In-house maintenance is a different job from field service. Nobody drives between customers. The same team covers the same buildings every day, the work comes from a CMMS, and the device is picked off a dock at the start of a shift and put back at the end, often by someone else.
What kills devices in facilities work
- Plant rooms. Heat from boilers and air handling units, dust, condensate, and nowhere clean to put anything down.
- Roofs and basements. Rain and wind on one job, damp and poor light on the next. Devices get rested on parapets and plant frames and knocked off.
- Shared use. A device that belongs to everyone belongs to no one. It gets dropped more and charged less.
- No signal below ground. Basement plant rooms and lift motor rooms are where Wi-Fi and 4G both give up, so the app has to cope with working offline and syncing later.
What actually matters in a spec
Your CMMS decides the operating system. Most CMMS mobile apps are Android or browser based, and some have no Windows app at all. A few legacy maintenance systems only run on Windows. Find out which yours is before anything else, because it settles the choice. Our guide to Android or Windows for a rugged tablet walks through it. We have checked the published requirements for several CMMS platforms, including MaintainX, Limble CMMS and IBM Maximo Mobile, and the full list is on the works with page. Those pages compare what each vendor publishes against what our devices list. They are not a claim that any app has been tested on our hardware, so run your own CMMS on one unit before you buy ten.
Asset tags. Every Tuga model lists NFC, which suits tap-to-identify asset tags. For barcodes and QR labels, the A6 has a built-in 2D scan engine and every other model scans through the camera, which is fine for a handful of tags a day and slow for a stock count. Scanner versions of the WH6, W8 and W10 exist if volumes are high. Our barcode scanner guide covers when the camera stops being enough.
Sealing. IP65 covers dust and water jets from any direction. IP67 and IP68 add immersion. None of our devices is rated IP69K, so none should be pressure washed.
A dock, not a cable. Shared devices get charged when charging is easy. A drop-in dock at the maintenance office means the tablet is full at handover without anyone hunting for a lead.
A camera with a flash. Meter readings and before and after photos happen in dark cupboards and ceiling voids.
What we would pick
For most facilities and maintenance teams, the Tuga A10 at £449. It runs Android 14, above the Android minimum published by the CMMS apps on our works-with pages, and its 10.1 inch Full HD screen gives a work order, a checklist and an asset history room to breathe. It is sealed to IP68 and tested to MIL-STD-810H, rated from -20°C to 60°C, and weighs 680g in a 14.5mm body. NFC is built in for asset tags, the 13MP rear camera has a flash for meter readings in the dark, and dual SIM 4G plus dual-band Wi-Fi cover a site where the signal moves around. The pogo pin connector lets it drop into the Charging Dock. The 8000mAh battery has quick charge and is not listed as removable, and the screen is rated at 350 nits, which is fine indoors and modest in full sun. Barcodes are read through the camera, not a scan engine.
If your maintenance system is Windows only and the team needs something that fits in a pocket on a ladder, the Tuga WH6 at £699 runs Windows 11 IoT on an Intel Celeron N5100 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It is rated IP65, tested to MIL-STD-810H, rated for 1.5 metre drops and works from -20°C to 60°C. The 4000mAh battery is removable, NFC and 4G are built in, and it has USB-A and USB-C for plugging into instruments. The version with an integrated 2D barcode scanner is £779. It has its own WH6 Charging Cradle rather than the shared dock, and the 6.5 inch screen is small for long checklists.
If the Windows-only system needs a proper screen, or you want to plug straight into building management panels and plant, the Tuga W10 at £649 runs Windows 11 Pro on an Intel N100 with 8GB of RAM. It has RJ45 Ethernet, HDMI, USB-A and USB-C on board, NFC, a removable 5000mAh battery and a pogo pin connector for the Charging Dock. It is rated IP65. Two honest caveats: it lists no MIL-STD rating and no operating temperature, so we cannot tell you how it handles a drop or a cold roof, and 4G and GPS are optional rather than standard. At 1197g it is the heaviest device in the range that lists a weight, which matters on a ladder. The scanner version is £729.
Accessories worth adding
For a shared A10 or W10, the Charging Dock (£49.99) is the first thing to buy: drop the tablet in at the end of the shift and it is charged for the next one. The WH6 uses its own WH6 Charging Cradle (£79) and a Belt Holster (£22) for the walk between buildings. A Hand Strap (£24) for the A10 or W10 gives one-handed grip on a ladder or in a riser. A Tempered Glass Screen Protector 2-pack (£14) is cheap insurance on a device nobody owns, a Capacitive Stylus (£14.99) helps with detail work, and the USB-C to USB-A OTG Adapter (£8) connects a USB drive or a separate scanner. All of them are on the accessories page.
Questions facilities teams ask
Can several people share one device?
Physically, yes: a dock for charging, a screen protector, and a strap or holster. How logins work is down to your CMMS. Some vendors publish a shared-device or kiosk mode, others expect each technician to sign in and out of the app. Check what yours offers, and read our guide to buying rugged tablets for a small team for a setup checklist and why a spare is worth having.
Will it read our asset tags?
NFC tags, yes on every model, provided your CMMS app supports NFC on your platform. Barcode and QR labels are read by the camera on the A10, WH6 and W10, or by a built-in 2D scanner on the A6 and on the scanner versions of the WH6, W8 and W10.
We have a team of technicians. Is there a discount?
Yes, automatically: 3% at 2 devices, 5% at 3 to 4, 8% at 5 to 9, 10% at 10 or more. Mix any models. See bulk pricing, or get in touch if you want a quote or a proforma invoice.
What happens if one breaks?
There is a 12-month warranty and UK email support on every device, plus 30-day returns and free UK delivery in 7 to 10 working days. For longer cover, the 3-Year Warranty is £65 to £89 per device, and business fleets of five or more devices on any model can ask for a Total Care quote, with a pre-imaged swap unit dispatched the same working day for claims accepted by 14:00.
