 30-day returns if it turns out not to suit.
