A warehouse device is scanned with, not typed on. It books goods in, confirms picks and counts stock hundreds of times a shift, and it gets dropped, knocked against racking and shared between whoever is on. This page is about work inside the building. For drivers and deliveries, see our logistics and delivery page.
What kills devices in the warehouse
- Drops onto concrete. From a forklift seat, off a pallet, off a trolley. The drops are daily, not occasional.
- Cardboard dust and grit. Boxes shed dust that gets into ports and behind buttons. Loading bays add road grit and, in winter, salt.
- Shared use and shift handover. A device used by three people a day is nobody's responsibility. It gets left on a shelf, dropped in a tote and put on charge wet.
- Cold stores and chillers. Chilled areas drain batteries and fog screens on the way out, and not every rugged device lists a rating low enough for them.
- Dead spots in the Wi-Fi. Steel racking and full pallets block signal, and a device that drops its connection in aisle 14 loses picks.
What actually matters in a spec
A real scan engine. Phone cameras read barcodes slowly and badly on shrink wrap, curled labels and in poor light. A dedicated 2D scan engine with a physical scan key reads at arm's length first time, all day. Whether you need one built in, or a separate Bluetooth scanner is enough, depends on how many scans a shift you do. Our guide to rugged tablets with a built-in barcode scanner compares the options.
Drop rating. Look for a listed drop height or a MIL-STD-810 rating, not just an IP rating. The A6 is rated for 1.5 metre drops, the WH6 for 1.5 metre drops and MIL-STD-810H, and the W8 is tested to MIL-STD-810G.
Size and weight. Pickers want a device that goes in a holster and leaves both hands free. Supervisors doing counts on a bigger screen may want a tablet. The A6 is 277g, the WH6 is 470g and the W8 is 750g.
Battery through a shift. A removable battery means a charged spare takes over at handover rather than the device going on charge mid shift. The A6 and WH6 have removable batteries; the W8 is not listed as having one.
Operating temperature. For chillers and cold stores, check the listed range. The A6 is rated from -20°C to 50°C, the WH6 from -20°C to 60°C and the W8 from -10°C to 50°C. The W10 lists no operating temperature, so we cannot recommend it for cold areas.
Your warehouse system decides the operating system. Most modern stock control and warehouse management apps run on Android or in a browser. Some older systems only have a Windows client, and if yours does, that settles it and adds £350 to £430 to the price of a scanner device. Our guide to Android or Windows rugged tablets has a quick test to work out which you need.
What we would pick
For most warehouses and stockrooms, the Tuga A6 at £349. It is a 6 inch Android 15 handheld with an integrated Zebra 2D scan engine and two side scan keys, so picking, goods in and stocktakes are a press of a button, gloves on or off. It is sealed to IP67, rated for 1.5 metre drops and runs from -20°C to 50°C, which covers a chiller. The 5050mAh battery is removable, dual-band Wi-Fi 5 handles the warehouse network and dual SIM 4G covers the yard. The 13MP rear camera has a flash for damage photos on goods in, and at 277g it sits in a belt holster all shift. It is also the lowest priced device we sell, which matters when you are buying one per picker.
If your warehouse system is Windows only and the device needs to go in a holster, the Tuga WH6 with Barcode Scanner at £779 is the answer. It runs Windows 11 IoT on an Intel Celeron N5100 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, is rated IP65 and MIL-STD-810H, survives 1.5 metre drops and works from -20°C to 60°C. The 4000mAh battery is removable and there are USB-A and USB-C ports for peripherals. It is £430 more than the A6 and 470g against 277g, so only go this way if the software leaves you no choice. The base WH6 without the scanner is £699.
If you need Windows and a screen big enough for a stock system's full interface, the Tuga W8 with 2D Scanner at £699 is the 8 inch option. It runs Windows 11 Pro on the same Celeron N5100 with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, is sealed to IP67 and tested to MIL-STD-810G, and has USB-C, USB-A and HDMI for label printers and a desk monitor. Two caveats: the 5000mAh battery is not listed as removable, and it lists no dimensions. The base W8 is £629. For a 10 inch Windows tablet with Ethernet, the W10 with 2D Scanner is £729, but it lists no MIL-STD or operating temperature rating, so for a device that will be dropped and used in cold areas the W8 is the safer choice.
One honest alternative. If scanning is occasional, a few deliveries a day rather than hundreds of picks, a plain tablet paired with a separate Bluetooth scanner can be the cheaper answer, and the scanner can be shared. The built-in engines pay off when scanning is the job: one handed, a physical key, and no second device to charge or lose.
Accessories worth adding
For the A6 or WH6, a Belt Holster (£22) is the first thing to add, and a Car Phone Mount (£17) keeps either one in reach on the windscreen of the yard van. For the WH6, the WH6 Charging Cradle (£79) gives it a drop-in home at the handover point. The Charging Dock (£49.99) does the same for the W8, and a Hand Strap (£24) keeps a W8 secure on a count. A Tempered Glass Screen Protector 2-pack (£14) fits all three, and the USB-C to USB-A OTG Adapter (£8) connects a USB scanner or printer. See the accessories page.
Questions warehouse teams ask
Does the scanner work with our stock system?
The A6 scan engine reads 1D barcodes and 2D codes such as QR and passes the result to whatever app is on screen. Whether your stock control app runs on Android 15, or needs the Windows client on the WH6 or W8, is something to check with your own software before you buy.
Can the same device do deliveries as well?
Yes. The A6 has dual SIM 4G, GPS and a flash on the camera, so it goes out on the van for proof of delivery and back on the holster for picking. Our logistics and delivery page covers the driver side in detail.
We need one per picker. 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 when one gets dropped once too often?
There is a 12-month warranty and UK email support on every device, with 30-day returns and free UK delivery in 7 to 10 working days. For longer cover, the 3-Year Warranty is £65 on the A6, £79 on the W8 and £89 on the WH6, 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.
