The question "which rugged outdoor tablet is the best" cannot be answered in general terms, because requirements differ considerably depending on the deployment site. This article therefore does not go device by device, but through the selection criteria themselves: which questions should you ask before buying, and how should you weigh rating, display, battery life, weight, and connectivity for your specific use case? The seven steps below help with shortlisting before you look at a specific model in detail. A device-by-device overview of the current Durabook tablets is available in the article The Best Rugged Outdoor Tablets.
Before settling on an IP rating, honestly describe the actual deployment site: will the device occasionally face rain, or does it sit permanently in dusty workshop air? IP53 is enough for occasional exposure to dust and spraying water; IP66 only becomes necessary once powerful water jets or continuous dust exposure enter the picture. A detailed explanation of the digits is available in the article IP Protection Classes.
Ask yourself from what height a device could actually fall in daily use: from a hand at a workbench, off a ladder, or out of a vehicle. A device tested to MIL-STD-810 survives defined drop tests from a specific height onto a specific surface, no more and no less. What such a test setup actually looks like is explained in the article Drop Protection per MIL-STD-810: Test Setup and Significance.
If the tablet is used mostly in the shade or indoors, a standard display is sufficient. Anyone working regularly in direct sunlight should deliberately ask about a sunlight-readable display option with a higher nit rating, since this is not standard equipment on most devices. More on the nits scale is available in the article Sunlight Readable Displays.
Compare the battery life stated in the datasheet against the length of your typical shift, not a generic daily figure. Anyone working shifts, or needing a device to last more than one shift without a power outlet, should specifically look for devices with a hot-swappable second battery or a bridge battery, rather than relying solely on the manufacturer's stated runtime.
A larger display makes it easier to work with detail-rich views, but it also adds weight. Anyone carrying a tablet in one hand or on a belt all day should favor a more compact model, even if that means accepting a smaller display. Anyone working mostly at a fixed workstation or in a vehicle with a docking station can set weight aside in favor of a larger display.
Check whether Wi-Fi is available at the deployment site or whether a mobile connection is needed. For deployments without fixed network infrastructure, on changing construction sites or in forestry, for example, a configuration with integrated GPS and 4G LTE or 5G is worthwhile. For use at a fixed site with existing Wi-Fi, this extra equipment is usually an unnecessary cost.
Depending on the industry, further criteria come into play: a barcode scanner or an RFID option matters for warehouse logistics, ATEX certification for explosive atmospheres in the chemical industry, and a smart card reader or a TPM module for safety-critical deployments. On most devices, these extra features cannot be added later through the configurator, so they should be considered already at the initial configuration stage.
A common mistake when selecting a device is relying on phrases like "rugged aluminum housing" or "shock-resistant" without checking the underlying test standard behind them. Two devices with an identical housing material can achieve completely different ratings and drop-test heights. Rely only on the values documented in the datasheet for IP rating and MIL-STD testing, not on marketing language on the product page.
Many of the extra features described here, a brighter display, a second battery, or an expansion module with RFID, for example, can only be selected at the initial configuration stage. Retrofitting is technically not supported on most rugged tablets. It is therefore worth going through the full configurator on the relevant product page before ordering, rather than relying on the standard specification and adding options later.
Not every task can be solved with a tablet. For pure data entry, navigation, and field documentation, a tablet is usually the lighter and more manageable choice. For compute-heavy tasks such as CAD work, extensive spreadsheets, or running several applications at once, rugged laptops such as the Durabook S15 or S14I are better suited, if only because of the physical keyboard and the larger display area. A comparison of the current laptop models is available in the article Rugged Laptops.
These seven steps do not always have a clear-cut answer, especially when use cases differ within a single team. In practice, it works well to first define requirements for the most demanding realistic use case, and only then check whether a more affordable model is sufficient for the remaining cases. For individual advice on which device and configuration fits your use case, the Robustbook team is available via the contact page. A tabular overview of all current tablets is also available in the Tablet Comparison Table.