Good tablet to bring to jobsites

hikeandgolf · Jun 21, 2018

My employee and I usually go to at least one or two jobsites each, per week. We'll print out the plans on half-size sheets, mark them up on site, then scan the markups and drop them into the job folder when we get back. Somewhat of a tedious process. I recently bought Blue Beam for both of us, and I'm thinking about buying tablets for us to bring out to jobsites that we could use to pull up the plans (we have dropbox as well), and mark up the plans that are already in the folder. Just curious if anyone else out there has experience with a tablet that they like, or that they would recommend staying away from, given the two main applications we would be using - Blue Beam and Dropbox.

FreddyNurk · Jun 21, 2018

The only thing I'd recommend is that you buy a tablet that has a decent ruggedised case as an option. Grffin's Survivor range of cases has been my go to option, but there are others on the market. Small insurance against having to replace devices because they've been dropped.

EDMS Australia

Agent666 · Jun 22, 2018

Bluebeam is only available on iPad from memory, otherwise you'll need a pc tablet (running Windows) like a surface Pro. I own neither so can't comment further!

hikeandgolf · Jun 22, 2018

Thanks for your replies. I called Bluebeam today, and they confirmed that, as Agent666 said, it's only available on iPad ($10 app purchase) and Surface Pro (full version, full price). The Apple store reviews for Blue Beam weren't very favorable at all, so it looks like we'll most likely be going with a Surface Pro in the near future. Given that the Surface Pro can project to multiple monitors, they may end up replacing our laptops. Anybody have any input on Microsoft Surface Pro in an engineering/construction/jobsite environment?

EdStainless · Jun 22, 2018

I use a pro 4, and like it.
I rarely take it into tough environments and I rarely use it as a tablet.
I have done some drawing on it and it works fine.
At my desk now it is driving a pair of 26", 1440 line monitors.
Get the i5 version, the i7 is a power hog.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

cvg · Jun 22, 2018

you may want to experiment with a tablet, outside on the job. my experience is that most sites have water, mud, rain, wind, cold, hot, and bright sun that can not only be hard on a device but make it difficult or near impossible to use. I wear polarized sunglasses on site and sometimes required to wear safety glasses over those. in bright sun, i have to turn my head sideways to actually see an image on a screen through the polarized lenses. you will need a stylus. given all the environmental factors, I generally make notes while sitting in the pickup or inside a trailer where an ordinary laptop or paper plans are far more productive.

Triangled · Jun 29, 2018

i've broken at least two surface pros in lesser environments... seem delicate to me... maybe gorilla case would solve that for me
don't think i've broken an ipad yet

but/and, sigh, i am heavily excel dependent :-/

kmart30 · Jul 16, 2018

Just get an ipad with the apple pencil and use the notes app. I have a good skill for losing paper so this works out great for me. I take all the notes, dimensions, sketches, pictures, ect. I need and upload them directly to my drive from the site. I bought a decent case as well that holds the pencil and protects it from drops and saw dust

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Good tablet to bring to jobsites

hikeandgolf

Structural

FreddyNurk

Electrical

Agent666

Structural

hikeandgolf

Structural

EdStainless

Materials

cvg

Civil/Environmental

Triangled

Structural

kmart30

Structural

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